Just FYI, the below procedure that Ray Hopland describes, works. The same thing can be done more laboriously by working the string with your hands, but there could be any number of devices made that work. In a message Ray Hopland wrote: <<List; The reason bass strings to go dead is because corrosion builds up between the coils of the wrap which causes the string to lose flexability. The only way to bring the flexabiliy back is to disturb the coils (wrap) big time. Twisting the strings will not work unless the wrap is slightly loose but not loose enough to buzz and there is still lots of flex. I have a tool that I call a bass string rejuvinator. It consists of a piece of wood about 1 & 1/8" by 3/4" by 14" (being a canuk, it is a handle from a used hockey stick with the tape intact) with two pulleys mounted on it. These pulleys are about an inch in diameter and are spaced about 1 & 5/8" apart.These pullleys can come from a small block and tackle lift or an outdoor clothsline spacer. Remove the pulleys and screw them on the stick. You can also lubricate the pulley where the screw goes through but be very careful that no lubrication is able to come in contact with the string. Loosen the wound strings, disconnect them from the hitch pins and thread them onto a wire or whatever else is handy. Take each string and thread it through the pulleys in an S shape, run the stick up and down the string changing angles and threading and then put the string back on the hitch pin. It dosen't take much and the strings will in most cases sound like new. HOWEVER, you must be VERY careful with the smaller diameter copper wound strings as you can go right through the copper to the core if you are too eager. Don't ask me how I know. Obviously a new set of string are preferable but if money is a problem, I have no problems with helping someone out on a limited budget.>>
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