boil strings

[exin]

Okay guys, here's an update of my methylated spirit simmering exercise.

I restrung my bass yesterday. So what i did was to pour away the methylated spirit into my toilet bowl. I suspect it's flammable so be careful.

When i took out my strings it was cold, it's because the spirit is evaporating very fast. So what i did was to unwind the strings out, leave it in the open and the strings will auto-dry after a few minutes.

After that, RESTRING! ... it's quite shiok after that, sounded very much like new strings. Haven't tested the durability and life though .. =)

 

[jbarks]

Bro... you can keep the methylated spirit for reuse lah

Anyway there's no point washing the strings because since the spirit evaporates, there won't be anything left but clean string

 

[rottenramone]

..

SHIOK RIGHT?????????????????

lol

do leave it to dry, don't use cloth, no need to rinse. bits of cloth/lint can get trapped within the grooves of the roundwounds and will deaden the sound.

and yes, IT'S FLAMMABLE. ain't called fire wine fer nuthin' :lol:

 

[foong]

Wow this is rather interesting, I guess I've been stuck using the white vineger technique for too long, I'll give the spirit a go.

 

[exin]

Bro... you can keep the methylated spirit for reuse lah

Anyway there's no point washing the strings because since the spirit evaporates, there won't be anything left but clean string

wah!!! ... goodness .. there goes 3 bucks ... how long do you think i can keep the spirit for before i can't use it anymore?

 

[jbarks]

Bro... you can keep the methylated spirit for reuse lah

Anyway there's no point washing the strings because since the spirit evaporates, there won't be anything left but clean string

wah!!! ... goodness .. there goes 3 bucks ... how long do you think i can keep the spirit for before i can't use it anymore?

I don't know, but it should be quite a while unless you have very very sweaty palms... suggest you get one of those pvc pipes and a cap and fill it up... then you can reuse over and over 8)

 

[LuciferX]

does it works on guitar strings??

 

[wraith]

There's no reason why it shouldn't.

 

[jbarks]

Unless the guitar strings cannot tahan being taken out and put back over and over again. Thinner strings have less stress tolerance

 

[museDTrush]

hi

i just took off the strings to give the fretboard a good polishing as it was real dirty when i brought it back home..

i read about leaving the strings soaked for 24 hours, but do i have to do any settings to my neck?

sorry for bringing up such an old thread but i am worried that my bass will be damaged if i leave it stringless for too long leh

 

[shinobi]

nothing will happen to the neck if there is no string tension. it's not gonna self destruct, so dont worry :mrgreen:

 

[museDTrush]

hahas glad to hear that..

was worried because i read somewhere about the truss rod exerting a force to counter the string tension, so i thought it might be bad for the neck..

thanks anyway

 

[kerplunk182]

Won't the tip of the strings be like.. Curly?

 

[HideX_X]

i tried ur mattered i learnt a few things
A:It will harden the strings =More gauge and easier to be broken
B:It ruins the string tone
C:Shortening string life
D:If u didnt understand what A means it means let say u got a gauge 9 string usually the last string for ur guitar then after u boil it it will become like gauge 12-15 and its freaking harden and if u bend it it will break immeadiately my experience says... DoNT D0 iT!

 

[shinobi]

yup don't boil your strings, especially if they are.... electric guitar strings

boiling is for BASS strings, which are wound. and the principle is to remove all the scum and shit that is caught in between the windings.

if you want a solution for your electric guitar, the solution is: buy a new pack
they only cost around 5 bucks a pack

 

[museDTrush]

hey shinobi, i think he means the denatured alcohol method la..

and ya exactly like wad shinobi said its to clean between the winding of the thick bass strings, so if u try on guitar strings, its most probably going to turn out bad..

 

[widdly]

Why do you need to boil the methylated spirits? That stuff will lift house paint of brushes when it's cold. Boiling it sounds pretty dangerous to me.

 

[rottenramone]

not boil, immerse the strings in methylated spirit.

the boiling is only restricted to water.

 

[rottenramone]

anyways, it'll be impossible to boil spirit, lift the lid and its gone!

 

[shinobi]

still, the methylated spirit will not react with the metal. the principle is only to dissolve dirt. so string itself is not affected

if you boil, the metal will tarnish (nickel doesn't rust). its a short term fix because while the tarnishing affects the tone (as mentioned with the guitar string experiment), the strings will sound brighter because it is clean. boiling is meant to be a last-gasp fix to get the brightness back, and is in no way a means to prolong the string life. when you boil the string it shortens the life.