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6STRINGS 9LIVES
October 4th, 2006, 09:45 AM
Years ago I had a buddy who used to boil his strings in a pot of water for about 10 mins before installing them , he played in a working band and played 5-6 nights a week all year long , he swore that it gave him incredable tuning stability especially on the g , he would religiously boil his strings after about 3-4 nights playing and always kept a set of boiled strings in his case for emergency ... anybody ever try it ... think i'll give it a whirl ... 6S9L

Tone2TheBone
October 4th, 2006, 09:51 AM
I used to do that right after I read Eddie talk about it. I'd restore old sets of strings like that and it actually seemed to work. I don't do it anymore though since strings are so cheap.

Plank_Spanker
October 4th, 2006, 10:28 AM
I used to do it back in my younger, poorer years. I just use new sets now.

Nelskie
October 4th, 2006, 10:29 AM
I heard somewhere, too, that adding root vegetables to the water enhances the "flavor" of your playing . . . ?

6STRINGS 9LIVES
October 4th, 2006, 10:43 AM
braaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaa... I knew this was coming , root vegies would definitely help one when DIGGING IN

SuperSwede
October 4th, 2006, 11:02 AM
Boiling strings seems to be quite common among bass players.

duhvoodooman
October 4th, 2006, 12:31 PM
braaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaa... I knew this was coming , root vegies would definitely help one when DIGGING IN
Sounds like ajob for SPUDman! :D

warren0728
October 4th, 2006, 12:32 PM
never heard of boiling strings before...how do you know when they are done...throw them agaainst the wall and see if they stick like pasta? :D

ww

Tone2TheBone
October 4th, 2006, 12:43 PM
never heard of boiling strings before...how do you know when they are done...throw them agaainst the wall and see if they stick like pasta? :D

ww


When the water turns a mucky grey/brown color then they're ready. :)

t_ross33
October 4th, 2006, 05:16 PM
Back in my bass daze (as a young, poor teenager ;) ) I used to boil my strings in vinager. It worked pretty good and strings lasted almost twice as long.

I haven't tried it with guitar strings, but I think the smaller diameter strings on a tighter radius tuning machine would be more prone to breakage.

Spudman
October 4th, 2006, 06:14 PM
Sounds like ajob for SPUDman! :D

Oh great...something else for me to do. :( :)

I used to boil mine back in my younger hungrier days. When you add some road kill to the pot you can end up with a tasty broth (note to all you aspiring young starving musicians). It used to work to revive older used strings. However, the wear from the frets shortened the string life and made the strings feel funny when you put them back on the guitar.

Strings are less than $3 a set so I don't worry about it anymore. I just change them. Besides...I'd need a bathtub full of boiling water to do all of them.:D