Ever boil your bass strings?

[foundexodus]

I am a bassist at my church and in two bands, so I play my bass a ton. I boil my strings just about every other week and rotate them so I dont keep hitting the same part of the string against the frets. It also gives me a good opportunity to clean the neck so that I dont worry about corrosion or "gunk" but I find its very helpful.

[mike4sound]

New vesus Old. I'll go for new.Sounds and feels great.
However I did do the boiling thing.Ok,but had to change.

[lolgreg]

Nothing sounds worse than old bass strings (possibly aside from Panic at the Disco's lead singer live). Don't drink/eat in for a night and save up for new strings (hah). I tried boiling and ended up just restringing it 'cause it sounded a billion times better. I hear boiling can also do nasty things to the strings... who knows.

-Greg

[izzme]

the sound of bass strings is a taste thing to some extent. i read where one of the best bass players ever[james jamerson] never changed them !check his sound out on the motown records!!!!!

[MikHalifax]

Let's all call in to American Idol on Wednesday nights and ask Randy Jackson what his opinion on the subject is. He might even do some name dropping and plug a new album.

[Multiman]

It works, but not for the reasons one may think.

All metal that has been vibrated experiences what is aptly referred to as "metal fatigue." The molecular structure actually becomes more dense leading to a "duller" sound since the vibrations move more slowly. This happens with any metal instrument, including horns and cymbals. Old ones always sound darker. Drummers will polish cymbals to restore brightness but it really doesn't work, though there is some "cross sensing." (The cymbal is brighter, therefore they think it's brighter in sound).

Boiling strings helps, relaxing the string helps, alcohol helps, but the main reason a boiled bass string sounds somewhat renewed is mostly because the area that touches the frets is not the same flattened out area where it'd been played for so long. There's fresh metal touching the frets so there's more "zing" to the sound.

[adorian]

Originally Posted by Multiman

It works, but not for the reasons one may think.

All metal that has been vibrated experiences what is aptly referred to as "metal fatigue." The molecular structure actually becomes more dense leading to a "duller" sound since the vibrations move more slowly. This happens with any metal instrument, including horns and cymbals. Old ones always sound darker. Drummers will polish cymbals to restore brightness but it really doesn't work, though there is some "cross sensing." (The cymbal is brighter, therefore they think it's brighter in sound).

Boiling strings helps, relaxing the string helps, alcohol helps, but the main reason a boiled bass string sounds somewhat renewed is mostly because the area that touches the frets is not the same flattened out area where it'd been played for so long. There's fresh metal touching the frets so there's more "zing" to the sound.

So in other words if we just kept changing the area that touches the string that would work just as well. Interesting idea, haven't tried it. I usually keep a few sets of strings that have been used and boil them together in one sweep so I have spare sets to change with.

[Multiman]

Originally Posted by adorian

So in other words if we just kept changing the area that touches the string that would work just as well. Interesting idea, haven't tried it. I usually keep a few sets of strings that have been used and boil them together in one sweep so I have spare sets to change with.

It'll help, but as mentioned, old is old and you can't make something new again.

[Sloom]

So what we've learned here is that you can lengthen the life of your strings with a good cleaning (and a little regular string 'rotation'), but nothing replaces the actual physical properties of a new, un-fatigued set. Interesting how we go through a great gruggling episode to learn about the natural, physical laws that rule our logistical and economic lives, and often end up back where we started!

Personally, I don't like the sound of new strings anyway... they make me feel so... brash! Gimme some used-sounding dark-ish 'thump', and lemme make it say something reasonable. New strings? We don't need no stinkin' new strings!

I might make that tube though. Neat idea for when you're in a pinch, and can see it coming.

[adorian]

I think the whole idea is to get the sound that you're after. I personally like slightly duller strings both on guitar and on bass. On bass I think it depends a lot on the style that you're after - if it is slap funk or power metal like Iron Maiden then old strings definitely won't cut it for you. If you're after classic rock sounds as in Deep Purple or Black Sabbath I think old strings have some merit.