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

[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]

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

 

[PFDarkside]

Freezing:
I think that rumour comes from the cryogenically frozen strings. That's like liquid nitrogen temps, so you can't do that at home.

Breaking Bass Strings:
My friend broke one when he was doing his crazy slap and pop. They were probably super light strings and I bet they may have been tuned up.

 

[Toki987]

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.

In my town in the 60`s there were two different string sets you could get at the drugstore, Black Diamond acoustic electric, and Black Diamond acoustic. They'd turn you fingers black in a few minutes from the reaction of the metal to the salts in your skin.

 

[Kelly5150]

Italian salad dressing works great. the vinegar cuts the scum and the oil keeps it from rusting....

Oh yes, good stuff...

 

[Toki987]

Italian salad dressing works great. the vinegar cuts the scum and the oil keeps it from rusting....

Oh yes, good stuff...

hahahaha, not bad

and it always smells like a salad bar!!

 

[Dani Pace]

A good wipedown after playing is my way of getting maximum life out of a set of strings. A mixture of lemon oil and mineral spirits in equal parts applied to a cloth and rub like hell, this removes finger grime and leaves a light coat of oil on the strings to prevent rust, and believe it or not this mixture is really good for rosewood fingerboards, it keeps the wood plyable(feels soft too) and helps preserve the wood. Alchohol or wd40 on a cloth works well on maple fingerboards, I'm not sure what to use on ebony.

 

[Pha'dur]

Lemon oil is also very good for ebony. If you have an ebony fretboard you need to give it a healthy dose of lemon oil every 6 months or so to keep it from drying and cracking.

 

[James Argo]

Lemon oil is also very good for ebony. If you have an ebony fretboard you need to give it a healthy dose of lemon oil every 6 months or so to keep it from drying and cracking.

...this sounds interesting. Would it work for any kind of wood ?

 

[Pha'dur]

i would think so... I think they only told me to do that for ebony because it's more prone to drying out than your average wood. Since the fretboard gets finger oil on it all the time i think that has something to do with the drying out. But regardless i'm 99% that you won't have any ill effect from putting lemonoil on any kind of wood.

 

[Lt. Bob]

The folks who make that 'thumb' bass......Warwick maybe?....recommend beeswax for raw wood. That seems to work well also.......but I've always used lemon oli.

 

[M.Brane]

I use lemon oil on all my necks. You can apply it directly to ebony, rub it in and let it soak a bit, then wipe off the excess. With rosewood you should put the oil on a cloth, and use that to rub it in. Too much oil on rosewood will make it too soft.

Don't have any maple fretboards here.

 

[samuelwaylen]

I know of this from days of old.I believe it also applies to all metal strings.i.e. acoustic and electric ones too.
I had also heard that it helps to use a liquid detergent like ( can I advertise ?) Sqeezy or Fairy Liquid.
Anyone gonna kick this one out of the park?

 

[JonnyM]

WHY cant you just let the strings die!


...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,

freak

Change strings? On a Bass? Did I miss something, why on earth would you change the strings? I've had the same set on my Bass for oh, 25 years now. They just don't seem to want to wear out. They're just now getting broken in.

When I bought the Bass (used) the manager ever threw in a Brand new set of Bass Strings. I still got 'em. Who should I send 'em 2? I"m never gonna need 'em.

 

[StarvingEyes]

even if you do take all of your strings off and boil them..

don't most of you people cut your strings almost down to the peg after you string your guitar? so if you try to put them back on, how can you make them stretch to fit back on again. maybe its just me, i cut all mine down!

 

[Rokket]

even if you do take all of your strings off and boil them..

don't most of you people cut your strings almost down to the peg after you string your guitar? so if you try to put them back on, how can you make them stretch to fit back on again. maybe its just me, i cut all mine down!

I was always told that to get the best out of your strings, you should wind them at least 1 1/2 times around the peg, so there should be enough there to put them back on.

As far as boiling goes, I've also been told that the strings go dead much faster after you boil them.

I only change my strings when one of them goes dead. My first set was on my bass for 5 years, and I only changed them because I wanted to get some bright punchy fret squeeks in a song I was doing (it was a spoof, so the worse the playing, the better). The current set I have on has been there for almost 2 years. I'm lazy and I don't wipe down my strings after playing, so I could imagine there is probably enough oil and dead skin in my strings to make a whole person by now!

I may change them out after I retire, but since I am stationed in Japan right now, I will avoid it. I play D'Addario, and they run about $65 a set!

 

[Lt. Bob]

I have several wraps around the peg so there's always enough left over. I like a few wraps ...... there's just that much more mass up there ....... not that I do any of these string reusing things anyway ....... I just go buy a new set. But boiling does work and back when I could either get strings or eat I did it often.