Boiling Guitar Strings - Does It Actually Work ? Is It Worth it?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Should you boil your strings like Eddie Van Halen Did? We test the theory in this video
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Boiling Guitar Strings - Does It Actually Work ? Is It Worth it?
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You know they’re done when you throw them against the wall and they stick
🤣🤣🤣
I nominate this for 'most underrated comment of the year' award haha
Ohhh, The old tried and TruePasghetti Test eh, LoL
The strings won’t break if you boil the entire guitar.
That's so true
Just for the record, Eddie boiled brand NEW strings !
Wonder what (he believed) it would do? I'd heard of people boiling strings to clean them, especially bass strings. I boiled a set of bass strings because I didn't have the $ for new strings my local music store sold. Eddie did a lot of weird stuff, but he made it work.
@@fredchatham6680 I think it was some equivalent to stretching them. Brand new strings go through a settling phase he wished to shorten or maybe even remove.
@@Leo_ofRedKeep Yes that was exactly the reason he boiled them in water!
My understanding was that EVH boiled his NEW strings before using them to "stretch" them. IDK if it's true but is what I heard.
Read the same back in a magazine in the 80s. It was more about stretching new strings. At the same time EVH mentioned he would leave new strings on overnight before playing them. Whether either true or not, idk.
It works, I did it in the 80s-90s when you were young. With today's strings, it's much easier to get a floyd to keep the tuning
See my other comment - it was a joke he made in Guitar Player magazine in the early 1980s, and then retracted in a later interview in which he admitted he had never boiled his strings. EVH was known for making jokes like this when when people acted like he had "special guitar secrets" rather than just monster guitar skills.
@@Roikat I guess that the "IDK if it's true" was clear enough.
@@garym3658 I actually wasn't replying to you, perhaps TH-cam mixed that up! But what you're saying is indeed how EVH represented it as far as I can remember when he was joking with Guitar Player magazine. I boiled new strings for a few years before he admitted it was a joke! It really didn't help with intonation.
Guitar Player Magazine (April 1980) By Jas Obrecht
An interview with Eddie Van Halen
GP: Do you put new strings on every night?
EVH: Yeah, Fender 150XLs. I stretch them to death. With
that new Rose thing, I boil the strings so they stretch, because if you
just put them on and clamp it down, the strings stretch out on the
guitar. I just take a pack and let it boil for 20 minutes in the hot
water. And then I dry them in the sun, because otherwise they rust. But I
only use them one night anyway, so who cares if they rust?
Hey Dylan, just boil the wound strings, since the finger muck tends to build up between the grooves of the wound strings. Leave the other strings on, just loose them until your ready to put the boiled strings back on.
Used to boil my Bass strings to give them new life. boiling works on the wound strings.
I'll just pay the $4.
You can literally beg for change by the roadside for a half hour. ...and make $4
I used to do this 20 years ago for my acoustic guitar strings. :D
My recipe beside boiling water contained regular kitchen sodium bicarbonate. I don't know if that addition did anything, but I could definitely hear the difference before and after the boiling.
Dylan, have you ever heard of slapping your strings? I found out about this many years ago on a guitar forum. Someone in the forum brought up the subject about boiling strings and another member of the forum replied with a story of an old jazz player who would do this when his strings were sounding dead. The jazz player would loosen the strings a bit and then pull each wound string one at a time up and let it go letting it slap the fretboard. I guess this was to knock any gunk out of wound strings and make them sound good again. Needless to say there were lots of replies to that post, but the majority of the replies confirmed that this works on dead strings. I have tried it myself on acoustic guitar strings with mixed results. Away, thanks for posting such great videos.
I've had the same set on one of my basses for years and boiled them a few times. Like You said, not brand new sounding after but definitely puts life back in them. I imagine this works better for bass strings as they're not as fragile after install.
Boiling strings was quite common back in the '70s when I was a teenager & we couldn’t afford new strings (as was tying broken strings together).
Certainly wouldn’t do it now though 😎🎸
It’s still common, musicians are always gonna be broke 😂
This is an extremely old practice. At least several hundred years old. Strings were expensive and hard to come by so you boiled them to clean them. If a sting broke, it was common practice to just tie the strings back together, depending on where they broke.
I had a roommate who used to boil her strings. I don't know what her boiling secrets were, but it involved vinegar.
It worked...quite well.
...I just paid for the damn things.
On the flip side of this, I've known killer players with killer tones. Who would kill you if you ever changed the strings on their guitars. They liked them old, dead and rusty. And that worked amazingly well for them.
...I just paid for the damn things.
i've boiled my bass strings before it made a big difference
I boiled bass strings once from a beater bass I bought in a pawn shop that was covered in finger goop on the strings and neck. Looked like the owner worked in a garage, then played it without washing the dirty grease off his/her hands. Fantastic spray cleaner on the neck, boiled the strings. I went into sticker shock when I learned the price of bass strings, so, boiled the old ones. Boiling took most if not all of the dead fingertips off the strings, fantastic spray cleaner cleaned the neck. It didn't HURT those strings.
Why is nobody mentioning that old and rusty string won't intonate porperly?
I prefer mine deep fried
I boiled strings a couple of times but found leaving them for a day in 95% denatured alcohol works better.
The grease coating dissolves and wound strings come out almost as new. It works on flatwound too. Plain strings don't seem to need it.
Removing strings is fiddly on tenor guitar but usually much easier on bass or from any split post tuners. On a top loading bridge with slots instead of holes, it's just a matter of loosening and popping them out. No straightening needed.
It is really worth doing if one dislikes the zingy tone of brand new strings, as this does not come back.
As others have mentioned EVH boiled new strings. I would be crazy to boil an old set that has been on a guitar and be worn in under the frets. You're just going to wreck those frets and last time I priced strings they were STILL cheaper than a fret job.
Just spend the money and keep fresh strings on. Buy in bulk. You're going to need them anyway. Don't wreck your frets.
I think you misunderstood why Eddie boiled his. It wasn't to get the dirt off, it was so a new set would stretch out quicker. He never took old ones off and put them back on. He boiled new ones before putting them on. I've heard of bass players boiling theirs to clean them, but not guitar players.
Dude thank you like everyone missing point Ahhaha.
Tyvm for uploading, always fun to watch these kind of unusual little things about guitar.
“Tone water”.
Just as an aside about listening to what “stars” do - EVH also used to tell people he turned the varic UP to like 140 volts. Imagine the impressionable kid with his new Marshall head cranking up the wall voltage and melting his new amp.
I'd boil the bass strings for 5-10 minutes, wipe em dry and then soak em in WD40 overnight and final wiping before putting em back on to retune. This applies only to the bass strings that obviously aren't rusty or badly corroded, otherwise that's when it's time for new ones anyhow. The WD40 refreshing idea came from Howard Roberts as he'd cover the fingerboard and the body with the strings still on the guitar, spraying them from the neck to the bridge so I'm not sure of how long he'd let them sit before wiping them down and be back to playing again; sometimes you have to make do until new pack of strings come along no matter what they cost. As far as rekinking em in the tuners, i always made sure those bass strings were long enough to reuse the previously bent portion which is prone to breaking... thank God for fresh strings(!) and R.I.P. to Mr. Roberts & EVH.
Boiling bass strings definitely works!
I was looking at a 86 japan strat,in 86 I didn't have the mony to buy,but my wife made me put it on layaway,later she was so happy to get it,and give it to me,I loved,loved ,loved,it. Do you make pick ups,that sound any where close to it,I'm sure you know what I mean,thanks lost guitar,and wife to cancer a few years back,it also was candy apple red,great memories, thanks
Denatured alcohol soak for the win on bass strings
Denatured alcohol is great for many many things.
Tempering the metal is what your doing, sometimes it takes two three time to temper the metal to the desired hardness. That being said you can over do it to the point of being brittle. Knife maker’s have been doing this for centuries. And then again I may be wrong. Anyway stay safe out there.
I never knew EVH did this, we live and learn. I like the feel of older strings (due to the extra grip aiding bends) though obviously you do get to a point when they need to be changed. Yet another very interesting video anyhow, Phil (England)
I think you missed the point, this was done by bass players in the 60s, bass strings being thicker and more expensive. Strings would last for years this way, cleaning the gunk from between the winds or wraps.
I own Lake Placid Blue 1988 MIJ Strat with Kahler Spider Tremolo and Love it
I've found that loosening the strings and giving them a good scrub with a wet sos type brillo pad, then wiping them down works better than boiling strings
I did this a few times when I was young. First time I boiled my bass strings and it made a huge difference. Other times, not so much. I could never recreate the results of my first boiling.
Thank you for sharing. Stay safe and be Blessed
We regularly boiled old strings during early '80's and '70's because electic guitar strings were import and damn expensive. It helps degrease it and make them sounds almost new for short time, few weeks, but it was newer new. Usually we coocked it for several times every set we had.
I’ve boiled bass strings in the past. Certain brands boil better and will last several boils but others fatigue and break after the first boil.
Leaving strings in naturalised alcohol for a couple of days produced better results
Dylan, I have an Ibanez Rg series. Not sure how to clean the tremolo bridege correctly. It's chromed, it's kinda rusty now. Please help me, thank you
What I heard was that Eddie Van Halen would take of his strings after every gig, get a new pack, and boil those strings to stretch them, then put the freshly boiled strings on
I just tested with my spare electric guitar strings.
(old ernie balls, black from grime and gunk).
I added baking soda.
(neutralizing acids).
After 12 minutes, water started to become bronze coloured.
After 20 mins, i took em out.
Definitely better sound than before,. Let's say 50% at least came back.
(for how long?, will see).
These also bend better than i remembered.
(1 cycle already before this tho).
But 1 thing i noticed clearly.
These stick in tune with heavy bending.
I think I'll continue doing this to new strings as well.
(i use cheappo strings so I'll benefit from this).
Disclaimer : I wouldn't boil COATED strings or specially treated strings if new. (Elixir, Blue Steel Cryogenically activated etc).
Maybe afterwards worth testing..?
Also, Re-stringing double locking tremolo system takes more time, so you might want to test all of this stuff with guitars without Floyd/Edge system
🎸😎👍
Next sample different brands of water to find the best "tone" water. Jeez strings are 5 bucks, labor now day's is ? Does it remove the dents in the string from the frets?
One or two drops of dish detergent helps too.
You are using propane stove. You should put something on the bottom to not play with temper/hardening (?) of steel. You should also put some minimal amount of detergent/ fluid for dish washing. Not enough to make foam but enough to lover surface tension of water. Toothbrush also helps. Generally it works, but it's not worth to work on them.
i love how people are telling me i did it wrong... It worked awesome lol.
I boiled my strings for about 10-12 minutes. But then again, I’m using bass stings so I don’t know if that changes anything important. After I put the strings back on, they definitely don’t sound like new strings but they do sound sufficient enough 😊
I never knew EVH did I this. Back in the late 80's and 90's I used to boil my strings and then drop them in a bowl is ice water to re temper them. It was a noticeable difference. But I don't if i would be able to notice anymore. I think I boiled them for 7 minutes before dropping them in ice water one at a time.
I sometimes boil the strings on bass guitars for a school but I put washing up liquid in the boiling water to aid getting the grease and dirt out it does work well.Its not worth it on normal strings as we only use the very cheap strings .
i get about 4 hours of playing and they are ruined... after 2 shows, the frets file down the windings on the strings and there is no tone left. I level out frets on a guitar within 4 months... ugh.. so I've never had strings on a guitar long enough to do this
Great myth busting video!
Well as a MasterBasser, LoL, although I get my GHE Bass Boomers for waayyy less than many/most... INFLATION, what can i say besides I'm Cheap. I mean Frugal. When I resting my basses, I do boil the old set, adding a coupla few dashes of baking soda to taste adding the strings to a Roiling Boil for 5 - 7 minutes getting the strings Hot enough to evaporate any residual moisture while leaving them sit for another few - 5 minutes before repackaging them in an old bags in bag and tossing them in my case for use in an emergency!!! Or if we're just rehearsing u can always just reuse em and Boil and Repeat with the Old New set. I'll gig with em, never had an issue, knock on wood. Of course, bass strings are much easier to R & R and are also all wound so much more forgiving than those teeny tiny wires on guitars. Peace and Brightest Blessings Always .
I Am 🤟 ROCK 🤟
From * DETROIT ROCK CITY *
i've always found when taking strings off then putting them back on a guitar (when adjusting certain parts of the bridge or changing saddles or something) they never intonate well or sound as good after.
I have gotten new sealed strings from major brands right out of the package that had rust spots...
i boil my rotosound flat strings for bass up to 7 times every 45 days- works like a charm
I feel you on the kahlers i have a spider on my 89 peavey tracer cant find parts
Witch hazel... That's the ticket laddie!
These sound like flatwound. Put them in a fancy package with an inventive blurb and sell them as the new greasecoated wonderstrings ;-)
Good stuff, thanks!
Thank YOU
musicians friend caries their own brand called musicians gear $24 for 10 sets so $2.40 a set.
I've been using musicians Gear strings for 15 years, no complaints ever BUT now I've discovered REV. WILLY .007 strings from Sweetwater for $4.99 per set, free shipping. I used Fender .007 in the 70's until they stopped selling .007. Glad to see someone selling them again.
@@FirstLast-xn8ic .007's really easy on the fingers, bend like crazy.
At under 5 bucks with free shipping from Sweetwater, it's a cheap fast experiment for something that could be life changing. If you have a guitar that's a little "hard to play", try a set. I've been basically using .010 and .009 because MUSICIANS GEAR hadn't offered .008's. I've read about Rev. Willy "MEXICAN LOTTERY" strings (now owned and distributed by DUNLOP) being sold out from curious people buying for a while now. I bought an Epi Les Paul Studio, beautiful guitar. The setup is as near perfect as any can be, it's damn hard to play with .010's, I know the difference a .009 set would make, and it's not going to do it, so these .007 are the deciding point if I want to keep it or not. I don't understand what is making this one so hard to play, EVERYTHING is "right". Maybe it doesn't like me . . .
Since I've yammered on this far, here's the story on the .007 strings. I may have commented this elsewhere on this thread, if I did, sorry- I'm monotonous. I was around 12 years old on my first bus trip downtown by myself going to the music store. Until then I only thought BLACK DIAMOND were the only guitar strings made, and didn't know there were sets for acoustic and electric. I'd been putting Black diamond on my Fender Duo Sonic 2. Salesman said I could play a guitar I was looking at, it seemed to play easier. I commented how I wished other strings were available because those Black DIAMOND strings were killing my fingers. He throws a set of Fender Bullet .007 at me, says TRY THESE. I asked how much, only had about $3, he says TAKE THEM, NO CHARGE, just come back and tell me what you think. Those strings set me free. The last few sets I managed to find after being discontinued, I saw why they were discontinued. Instead of a "ball" end, Fender Bullets had a lead bullet looking end (hence the "bullet" name), and those .007's were pulling out of the lead end. The rest of that set was disproportionately light where an .008 or .009 E just felt uh, "off". I've not played .007 since mid 70's. I bought 2 sets, if they suck, won't hurt too badly.
It works really well with bass strings. Never tried it for guitar strings
My advice is not to watch the pot, otherwise the water will never come to a boil.
Might be the lease scientific experiment I've seen.
That’s because it’s not science. It’s a stupid myth
@@DylanTalksTone - Stupid or not, there is no way to empirically prove or disprove the myth the way you did it. Sorry, not sorry.
@@TonyClarkGuitar there was nothing to prove. I just wanted to try it.
I have boiled my guitar strings for 15min an it does work . I only do it when I don’t have enough to get any. I added some degreaser few drops an water is a light brown after . Then after dry them an grab WD-40 and spray an wipe.
It’s weird because I had heard the same “boil your stings” thing for decades and never did it. So this was gonna end up with me going down the rabbit hole.
NOW I always keep a set of spare strings on the Amp’s magnet. So a dude asked me if that affects the tone. Now I don’t have any points of reference B/C I have always done it. (Whatever effect it would have would be LESS than the tone knobs) so I googled BOTH of these old school lessons. And like i hinted. It’s a f★ckin Rabbit Hole.
i agree
Just to be clear, Eddie Van Halen DID NOT boil his guitar strings. That's just something he said as a joke in an interview in Guitar Player magazine in the early 1980s when asked if there was anything special he did to keep his guitar in tune. Several years later he sat for another interview in which he admitted that it was a joke and apologized to all the idiots (like me) who had been boiling their guitar strings for several years. (Edit after watching - didn't mean to say your dad was an idiot! Perhaps he took EVH's joke literally like I did.)
If, and that's a big IF I were going to clean my strings I would do it in my ultrasonic cleaner with a mild solution used to clean jewelry.
Reminds me of when I first got into motorbikes and the old boys then would buy tins of grease that you dump your chain in, then boil up on the stove - complete waste of time!
I used an ultrasonic with ultrasonic soap and hot water to clean strings once
I did this once back in the '80s, though on bass strings, which were easier to get off the tuners, so none got broken. The strings were pretty old, I boiled them probably about 10 minutes.
The tonal difference was noticeable, but not 'just like new' as people had claimed, far from it.
Now, regarding bass strings, they're generally left on a lot longer than guitar strings. they don't normally go dead as fast and are much more expensive, so bass players tend toleave them on longer.
Overall, I'd say it's not even worth it for bass strings judging by the results vs the time and effort required.
If you're really broke, it can buy you a little more time, but for the cost of today's strings, it's just not worth the trouble. Plus I found the strings went dead faster afterwards.
And like Carl posted below, if you scratch up mom's or your wife's pot while doing this, it's REALLY not worth it!
She gonna be MAD! Plus you have to buy her a new pot, and now you're really NOT saving money! :)
They say soaking strings in whiskey will do the trick
I find that soaking MYSELF in whisky diminishes any concerns about dull-sounding strings... ;-)
what strings can you get for 5 or 6 bucks? here $13 plus, a set Qld Australia
If you ever order something from Thomann in Germany, they sell their own string brand (Harley Benton) for 1.5€ a set. If you want to clean your old strings, denatured alcohol is the better way to go.
Finger ease extends string life some. Seems to liven them up a bit every time I use it.
To my ears they sounded great before boiling!⚡️ 🦻⚡️
thats how you make stock for tone soup
The dirt boils off but the dents remain (obviously). So they MAY sound a little crisper? I did it when I was a kid. Waste of time and water...
Wouldn't a more sensible thing to do is use an ultrasonic cleaner for your strings instead of boiling them in a pot?
This is an old bass player's trick. Does it work? It does.
Does it yield substantial results? Not really.
Can you hear a difference? Just barely.
I can say that this IS something you can do. I did this on a bass my brother in law gave me and I was not working. There was a difference in quality but I would only put it about a 10-15% difference. If you like a dead thud or a muted tone, this would work. For everyday strings like Ernie Balls or D'Addario, this isn't worth it. Even if you have high end strings like Thomastic Infelds it's better to just replace with a midgrade string or cheaper strings. This works a little better on bass strings.
Strings are made to be replaced, flatwounds can last crazy long but eventually they need to be replaced. Do this only if replacing the set really isn't an option. Good luck!😎👍✨
One last thing on boiled strings, the difference in tone and feel lasts only so long. It's not a permanent fix. It can get you through a gig or two but that's about it.
Is it just me or does the dead strings sound fine
Vitamix is like the best pro blender!
I use flat wound or at least half round, lasts forever.
*Dylan Talks Tone Water™*
Cheap chinese chrome pickups tap with the pick and thats louder than when you strum. Think wax would stop that?
It was interesting to see, but not something I'd spend time doing.
That's a lot of work and hassle to save five bucks.
only do it for bass strings, guitar strings dont really go old in the same way that bass strings do. firstly 3 of your guitar strings are unwound which is a important note (nothing for grime to get stuck in), but the size of those 3 wound strings are much smaller, meaning that there isnt as much room for grime to get in there. *boiling strings destroys the structural integrity of the string* which is fine for bass strings as they are generally strong enough for that not to matter, but for guitar strings firstly you arent changing the sound of the strings in the first place, but are also ruining the strings you had on previously...
I’ll drop some in next time I boil some eggs 🥚 🎸👍
"boiling the strings actually works but don't do that. buy this product instead." - the video.
yeah... NEW STRINGS
I always like my strings medium rare.
This comment section is amazing! 🤣🤣
Funny but true, back in the day couldn't afford new strings did samething.....
*Those look delicious.*
Strings are preety cheap. I never saw why do this
@@AzathothsAlarmClock I fear you're right but how long can you extend the life on your strings doing that? I mean, you can also clean your strings with WD 40, some degreaser and alcohol. I might be wrong but if you boil the strings you can risk messing up the coating and shorting the life on the strings or am I wrong? Despite of owning a base I never thought of the management of the strings because I don't play very often so I usually buy new strings a year or so. But I do restring my 20 something guitars montly
Maybe diluted vinegar would do a little better job
It worked fine lol
Feeding the algorithm
Boil strings? Only if your putting them in your mouth.
A les paul bridge would be easier
For acoustic strings, I don't think boiling would work out to well on strings like Martin Silk & Steel's. LOL
Edit: Unless you add a touch of bleach to make the silk all purdy and white like they were new. :)
So the comparison is flawed from the start
String soup is vegan and keto-friendly.
Bare foot blue jeans night!!! hahahahaha
Why would you! Unless you are a very poor dirty guitarist! Clean your guitar every once in a while! Wash your hands if they are filthy before playing guitar! And if you need to change your strings,,, they are about $4 to $5 bucks a set last time I bought them and I think if you buy in bulk they are even cheaper,,, why waste time taking off your old dirty strings,,, boiling them,,, and putting them back on. I know I'm saying the same thing you just heard,,, but I was thinking this from the beginning of the video! I think Eddie might of done it ,,, in the early days of playing guitar way before he got famous ,", because he didn't have much money! And strings were pricey in those days!
Add lil bit of dish soap u will see all the dead skin n grime falling from the string
This is a ridiculous idea
Almost as ridiculous as doing laundry.
You need a drop of Dawn in the water, and let it boil about 15 minutes. You don't get rid of the finger grime without something that will break down the finger grease. Please don't do teaching videos that you don't know anything about. I've been paying over 60 years and I've been boiling strings for at least 40 years. It works great if you know how to do it!!!