Ever boil your bass strings?

[brandondrury]

Yesterday, I was in a jam. The bass player was broke and couldn't afford yet another set of bass strings. Boiling the strings saved our ass.

http://www.recordingreview.com/artic...d-The-Day.html


Have you guys tried it?

Brandon

[Crandles]

i havent but i know a guy who lived in russia at one point who would boil his old gutiar strings after he changed them and gave them to kids who couldnt afford to buy new ones

[dach]

I save the old strings with the intent of boiling them, but to this day have not bothered to actually do it....

[brandondrury]

Well, as I wrote in my stupid little blog, it actually works if you are desperate.

Brandon

[PhilB]

A friend of mine swears by using lighter fluid and a soft cotton cloth on his bass strings.

The outside of the lighter fluid tin says it can be used to remove corrosion from metal.

voila!

pb

ps don't sniff !

[brandondrury]

While it's sacreligious for pyros like myself to use flamable liquids for anything other than burning stuff, I have to say that this is an amazing idea!!

Brandon

[randy]

Yeah I'm surprised more people don't boil their strings. I've done it, a buddy of mine does it all the time. It really makes them sound brand new. And I highly recommend it, especially since bass strings are so expensive.

Never heard of the lighter fluid trick, but I'm sure it works great, haha.

[brandondrury]

Is metal corrosion the cause of the strings losing their life? I never really thought about it, but it makes sense. I just thought the string stetched or something.

Hmm.

Yeah I'm surprised more people don't boil their strings.

I think it's because most people are braindead and deaf when it comes to tone. People are content with playing old strings. Back when I serious about guitar playing, I could never get more than 3 weeks out of my strings and that was pushing it. It was totally worth me spending $4 per month on strings to get tone that was light years ahead of the alternative (dead strings).
For a bass player you are looking at nearly 10x the price. It seams that boiling is the only option.

Brandon

[randy]

Metal corrosion? That could definitely be part of it. But I always figured it was more or less, oil from a person's fingers. You know how guitarists like to eat greasy pizzas, have bong resin on their hands and whatnot. Boiling would/should take care of both problems though. Of course, I wouldn't recommend boiling your bong. That would be downright rude.

Wait a minute....what the fuck am I doing in a guitar thread? haha

[PhilB]

Live it up, brothers, here's the google scoop:

seems to be the shizzle/the authoroti:
http://www.tunemybass.com/strings/ho...s_strings.html
http://www.tunemybass.com/strings/bo...s_strings.html


Less informed dudes comments follow here...I say denatured alcohol's the way to go, but boiling seems o.k., either way, strings that have been dented against the frets, through extended use or popping the strings funk-style spell the end of a set, but refresh until then with one of these methods:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum.../t-237793.html
http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=9443
http://www.visionentertainment.com/h...___tricks.html
http://www.basslobster.com/index.html

good luck to all
and hey, we all just saved $$ on bass strings !!!

pb