Bass Guitar Tips

How to Revitalize Your Bass Strings

Here’s another little Bass Guitar tip from ‘El Cheapo’ Dave:

When your roundwound bass strings start to sound a little dull and lose their sustain, you can ‘resurrect’ or revitalize them them pretty easily. At least, they’ll stay alive long enough to get $20 into your pocket, or make a run down to your local music store for new bass guitar strings.

This works! Trust me!

Bass String Cleaning Tip Instructions

1. Remove the strings carefully, bending/unbending them as little as you can get by with & still get them off the instrument.
2. Coil the strings up into about a 4” diameter and overlap-lock them into that configuration.
3. If you have an ultrasonic (jewelry) cleaner, use that first, with a little bit of Dawn dishwashing detergent in the water. And it helps to put very hot water in the unit. You’ll be shocked at how much brownish-gray ‘mung’ comes out from between the windings of your strings! If you don’t have an ultrasonic cleaner, don’t despair. Skip this step and go on to:
4. Start a saucepan of water boiling on the stove. If you don’t have the above mentioned ultrasonic cleaner, you can use some non-sudsing dishwasher detergent such as Cascade, but sparingly. I’d say about a tablespoon in a quart of water, at most. If you have an ultrasonic and have already done the detergent treatment in that, then you may put a tablespoon per quart of Baking Soda in the pan of water. Place the coiled-up strings in the water, making sure that they’re completely submerged, and bring it up to a full, roiling boil. Keep it boiling for at least 10-15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, pour off the water, rinse strings and refill pan with clean hot water. Boil again for a few minutes more to remove any residues of detergent or baking soda.
6. Remove strings from pan (I’d use a fork to lift them, as they’ll be pretty hot), place them on the rack in your oven, set at very low heat (250 F. or less), and allow to dry completely in the warm oven. Turn off oven and remove strings, allow them to cool before reinstalling

Bass String Cleaning Tip Summary

I guarantee that you’ll notice a real difference when you’ve restrung your bass. The bright ringing tone and sustain will be back, at least to 95%. On strings with the silk wrapping on the tuner-ends, the silk will get a little ‘fuzzy’ from the boiling. This is not a problem, except visually.

I’ve found that if you play your instrument only with clean, dry hands and don’t use any of that ‘finger/string lube’ stuff, your bass strings will last for ages. If you have naturally oily hands/skin, I’d suggest washing your hands well with soap before each time you play, to keep the oiliness level down. It’s that skin oil & sweat (and/or the string lube) that carries dirt & dead skin cells down in between the windings of your strings, damping their vibration, especially in the higher overtones.

That's my Bass Guitar Tip on String Cleaning!

For more information visit Project Bass Guitars, and DIY Bass Tips