Tuesday’s post about Elixir strings set-off an interesting discussion about the merits of cleaning your strings by boiling them. We had a ton of different people chime in with their opinions, both pro-boiling and anti-boiling.
Some people thought it was great. Some people hated it. Opinions were spread out.
But if there was any middle ground it was that boiling your strings will de-gunk-ify them and will work as a short time solution if you are in a pinch, but it will also ruin the integrity of the strings – stifling the tone and leading them to break more easily.
However, what most people seemed to agree upon though was that there was some things you could do maintenance-wise to keep gunk from building up in the first place.
One solution was washing your hands before you pick up the bass. This is a great idea, and has the added benefit of keeping infectious diseases away (right Wiggles?). The other was cleaning strings after every use – which doesn’t take much time, and can go a long way to keeping your strings sounding great.
So today we’re taking a look at a string cleaner from Rotosound.
             
It clips over the strips to clean the strings from both sides, and uses microfiber pads to remove and hold debris without having to use any cleaning solution.
The Rotosound String Cleaner works for all 4 or 5-string bass guitars and promises to revitalize old strings and preserve the life and tone of your strings.
It retails for $22.95, but it is available for order today at Best Bass Gear for $16.
What do you guys think? Does anybody who has used the Rotosound String Cleaner have any feedback?
I have not used the Rotosound cleaner, bt eventually won’t it just get gunky too? Especially if you have multiple basses. I prefer using denatured alcohol because it has no water whatsoever in it. Soak for 24hrs and you can see the filth that came off of them, plus they’re like brand new and not compromised as they would be boiling. Just my thoughts, but hey Rotosound clearly made another way to bring in some cash..
I haven’t tried the string cleaner but that’s because I don’t need to with the Dean Markley Blue Steel Cryogenic
Activated medium guage strings. I’ve had them on my 63 Fender P Bass for around 13 years and they stay nice and bright. I do wash my hands before and after playing and wipe them off after playing. They are half rounds and I haven’t bothered playing anything else since 1976.
Kind regards,
Dennis Mitchell
13 years? I have a hard time believing that unless your 63 P Bass sat in the case for 95% of that time!
James Jamerson never changed his strings
He actually sent a string back to the manufacturer and asked if they could weld it back together where it had broken. The man loved his strings.
I agree that boiling does indeed work, and is even more effective if you add some vinager to the water…50ml or so to a pan full will do the trick. It is also true that once boiled, the strings will not stay bright for more than a few hours of playing, but usually long enough to earn a some money so you can go nd buy nice new shiney set. I’ve been boiling them since the late 70’s, so it’s nothing new, just an age old ritual. Its a bit like adding methanol to your fuel tank…the car will go a bit quicker, but not for long before it blows up…lol. Fast Fret is good, and seems to make your strings lat a bit longer, so long as you use it b4 and after playing. Also, washing your hands b4 playing does make a huge difference to the longevity of your strings.
Did the string boiling thing in the 70’s when Rotosounds were 30-35 bucks a shot (think of paying double what you do now) and they will give you another gig, but at less brightness. I did a boil of the strings, blotted them dry, then a gentle quick dry in a warm oven. As said, not as bright, but it helped reduce my costs, esp. then when I wasn’t making very much at all in my day gig.
I myself use Denatured alcohol as well. There was a Bass Brother, on the internet, who gave instructions on how to build a bass string cleaner out of PVC piping. I used his idea and modified it a little, works great! My strings go in dirty and come out basically brand new. I alternate between the clean and new ones, save a heap of money in the long run.
I tried Brake (Disk) cleaner but was’nt convinced of the effectiveness,but I still think it can work.
The denatured alcohol trick is the best. I do`ny have to buy strings for a few years. As a matter of fact, I have to replace them only because the windings get flat. either that or they break, but the denatured alcohol thing is the only true way to get strings clean. Nothing else works despite manufacturer’s` best efforts to convince us otherwise.
Denatured alcohol works best after every playing. I play at least 20 min. a day if not a few hours and cleaning only takes a few minutes. It is a money saver.
Went back and read that previous post/article about boiling strings, and I have to repeat here a correction for an ill-advised notion about unstringing necks completely, who does not understand the principle behind a guitar/bass neck, and its truss rod.
If you have a truss rod, you’re helping to alleviate the internal stresses of the neck wood. When you take your strings off, the tension from the strings is indeed relieved from the neck. However, the truss rod’s opposing tension does not keep pulling on the neck, because the rod lets go as it floats inside the neck. Only the screw end deep inside the neck is a rigid point of connection. The screw head where you adjust it pull on another point of connection, but floats inside it. when the strings are no longer pulling on the neck, the neck will drift, and the truss rod will float freely.
The strings and the truss rod, when adjusted correctly, forms a zero-sum balance.
Removing your strings does not put stress on your neck.
I wish every bass player had to sign a statement acknowledging this every time they bought a set of strings. Its one of those myths that wont die.
WD-40 on a cotton rag(an old t-shirt works good)…!!
I use a drill, Isoprpyl alcohol and a rag.
The method goes as following:
1- unstring one (usually the 1st)
2- get the ball inside the mandrill, and hand-tight it.
3- adjust the speed of the drill to a slow march.
4- soak the rag in alcohol, and grab the string firmly, using my thumb nail as guide locating it between two turns of the wound.
5- turn on the drill.
Depending on how much dirt the string’s got, i use to give every of them two passes. When i finish, they sound like new.
I have found in the past that boiling does brighten the sound but makes them brittle and one will break in the middle of a gig. I opt for new strings but am willing to give one of these options a try.
There are some that actually desire the thud of old, non-clean strings – it’s a tone not available with new strings.
Please do not put toxic chemicals such as brake cleaner or WD-40 (both mentioned above) anywhere near your bass.
Man, reading these comments is leading me to buy one of those Rotosound cleaners. Right now.
When it comes to boiling your strings try baking powder or baking soda.This will make the dirt from the strings rise yo the top of the water. Then just finish with Luke warm water and dry them.Works great.
Boil your strings with baking powder until you see the dirt rise to top of the boiling water. Finish with luke warm water.
Use baking powder when boiling your strings
ooooo-fa ! why not use the rotosound tool moistened with denatured alcohol ?
Hoppe’s No 9 gun cleaning solvent on a rag wrapped around string at a time. Or WD-40.
Hoppe’s gun solvent.. that stuff leaves a heck of an odor.
The Rotosound cleaner is for guitars as well as basses. How come only bass players are commenting here? (including myself). Haven’t really thought about string cleaning since I have used Rotosound’s black nylon covered strings for decades. I just rub them with a dry cloth after each gig and they look like new.
I dont think I would even bother boiling strings even if I knew it worked. Ebay has strings for cheap. Ernie Balls are like 15 bucks. I dont play gigs or anything but I play every day and honestly I probably dont change strings as often as most people but I found someone selling blue steels on ebay for 12 bucks. I bought every set they had. I recently decided to try some flats and kept an eye out until I saw precision flats for like 23 dollars and bought a set. Then a week later another set at that price that I put on my Schecter which had strings so new that I put them in the envelopes the flats came in. I wash my hands before I play and have a rag with that I only use to apply renaissance wax to some of my basses finishes (I cannot recommend this enough,it great for everything and museums use it) but I just wipe the strings down after I play. Im not sweating on them or anything and everyone is different but usually when I change strings its probably nothing more than the mental aspect of it because its not like theyre dead or anything. I think a lot of people do this. But if theyre noticably bad enough for you to take them off and boil them then you should just buy a set.