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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ienjoymusic879
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My bass strings love a good strong cup of coffee in the morning, but sometimes it makes them all jangly. When that happens, I give them a little tincture of St. John's Wort and talk to them in soothing tones until they calm down.

One day, my bass strings overheard me talking about boiling them or freezing them to make them like new again, and they ran away from home in a fit of pique. It took me two days to find them, but by that time they had taken up with the Rickenbacker down the street and refused to come home.

Lesson learned.
 
I have a PVC tube filled with denatured alcohol, capped at one end and a screw plug on the other. I put used strings in over night and they come out like new. I bought two sets of strings for my 6 string bass a year ago and so far I'm on my 3rd rotation. Be sure to cut your strings just a little longer than you normally would in case they get a little worn at the bend. I have tried boiling in the past and this is way better.It's better for your strings and is less labor then boiling, once you make the rig. I have yet to change the alcohol.
 
Hmm...

I'm not a big fan of changing bass strings, so I opted to go with the Elixirs. I play about 50% of the time with a pick (Dunlop Tortex), and the half of the time with my fingers........I can usually go about a year with them until the coatin starts coming off. I play about 7 hours (Actual playing time) a week.

I've always heard that boiling brought them back to life, but the alcohol plan sounds like it'd be much better.

As far as the heat in the boiling process goes, I think that it would definantly effect the temper/brittleness of the string thus making them more prone to breakage.

Lemon Oil: Good stuff for necks! I've been told by more than a few guitar techs that ebony really doesn't "soak" up any oil since it's so dense.....I don't know if there is any truth to that or not,....I still use it on my ebony frett boards.

Rick
 
What I do to revive my strings is:
I take the end without the ball in my right hand and insert it in my right ear.I then thread it through untill it comes out my left ear.I then grab the ends with each hand.Then I move it back and forth in a flossing motion.After about a minute of this I take the string out,wipe off the blood and brain tissue and string it back on!
Give it a try!
 
Kelly5150 said:
Ever use a high E string to cut cheese?... works great...:p
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it's a bugger trying to get the cheese from out of the frets.
 
Clive Hugh said:
Yeah, but it's a bugger trying to get the cheese from out of the frets.
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My cousin used to use my old strings as rodent snares. He puts them outside their den hole and flushes them out. One time it took the head clean off a jackrabbit. :eek:
I never looked at him the same after that...
 
I've heard boiled bass strings make a great mid afternoon tea.
 
Dont the strings outer nickel windings get damaged at the frets (causing poor string resonance/vibration, and a dead sound)? This is what happens with 6-strings anyways.

Oxidation would be another mode of string degredation (non reversible). You may be able to remove some of the oxidation with the boiling method (or alcohol/solvent), but there will be 'less' string left when you're done. In my mind heat and water will increase the rate of string oxidation.
 
beezelbubba said:
What I do to revive my strings is:
I take the end without the ball in my right hand and insert it in my right ear.I then thread it through untill it comes out my left ear.I then grab the ends with each hand.Then I move it back and forth in a flossing motion.After about a minute of this I take the string out,wipe off the blood and brain tissue and string it back on!
Give it a try!
Click to expand...

Ah. Mental floss.
 
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