Boiling your strings

[killthepixelnow]

Just buy a new set man, boling your string is a crime! And they sound like schit after you dry em. And you can never tune'em again.

 

[Codmate]

I find a rhubarb lattice helps me play those soaring solos with extra confidence.

 

[flamin-gitaur]

I tell ya...Most of the junk that gets in the windings is a combination of skin cells and oils that make a "paste" that gets in the windings. What you wash off doesn't end up in the string.

MMMmmmm yum! I wonder if if we could use the left over boiled water as a cooking broth. ........after all we are trying to recycle, right?

 

[Editor]

9 out of 10 wound strings would come out great, but that's the problem, that dead string against the others would sound awful and I'd have replace the set with new strings anyway.

Wow! You have a 10-string guitar? Cool ;-)

 

[Clive Hugh]

A better "trick" than boiling is to clean the strings with amonia. Just loosen the strings enough to be able to lift them away from the fingerboard, dab a clean soft cloth in the amonia and wipe the strings. Loosening the strings allows you to wipe the underside too. You may have to repeat the process a couple of times to get all the crud off and you may want to do this outside, amonia has a pretty strong odor. I got the idea from a jeweler friend who uses amonia to clean rings and things, tried it on an old set of bass strings and discovered it works fairly well, and it is a lot faster and easier than boiling them. Neither method will last very long (maybe 2-3 hours at best) but for a quick fix when you are in a bind, a quick cleaning with amonia will get you a little more playing time on an old set of strings.

Trouble with cleaning your ring in ammonia is it stings like hell and makes your eyes water.
Ignore the stupid comment, I'm just working up to 700 postings.

 

[mx_mx]

Trouble with cleaning your ring in ammonia is it stings like hell and makes your eyes water.
Ignore the stupid comment, I'm just working up to 700 postings.

And my boyfriend complains about the taste of ammonia...

 

[EndangeredFeces]

yeah ill have to try that, ammonia comes pretty cheap too, strong stuff

 

[EndangeredFeces]

If you cant afford new strings, maybe you need to spend more time at your job or looking for a better job, and less time trying to fix your strings???

Have you tried washing your hands first every time you pick up your instrument?? This simple act alone can double the life of the strings....

Yeah I try and clean my hands before i play...but somehow my laziness takes over somewhere in the process

 

[EndangeredFeces]

I wonder if, instead of boiling, if you removed the strings and gave 'em a good shot of, say, automotive brake cleaner (alcohol + toluene, etc.) to remove all the gunk from the windings - maybe a little scrubbing with a brass brush at the same time?

Way too much trouble for six-strings, but for bass strings....maybe.

yeah like engine degreaser or something, sounds like a lot of trouble.

 

[Toki987]

boiling them is not really that much of an unusual technique. Reaching in there to snatch them out before the meat cooks off your finger bones is a real challenge though.

 

[gbdweller]

Anything that requires the removal of the string is a complete waste of time. You will never get the strings back on the way they were. You can 'clean' a string by thoroughly wiping it with a rag dampened with naphtha. When dry, a little fast fret will bring the string back to life for a little while but nothing will make the string 'like new' again, except new strings of course.