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meths for string cleaning!


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[quote name='mdirvi' post='185789' date='Apr 26 2008, 09:20 AM']personally WD40 a wipe them up and down... stops them rusting[/quote]
does this stay - as a coating I mean, to reduce noise?

I might just try the meths thing on my ray copy. I'll report back

Edited by Geek99
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I've not had a bass string break on me while playing, since I stopped boiling them back in my teens. Whether that's just a coincidence or not, I'm not sure. I only tried it half a dozen times at most, and probably broke only 3 or 4 strings (always the E/D or A).

A bit off topic, but a bit strange, I left my one of my basses at our g****rists' for a week, while he was on holiday a couple of weeks back. It had a fresh (2 day old) set of Ernie Ball Slinkys that had just been gigged when I left it, yet upon it's return I open the case to find the G string broken at the nut. Matey reckons (and I have no reason to doubt him), that it'd been in it's case the entire time. All we can figure, is that maybe with the central heating turned off all week, this somehow caused the string to snap? Odd.

Edited by redzombie
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[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='360907' date='Dec 22 2008, 12:55 PM']I've boiled my strings once in a while, but never used meths.[/quote]


Good job, boiling meths can be dangerous just look what happened to me.
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

nope, methylated spirits - the purple nice smelling foul tasting stuff is what you want. I've been doing this for well over a year and not had to buy new strings in that period (except for a new bass) - I keep a set in the meths and a set on the bass for each bass in the house and rotate as necessary. Works a treat!

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[quote name='thewalruswaspaul' post='558981' date='Aug 3 2009, 09:03 AM']sorry to be bumping a dead thread , when you say meths , is there any particular type of meths? Sorry for the dumb question I just remember seeing about cleaning strings with meths and then seeing on the back of a bottle of meths warinings to avoid contact with skin etc and countless other warnings[/quote]

I use lots of meths , thinning down french polish and oils, cleaning fingerboards and as a lubricant for sanding. Its wonderful property is that it completely evaporates off and does not soak into wood so you get no grain raising when preparing wood.
It will dry out your hands out but I would only worry if you are using it on a daily basis. Use a good moisturiser after use.

On a safety note be very careful not to use it anywhere near a naked flame or whilst smoking. The thing with meths (ask any hiker with a meths stove) is that it burns with an invisible flame so you don't know when it, or you, or in the hikers case the tent are alight. Always use outside if possible.

Boiling strings in water (not meths :) ) is ok as a short term fix but water gets in the windings and unless you dry them fully in the oven (120 for an hour should it) you will not drive all the water out and it will corode the central core and hence the snapping a few people have encountered.

In my younger years I boiled strings , dried them in the oven and then soaked them in WD40 and hung them up for a few days for the excess WD40 to run out. Seemed to work a treat but then strings were a similar price 25 years ago to what they are now so in real terms probably 3 - 4 times more expensive.

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always soak for 24 hrs in Meths for me... and then let them dry naturally.
I think this is better as the string doesn't go through any heating/boiling process.

If you are careful with the winding of the strings then this meths treatment can save you loads of £'s , IME.

I haven't bought any new bass strings for around 10 years plus.. and I rotate about 5 sets or so... if that
I don't play hard..so that helps as well.

Can never see the reasoning around boiling as against Meths soaking..

Change my strings around every 6-8 weeks or whenever I think they have gone right off..........

I use DR's and might treat myself to a couple of new sets but I don't need to...IMV

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[quote name='51m0n' post='559011' date='Aug 3 2009, 10:02 AM']nope, methylated spirits - the purple nice smelling foul tasting stuff is what you want. I've been doing this for well over a year and not had to buy new strings in that period (except for a new bass) - I keep a set in the meths and a set on the bass for each bass in the house and rotate as necessary. Works a treat![/quote]

Cool , thanks , I was a bit scared off by the warning on the bottles

Quote: "Harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed. Harmful: possible risk of irreversible effects through inhalation,
in contact with skin and if swallowed.
Also i have seen methylated spirits and mineralised methylated spirits , whats the difference between the 2 , are either prefereable over the other

Edited by thewalruswaspaul
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Don't know the difference between those two Meths but all you want is a cleansing solution that will evaporate off...so you don't have to wipe the string down and you don't want any residue... I just leave to dry on old paper and use natural purple Meths from most H/W shops... and what I don't use, I pour back in the bottle for the next time

Uss a tray that submerges the whole string... or at least upto the cotton winds as the Meths will ruining that..
Anotrher reason I use DR as they don't have cotton windings.

If you use a dish or saucepan, make sure it is clean and uncontaminated as that can transfer onto the strings which is NOT the point at all... and make sure the Meths in pretty clean/fresh/pure as well.
If done with a bit of care and thought and soak overnight, you will get a brand new sounding string IME..

Those warnings are disclainmers and it is a powerful solution so just treat it with care..alcoholics love it..most of us stay well clear of drinking and sniffing it if we have any sense... don't go near it with a flame either...
all routine stuff...

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[quote name='King Tut' post='183093' date='Apr 22 2008, 07:13 PM']I stick my strings in a stone polishing tumbler, with some meths in, then tumble them for about 20 mins. I've not been doing it for long so I'm not sure how succesful it'll be long term but it's certainly better than boiling them![/quote]

that sounds pretty good

do you do jewellery

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For cleaning off grease of any sort, I use Surgical Spirit which is available at most chemists. I think it's pretty similiar in composition to Meths, but without the colouring, and is arguably purer given its normal use of preparing skin for injection/scalpel etc. Last time I used meths I seem to recall having an allergic skin reaction, so have steered clear of it since.

Edited by sdgrsr400
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  • 2 months later...

I've just left the strings to soak in some (purple) methylated spirits. Didn't have any pipes, so coiled them up in the bottom of an empty large 5 litre water bottle. Took a bit of persusion to get the strings to lie flat at the bottom, but will cut them the bottle up if I can't get them out later. Did try using a large biscuit tin, but it wasn't quite water tight, and the meths leaked out!!

Edit: 24 hours later, don't use a bottle unless you can cut it up afterwards, the strings didn't want to leave by the normal entrance and had to be cut out of the bottle. As I had only partly straightened the ends, they managed to get completely tangled up. Dried them with paper towel, and re-fitted them - they do feel a lot cleaner, but not sure whether they sound any different. PS - meths probably would ruin the biscuits, but biscuits don't last long in my house!!

Edited by Silverwolf
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