[pianotech] Cleaning bass strings

[Ron Nossaman]

On 3/24/2011 10:19 PM, johnparham at piano88.com wrote:
> I recently visited a music store in Hickory and spoke to some musicians
> who have been playing guitar for over 30 years, so they're borderline
> "seasoned veterans."  They have friends who insist that boiling guitar
> bass strings rejuvenate the wound strings.  They asked me if it works on
> bass strings in a piano.  I told them no, mainly because extended life
> on a guitar means another week or two of playing; extended life on a
> piano means another 10 years.  After 10 years, rust can consume a set of
> piano strings.
>
> Since that conversation I have revisited that question several times in
> my mind.
>
> Has anyone ever tried boiling bass strings on a piano? If you boiled
> them you would have to 1)thoroughly dry them before putting them on the
> piano, and/or 2) lubricate them to make sure they did not rust.

I've heard this before, and don't have information that is incontestable 
in court, nor have I boiled strings of any species. I do have an opinion 
though.

Guitar strings don't die by the same process as piano strings. The wrap 
on guitar strings accumulates skin oils and parts of dead cells. So 
though guitar strings age much more quickly than piano strings because 
they are continually handled, the contamination between wrap and core is 
just biological detritus, rather than corrosion.

I doubt anything of value would come of boiling piano strings because of 
that alone, and by the time it starts looking like a possibly good idea, 
for the original set of strings, an actively used guitar will have gone 
through many many sets of strings, boiled or not.

Besides, it couldn't do anything good for the flavor.
Ron N