Guitar Tip????

[sixstringhack]

I may be crazy, but just wondering if anyone else boils their new guitar strings before putting them on your guitar??

It's a tip I read in a guitar magazine a long time ago, in fact, I think it was Van Halen that said he did this. I do it, and I must say, after putting the boiled strings on, it stays in tune quite well, as the boiling has 'pre-stretched' the strings......

Try it!!!

[bananakiller]

I may be crazy, but just wondering if anyone else boils their new guitar strings before putting them on your guitar??

It's a tip I read in a guitar magazine a long time ago, in fact, I think it was Van Halen that said he did this. I do it, and I must say, after putting the boiled strings on, it stays in tune quite well, as the boiling has 'pre-stretched' the strings......

Try it!!!

for you " i boiled my computer"
lol

[toots]

I have no idea why boiling metal strings would pre-stretch the strings. It seems implausible. Maybe they meant nylon strings. I have heard of boiling old metal strings to make them sound less dead, which makes sense to me, as it would clean grease and grime off the strings. Boiling new strings would seem to be a lot of trouble to go through, when you could simply just physically stretch the strings as you put them on. That's what I do, I give them a good pull, and it sets the string in the post really well at the same time.

[ifingers]

I have read that EVH likes to boil his strings too.

A good stretch like Toots suggested seems to work well.

Another tip for "trem heads" is to rub the top nut with a pencil - this leaves a trace of super slippery graphite which will help stop the string sticking there. No good for anyone with a locking top nut and won't help with stretching strings - but I thought I would mention it.

[sixstringhack]

NOW my brain feels like it's boiled!!!

I'll try toots' trick next time I re-string....then I won't get funny looks from Mrs. Hack, or hell, I probably will anyway!!!!LOL

[rcandrews]

i had a guitarist tell me once that if time permitted not only should you "tug" your strings to set them, but you should let them rest for an hour. after you have tuned it up to 444 hz.

when you come back to it they will have fallen flat. prolly round 438 hz (the idea is 440 hz, after they have fallen) this is of coarse if a standard tuning is what you are tryin to achieve.

i should mention cheap strings do not fare well with this procedure. all i prefer to ever use is d'adarrio's phosphorus wound medium gauge. recently while waitin to become gainfully employed again i have been buying whatever the hell is on sale and well i busted a few tuggin on them. NEVER did that before. i was like "what the...!" also the cheaper strings barely last two or three sessions of intense strummin before they go bust.

that same guitarist said he didn't care if you used strings made by mozart, none of them lasted for more than an hour of intense playin.

i should mention pat was and is a concert musician. plays the classical. but said "yea when i want a nasty sound i will IF i have to use one of those boxes with metal strings"

said a real guitar did not have metal anywhere on it, except the machine heads and that was for the screws on the feet of the head and the screw up to the head. also the head should be of something with the tonal qualities of ivory, if not ivory itself.

i try not to get tied up in all that. i get all nutted up with spread sheet stats for cryin out loud.

i mean does the tone of the head REALLY effect the hackin im doin?

found this out and about
http://www.accessrock.com/ReferenceLess ... guitar.asp

[kilroydegeek]

Boiling the strings cleans off any remnants of mineral oil from manufacturing and probably makes for less skin irritation. I've always run strings out of the packet straight to the guitar, tuning high by 2 frets and then immediately back to on pitch, about 1.5 turns on the peg (2.5 turns for nylon on a classical) The 1.5 turns is apparently (and in my experience true) the ideal grip point with too many turns being almost as bad as too few - probably because of spreading the pressure load of the string against the peg. (reducing the pounds per square inch the string tension applies to the windings)

Boiling old strings cleans the skin and skin oils out of the turns better than you can imagine and can evenup the windings with a heating and cooling, getting a few more hours playing life out of strings before they break or are totally dead sounding.

For bass, boiling strings gets that nice, gruff, growling, metallic punk/funk sound and keeps the strings going for years. I only replace mine when one breaks, but do the whole set, boil every three weeks when gigging once or twice a week, but haven't replaced any in 10 years since I stopped playing live. For "rounder" styles like jazz or dub, use heavier guage stainless and don't boil, but run in new sets with about 10 hours of scales. (Which means overlapping sets if gigging, putting the new set on at home for practice, and the old set on for performance.)

Maybe that's why I never became the "Australian Sting"