From: alib@IASTATE.EDU (Richard A Brown)
Subject: Re: Sweatty fingers
Reply-To: alib@IASTATE.EDU (Richard A Brown)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 04:46:38 GMT

In article <N0syiB7w164w@mantis.co.uk>, jonathan@mantis.co.uk (Jonathan Egre')
writes:
> bogstad@imhfhp16.epfl.ch (BOGSTAD Mark IMHEF DME EPFL) writes:
> [That he is tired of changing the strings on his acoustic guitar.
>  I had some probems including the original text, hence the summary.]
>
> This may surprise you, but changing strings once a month is considered
> quite normal.  

I second this.

> I have often heard that if you boil old strings (yes, in a pan of boiling 
> water in your kitchen) they will sound like new again.  I've never tried
> it though, and I'm not convinced that a string which has already been 
> twisted round a tuning peg would be easy to put back after boiling.

A bass player friend used to boil his strings, and it *did* work.  
I didn't boil mine because: (1) my guitar runs the strings through the
body and there is no way I could get the strings back on after the peghead
ends are bent from being twisted round the tuning pegs, and (2) guitar strings
are a lot cheaper than bass strings, and I could afford new ones once a month.
Strat owners with the conventional whammy bar have the same problem with
putting the strings back on (I think; haven't restrung one in a while).
However, if you have a Floyd Rose-style bridge, a Les Paul-style
stop tailpiece, or a Kahler cam tremolo, you don't have problem (1) above, and
if your budget can't hack a new set of strings every month, then reason (2)
above doesn't apply to you and you probably want to give boiling a try.

My friend's strings were not given infinite life by this process, however.
If a new set sounded good for a month, they'd sound *almost* new for ~3 weeks
after the 1st boiling before getting muddy-sounding again. After the 2nd
boiling, they sounded a little worse than immediately after the 1st boiling,
and the sound deteriorated in maybe 2 weeks. (This was our subjective,
empirical observation, anyway - we weren't doing meticulous research here.)
My theory was that the total sound degradation of the strings had a "wear"
component (mechanical wear on the windings at each fret location) and a
"grunge" component (dirt-sweat mixture that stuck to the strings and
further disturbed the uniformity of the string's cross-section).  So I
think we were slowing down the total sound degradation by eliminating the
grunge component.  Once the wear component got bad enough, additional 
boilings didn't seem to help, and it was time for him to plunk down another
US$30 or whatever he paid, but at least he cut his string expenses in
half.

Oh, and if you don't want to have to take off all your strings at once
and throw off your neck adjustment or your Floyd whammy, buy two sets 
and rotate them.

Also, it helps if you dry them real well - out in the sun or stick them
in the oven. Oven drying has the additional benefit of removing any
doubt in the minds of your housemates that you've gone bonkers.

One more thing: You can buy strings in bulk (in lots of 1 dozen)
through Musician's Friend, and the cost works out to less than US$3/set
(plus shipping and handling).  I don't have their 1-800 number, but
you can call 1-800-555-1212 and get it from directory assistance. 
--
Ali Brown	

Newsgroups: alt.guitar