Do you boil your strings?

[rpsands]

I buy Elixirs for 40 bucks which last (if you don't use a pick) six months and sound the same the whole time.

[eric.chambers]

I've tried a whole mess of different bass strings and the ones that stay new sounding the longest IMO are D' addario bass strings. The store here in my town sells em for $17.99 wich is pretty cheap too. I've boiled quite a few sets in my day though.

[T. Alan Smith]

 

I boil mine - once or twice will give them extended life. I keep meaning to try that alcohol in the tube thingee.

 

 

Yeah, 6 string sets were difficult to come by and expen$ive. I'd replace them once a month, but one weekend of hard gigging would deaden them. I'd let 'em go for a 2nd weekend, then boil them before each weekend for the remainder of the month(2 boils). Sure, the brightness wouldn't last a whole set, but I never broke a string due to boiling either.

[SA Rios]

They are especially good when boiled in chicken broth, celery, carrots, and onion. But really, alcohol on a cloth works great. I wipe my strings down every time I play them. Also, wash your hands too before you play. I prefer the sound of new strings but I can still get about 3 months out of them if cleaned daily. I use DR Fat Beams, so I can't take them off and put them on again anyway. Something about having a round core, you have to be gentle with them.

[Trauma_Luna]

i boil them.. they seem to be like new after that.

[Super Bass]

How many times have you boiled your strings Trauma Llama

 

 

 

(sorry that's what i see everytime I see your username.)

[Trauma_Luna]

How many times have you boiled your strings Trauma Llama (sorry that's what i see everytime I see your username.)

 

i just boil them 2 times before change them!

 

Look! a Luna!

 

sorry its too easy to confuse those names

[Optimus Prime]

EDIT: be careful if you go the Denatured Alcohol route, that stuff will mess you up in a "not good" way. Not only through vapors but skin absorption also. It's some wicked {censored}.

I remember reading somewhere that if you soak your fingers in that {censored}, it turns them rock hard. But you lose the feeling in them. Is this true? I might have to try it.

[Super Bass]

i just boil them 2 times before change them! Look! a Luna! sorry its too easy to confuse those names

 

 

You should get your name changed to Trauma Llama! :poke:

[Zebra]

I do every so often. I really would like to try the tube deal, though, just wiping them with a cloth and alcohol does nothing that I can notice.

[Hopi]

I boiled mine all the time when I first started playing. I was about 12, starting out with my brother's hand-me-down Encore bass, so it was hard to get Dad to spread for a new set everytime my grimy hands would ruin a fresh set. After awhile though, the strings would tend to look oxidized, and the silk coverings on the ends would end up looking like you threaded the ends through red cottonballs (think I was using boomers back then).

 

Anyway, speaking of my Dad, he put an abrupt halt to that practice after soup cooked in those same pans started to taste like metallic hand-sweat.

 

Lately, I haven't been playing my 5-string as much to warrant a new set of strings, so about a month ago, I thought I'd give them a good boiling. They did (and still) sound good, but they look a tad silly since I didn't string them on the same side, so I have fretmarks on all of them. Though it does make tuning a bit easier.

[pbass_groovin]

I tried it once but i burnt them.

[bassman1956]

Clean strings?

Replace strings?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really?

[fastlikeninja]

holy crap i just now realized his name isn't trauma llama..

[82Daion]

I've gotten 6 months out of a set of DR Low Riders by using isopropyl alcohol on a cloth to clean them. This works much better for me than boiling ever did.

[Roguetitan]

washing the strings with Rubbing alcohol works as good as boiling them IMO

[Super Bass]

holy crap i just now realized his name isn't trauma llama..

 

[Les_Izzmor]

It's much easier to just boil the whole bass.

[solderjunkie]

You:... Boiling strings...

 

Me: ... :poke:

 

You: ...

 

Me: ...

[Perfessor]

This is the only place I've ever heard of someone doing that. I can't even imagine boiling my strings. I almost believe it was started as an urban legend.

[lug]

 

This is the only place I've ever heard of someone doing that. I can't even imagine boiling my strings. I almost believe it was started as an urban legend.

 

 

 

Nope, was doing it back in the 70's.

[Les_Izzmor]

 

Nope, was doing it back in the 70's.

 

 

There's proof. Boiling your strings will make you suck.

[Darkstorm]

Though bass string sets cost lot more then guitar string set, its still a low enough price that anyone with a job should be able to get new set every 2-3 months without a problem. You can get em for $20 or less for most name brands. Slightly more for others.

[Wooj]

 

Though bass string sets cost lot more then guitar string set, its still a low enough price that anyone with a job should be able to get new set every 2-3 months without a problem. You can get em for $20 or less for most name brands. Slightly more for others.

 

 

Agreed. But I'd still prefer to NOT pay $100+/year for bass strings if I can make a bass string alcohol tube for $12 that I can use forever and keep my strings sounding like new for 6+ months. (That is, my gigging strings, of course. When I'm not gigging I use a set of strings only for practice, to reduce wear on my gigging strings which REALLY matter. I figure this way I can extend the life of both sets even longer.)

[T. Alan Smith]

 

Nope, was doing it back in the 70's.

 

 

I read how to do it in Bass Player mag back in the early 90's. It works, but very quickly, your strings will go dead...and worse than before boiling. But like I said, with the cost & availability of 6 string sets, I did it anyway. Replacing them once a month was enough expenditure.

Over the years, I've found that washing my hands before picking up my bass, and wiping the strings down immediately after playing went much furthur. And it's much easier.