!!!Make old bass strings new!!!(read important)

[Ienjoymusic879]

Ok im sure lots of people already know about this but!!!!!
If you have strings that sound really bad but they are in good shape dont go out and spend money on new ones and waste your old ones.

Ok Take off each string. Get some boiling water on a stove in a cooking pan or somthing. and once the water is boiling, boil each string for about....10 or 15 mins. It removes all of the Grease and nasty stuff in the strings and your strings will sound new again (i sware)

[Kelly5150]

Actually you should boil them for 20 to 30 minutes, then wipe them down with rubbing alcohol while they're still warm...

Rubbing alcohol is good to wipe them down with after playing.... gets rid of the oils and grime....

[M.Brane]

Ah, the old boiling the strings trick. I know a bass player that swears by wiping 'em down with after-shave too.

Yeah it cleans the strings really good, but "makes 'em new again" is quite a stretch.

[Kelly5150]

Originally posted by M.Brane
Ah, the old boiling the strings trick. I know a bass player that swears by wiping 'em down with after-shave too.

Yeah it cleans the strings really good, but "makes 'em new again" is quite a stretch.

The alcohol doesn't make em new again, it just makes em last longer... extends their life....
The boiling brings them back to life....

[M.Brane]

It was a pun, get it?

[Kelly5150]

Originally posted by M.Brane
It was a pun, get it?

Now I get it....


Pun fun...

[Toki987]

Boiling works fast and I`ve done it myself, but it can unpredictably change the temper of the metal windings and they can get weird in spots.

Throw them in a plastic pot with a white vinegar & water solution. Let them sit overnight and you`ll get the same effect without affecting the temper of the metal from heat. There will be a scum on top of the water the next day.

Bleach and water can do it in a couple of hrs, but it`s hard on the alloys and works mainly on the organic residue.

[Bass Freak]

call me old fashioned...but ill just spend the 20 bucks and get a new set


i dont think id do that to strings...manly becuase i eat out of those pans...i dont want my finger scum in the same pot as my chili



freak

[Mr. Moon]

Be sure to use distilled water; cuts down on mineral deposit buildup on the strings and such during the boiling (or soaking) process.

-mr moon

[Aaron Cheney]

I'd be careful using alcohol too. Seems to me it could have really adverse effects on the fingerboard wood, drying it out and such. Besides, restringing your bass or guitar with used strings that already have gnarled, wound up ends is worth $20 bucks in labor right there. Easier just to buy a new pack.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

[mocharock]

I give mine a little Jack Daniels, but I do not let them drive afterwards.

I have heard rumor about putting them in the freezer...any one else ever heard that?

[Pha'dur]

toki-

how much of a vinegar to water ratio should there be for that?

[Lt. Bob]

they go dead 'cause of all the gunk that goes down into the windings....it damps the string vibrations. Boling brings it out of the string and that's why they improve and so I don't see how freezing them would do that.

As an aside, I used to boil my bass strings all the time and it does, in fact, work but only for a few times and you start to get rust on them because you're boiling them in water. That's where the alcohol comes in. I've been told that the best way is to boil them in alcohol but I wouldn't know how to do that without burning down my house.

[M.Brane]

Maybe you could boil 'em in WD40. Or you could polish 'em with Mother's or a good SS polish if you use Roto's.



Actually Toki touched on something I was hinting at with my pun. Metal can only be stretched so much before it becomes brittle, and eventually breaks. Your strings will lose all their "life" long before they break though, unless you use really light strings and/or beat them to death. If that's the case, your probably not too worried about feel or tone anyway.

Some people like dead strings on bass like James Jamerson. He never changed 'em unless they broke!

[Toki987]

Originally posted by Pha'dur
toki-

how much of a vinegar to water ratio should there be for that?

I use a pint of vinegar to a quart of water. The vinegar is nominaly 4.5 % acidic and will get the oils, grease, wax, salts from your skin, and other stuff that gets pressed down into the windings out in a few hrs.

[Toki987]

Originally posted by M.Brane
Maybe you could boil 'em in WD40. Or you could polish 'em with Mother's or a good SS polish if you use Roto's.



Actually Toki touched on something I was hinting at with my pun. Metal can only be stretched so much before it becomes brittle, and eventually breaks. Your strings will lose all their "life" long before they break though, unless you use really light strings and/or beat them to death. If that's the case, your probably not too worried about feel or tone anyway.

Some people like dead strings on bass like James Jamerson. He never changed 'em unless they broke!

LOL! with his technique and touch it didnt matter, he commanded them to sound good...

[M.Brane]

Originally posted by Toki987
LOL! with his technique and touch it didnt matter, he commanded them to sound good...

Indeed.

[Pha'dur]

I'll have to try that sometime. thanks toki

[acorec]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Toki987
[B]Boiling works fast and I`ve done it myself, but it can unpredictably change the temper of the metal windings and they can get weird in spots.



That is because the strings MUST be under tension. I boil the strings ON the bass. It works much better.

[Kelly5150]

Ever use a high E string to cut cheese?... works great...

[Bass Freak]

WHY cant you just let the strings die!


how would you like it when you died, if some guy came, unwound you from your coffin, put you in boiling *doesnt matter how much all-che-hal you put in there, your not getting back up* water, and like strapped you to your office chair and expected you to work again?!


it doesnt happen, just spend the 20 bucks....its not like you have to change them every week or when one breaks. ive never heard of a bass string breaking. and you can leave the strings on for like 4 months, just whipe them off with a cloth or something, i use my sleeves after your done playing.....easy as pie


freak

[Garry Sharp]

Well, Bass Freak, we must be able to think up some good uses for retired bass strings. You could moor a medium sized ship with that bottom E. In the early 1960's bass strings were so hard to get hold of, apparently, I was reading recently in a book about early British rock guitar that somebody (famous, forget who) bought a second bass guitar just to get the strings.

We're very spoilt now.

[M.Brane]

I bought a whole guitar with case once just for the bridge. The guitar was pretty much junk, but the bridge was perfect. I paid less for the whole guitar than one of those bridges cost new.

[Toki987]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by acorec
[B]

Originally posted by Toki987
Boiling works fast and I`ve done it myself, but it can unpredictably change the temper of the metal windings and they can get weird in spots.



That is because the strings MUST be under tension. I boil the strings ON the bass. It works much better.

I like the flavor of smoked maple in my boiled water too!

[James Argo]

..and for you -boiling bass string people- make sure you dry them ASAP (you don't want it rusty, eh ?). Use hair dryer is one of the easiest way. Blow 'em up right away...


Jaymz