Boil a string!!

[Towzend]

Ive always noticed that when my strings start to go off, i did say 'start' its always the low 'E' that goes dull first!

every time! the other strings still have plenty of life in them.. its so anoying that every time it the bass 'E'?

 

So, i thought i'd try a little trick.. i got a sausepan put a little water in and boiled the string! (ill try anything once!)

i simmered it for about 10min, took it out, and run it through a towl a few times and then blasted it with an airdryer (on hot)

to make sure its perfectly dry..

 

Tuned it back on my guitar.. hey presto!! nice twaggy string again!!

 

 

So when they all go 'dull' ill be boiling the lot!!!

[J200_2013]

Very interesting. I wonder if the low e just traps grease and dirt and whatnot easier than the other strings. By this logic, the high b and e would be the last to dull out.

[Towzend]

Very interesting. I wonder if the low e just traps grease and dirt and whatnot easier than the other strings. By this logic, the high b and e would be the last to dull out.

 

 

Yep your right.. thats the reason i decided to boil it, to get rid of grease & crap hidden in the windings of the string!

it was worth a try?

[j45nick]

I think Em7 treats old strings this way, and may even use an additive in the water.

[MissouriPicker]

I figure if one string goes dead, then I've only got five that I need to tune. Eventually, I don't have to tune the guitar at all..........Boiling strings. Very interesting.

[E-minor7]

I think Em7 treats old strings this way, and may even use an additive in the water.

Was just writing this one while you posted :

We boiled a lot as youngsters and I sometimes still do it. The Martin SP Marquis replaced on the Bird last week was in the water before X-mas and came up great.

New crisp and kind of old, played in at the same time is the general result.

 

Wrote about the procedure here more than once, but there's not a great audience for it. People seem to disbelieve or associate it with poor times. . .

 

Back in the day we always gave them 20 minutes, but that is boiled down to 10 now – approx like the hard egg you talk about, Towzend.

A sip of soap in the pot and swing the 6-steel 10 times like a propeller for drying.

 

Cheers -

[BluesKing777]

Not sure if we should be encouraging some of the skinflints around here to be boiling strings like an old blues guitarist?

 

 

I can see it now - the boss gets home and sees me boiling guitar strings -"What you doing dear?"

 

"Errr Uhhhm - boiling my guitar strings,dear - only 124 to go - will be finished soon"

 

"I just need to make a phone call", she says.

 

 

 

There is this gadget from Tone Gear - cleans your strings without having to take them off!:

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StringCleanG

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[62burst]

Boil your strings? Absolutely. Bass players have been doing this for years. At $40 for a good set of bass strings, longevity is an issue.

 

Also- for the unwound strings, if you've just gotten your beloved G from a mate

who was previously mopping up cheese crumbs on a plate with his left hand, don't despair;

a paper towel with some isopropyl alcohol (even Rain-X will work), & your unwounds are squeaky (I mean cover your ears) clean again.

[merseybeat1963]

From the old timers book back in the day..but I wouldnt bother.

On electrics I've always sprayed lemon pledge on to a t shirt and wiped undernieth part of strings then tops(strings only)..gets black off bottom..and makes them nice and fast.

Eric Clapton used to say he only changed strings when they broke.

On electric Im close to that..but Acoustics I change as I feel they get stiffer as they sit.

[Stubee]

Agree with other guys on the boiling 'trick', it's an old one but way too much work for me!

[tpbiii]

Back in the 60s, this was common. You also bought individual strings and only replaced them when they broke.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[onewilyfool]

This thread reminds me of an old joke....

 

This nurse was always getting her treatments backwards, for example, instead of giving 4 pills every 3 hours, she gave a patient 3 pills every 4 hours. The finally had to fire her when she was instructed to prick a guy's boil......and instead......

[strat71]

i have a feeling that this method don't work well with coated strings...

[quapman]

Yep,, old trick. Yep, it works.

 

Onewilyfool,, who is your nurse?.. I want to be sure I never see her if I ever get a boil....

[Towzend]

Damm It !!!

 

I thought this was my idea

 

Ive never heard of anyone doing this before..

 

Ah well.. you know what they say.. Great minds think alike!!

[Dreamline]

I have been boiling bass strings for years but never thought of doing it with acoustic strings. A signed band had a room to themselves in a studio that I used to work in and the bass player used to change his strings quite regularly so I had his 'old' ones, boiled them up for 10 mins and hey presto 'new' strings. Acoustic strings are much less expensive so I don't think I would ever bother boiling them, just keep them as clean as possible.

 

Kev

[MR GIBS]

Just boiled some strings. Tomorrow will try how they sound on my Yamaha

[MR GIBS]

Just boiled some strings. Tomorrow will try how they sound on my Yamaha

[GotTheSilver]

I have heard of this, but never tried it. The question I have is how do you get used strings back on a guitar? When I put them on the first time, I (like most people) cut off the excess string. Seems like it would be hard to restring with a string that has been cut short. Is that not the case?

[stein]

I have heard of this, but never tried it. The question I have is how do you get used strings back on a guitar? When I put them on the first time, I (like most people) cut off the excess string. Seems like it would be hard to restring with a string that has been cut short. Is that not the case?

Good point.

 

When I used to do it for my Strat, it was kinda hard to get the string back through the trem block. What I would have to do, is bend the end in kinda a "z" shape so the end would clear the sides. Or rather, straighten it and tweak it the right amount.

 

Generally, it is a little easier winding it on the peg as the string already has the bends on it from where it came off. But sometimes, the string breaks on the end, and the strings gets shorter. Not by a lot. But I would always wonder how many times I could do it until it was too short.

[stein]

I wonder:

 

Do they make strings for the microwave yet?

 

If you have those fancy cryogenic strings, Does boiling them reverse the process? What if you stick them in the freezer? Would it make sense to refrigerate them until you use them?

 

Sinse we are cooking them, how about some recipees? I don't know, maybe a touch of lemon? Maybe something that cleans and slickens them? Home made coated strings?

[MR GIBS]

That trick definitely WORKS. Boiled the strings from my SJ 200 and then put them on my Yamaha drednout. Cuted some 8mm. from each one. Their sound is like almost new strings are on the guitar.