We all know that strings eventually loose their brightness as they corrode over time. Those rust spots can really dull the sound, and most players will opt to buy a new set of strings when they reach this point. For the guitar player, this is a relatively small investment, but for the bass player this can be fairly expensive depending on the brand and style of strings they choose. Here is a recipe to get more playing time out of your bass strings.
Ingredients:
1 pot of boiling water
1 set of corroded strings
Steps:
Once the water is at a full boil, place the rusted strings loosely in the pot. Let water boil until the corrosion has worked loose and come off the strings. While the water is still boiling, carefully remove the strings from the water using a long set of tongs. The air will cause the hot water on the strings to vaporize almost immediately leaving the string completely dry and for the most part free of corrosion. Put them back on your guitar, and play your heart out.
When doing this process, you do not want to coil the strings up before adding them to the water. This will allow water to be trapped between the coils when they are removed, and this water can quickly cause rust to appear again. Keep them as loose as possible. Also, if you let the water cool before removing the strings, it may not vaporize completely, and the remaining dampness will also cause corrosion to quickly appear once again.
This boiling process will make your strings once again sound newer and brighter. It is by no means as good as a brand new set of strings, but it will give you more playing time for your invested money. While I recommend this mostly for bass strings, I have heard of guitar players who have used the same process, but for me personally, guitar strings are inexpensive enough to just buy a new set.
As an added note, I have heard of one player who adds a little cooking oil to the water. He believes that the oil coats the strings giving them even longer life. I am not convinced that this works, and I do not recommend it personally, but I am willing to hear from others who may have tried this extra step, and their experiences with it.
Gary Allen
November 7, 2009 @ 8:57 am
I heard of this in the seventies from Jim the bassist/front man/singer in “The Cyril B Bunter Band” based in Sydney Australia. They were an excellent blues band, but were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they just couldn’t crack it at a time when blues weren’t popular enough to give them the recognition that they richly deserved. They were a killer band but were always poor and broke and a new set of bass strings was out of Jim’s reach most weeks so he’d boil his old gunked up strings. What a loss to the music world when they split.