One Way to Stretch the Life of Guitar or Bass Strings

For the impoverished musician (is there any other kind?) a great way to stretch the life of guitar or bass strings, especially bass, is to boil them in half and half water and vinegar.

When they are starting to get too dull sounding remove them from the instrument ensuring that they do not become twisted or bent in the process.

Wind the set into a ring, if you like you can mark them with elastics or twist ties to tell them apart, but if you are careful to compare them when you are putting them back onto the instrument you should have no trouble determining which is which. Wind the ends of the stings (not too tightly, just enough to hold the set together around themselves so the ring will remain intact.

Place enough water and vinegar (equal portions) to just cover the strings and then some in an old pot, whatever you do, DO NOT use your wife’s good cookware, you can scratch or damage the metal finish and will not live to tell the tale. Set stove on high.

Place strings in the water solution, keep some metal tongs close by to move them and eventually remove them from the boiling water.

Once the water solution has boiled, let the strings boil for about seven minutes, turning at least once to make sure the whole sting gets cleaned. Remove the strings from the boiling water directly to a cool water rinse under the tap. Let cool, dry, replace on the instrument, against ensuring you do not add any excess bends or twists as they will impair the sound of the string and it will not last as long.

Bass strings respond especially well to this treatment as they are much larger and have larger windings to catch dirt and corrosion, and the process actual seems to revive some of the flexibility. This is also good news since bass strings are so expensive compared to guitar strings.

Finally, this will work on strings of almost any age but works best on ones that have just started to get old. This can also be repeated once or twice to stretch the life of your stings even further, though eventually they will simply need replacing.