Off Topic Tips on saving DINERO making gear last longer

[cky4ever]

What are some home brewed tips for saving extending gear life AS well as cheap reliable home made solutions to common problems for musicians bass players.

1. Ive heard that some guys boil old strings to bring life into them and give them back some punch and attack atleat for 2 3 weeks.
2. Some of my guitar players bass frineds have used the right plastic caps to make picks,
3. One of the guys even had the nerve to fashion a strap out of an old bag strap... bookbag.

Theres probably more but it'd be useful to have this is a growing referrence and list...

 

[Bass Control]

This is how we know that the economy sucks.

Great ideas though. Might have to try the "boil your strings" idea. I used to freeze my strings before putting them on. It was about getting the maximum stretch out of them when tuning it over it's life. Don't know if that actually helped anything or not. I doubt it...

 

[INMT]

...boiling strings.....uuhh, just clean them (wipe them down) good it does just about the same thing just not as bad of an idea. Boiling makes the string expand. Yes, it does contract some when it cools but buy the time you tune up your worse off than when you started tension wise. It does change the sound make it seem "clearer" (and stiffer, which is not a good thing in my book) again but that mostly because the boiling water cleaned away some of the gunk off the string.
There are brands out there that are less than $15 per set(4 string bass).

Picks are a quarter each.....tell them to look in the couch or under a car seat

You can get a few guitar straps for under 3 bucks......hell a EB Poly Strap is only a little over that.

I know that's more than "free/home remedy" but it will work out better in the end.
That's my $0.01 + $0.01

 

[jlepre]

I used to freeze my strings before putting them on...

How do you fit your bass in the freezer? You must work at Burger King huh? JK

 

[adouglas]

A bit o/t for this thread, but the big expense over time in my experience is the cost of GAS, and I don't mean the stuff you fill your car with.

The best way to conserve money isn't saving $25 a year on strings by boiling your old ones or things like that.

It's buying the RIGHT bass and the RIGHT amp. The ones that make the sound that's in your head, the sound that you've been looking for... the source of the GAS. The ones that are keepers.

Since I started playing back when dinosaurs walked the Earth, I've owned a dozen or so basses. Some were good, some were awful, some I modified extensively, forever searching for that sound.

I'm done. The Bongo is it. I've already saved over a thousand bucks simply because I don't "need" to buy another bass.

Back in the spirit of the thread...your strings will last a lot longer if you wipe them down every single time you play, and wash your hands before you pick up your instrument.

 

[Bass Control]

How do you fit your bass in the freezer? You must work at Burger King huh? JK

Hopefully not the same way I fit dead bodies in the freezer

 

[Psycho Ward]

Here’s what I do though. Buy lots of EBMM basses and try to have one on order at all times. Since all EBMM basses come with new strings, you can play a different bass every day it will take years to actually wear a set out on one of them.

But I save the most money on my stage wardrobe…

 

[silverburst]

Dang it, Chuck. You got me again.

 

[the unrepentant]

hahahaha, so that's the legendary photo XD

 

[bovinehost]

Someone needs to photoshop the white underwear out of that photo to make it extra special scary....but I'm not going that close to Chuck's business, even with a cursor.

 

[Caca de Kick]

I once tried the boiling strings gimmick, eons ago the first time I ever heard of it.
The strings returned zingy for one practice, then was dead worse then before the boiling. What a waste of time (and pot of good water, and the natural gas for the stove).

adouglas is correct, the best way to save money is to quit loosing money on depreciating hits from your GAS trial and errors.

 

[Beth]

it also makes your pots and pans pretty nasty too. I'm all for the recycling thing, but recycling strings to play over again? How about some creative ideas on uses for used strings? Jewelry? A noose?

 

[T-bone]

Handcuffs. A whip.

No wait, I'm in the wrong forum.


tbone

 

[INMT]

it also makes your pots and pans pretty nasty too. I'm all for the recycling thing, but recycling strings to play over again? How about some creative ideas on uses for used strings? Jewelry? A noose?

I used a bass G string to hang a wall mirror many years ago....still working too!!!

 

[TNT]

There's nothing like a "fresh" set of Super Slinky strings!!!

Once you've used them for a reasonable amount of time and the freshness/vibrancy is gone, why even use them - just go buy a new set.

Yes, you can afford to!

There are numerous ways to save money for strings.

Get rid of your cable TV - that'll keep you in strings indefinitely - and, whats more important??

Get rid of the gardner and cut your own grass.

Skip the fast food.

Skip Starbucks one day a week.

In addition, this effort also keeps the MM business vibrant and fresh as well

 

[UniTap]

I personaly boil my strings... I have acid hands and my strings last about a month before turning flat. Boiling them give them a second life of about 2-3 weeks. Makes a difference for my student finances

 

[brasco68]

If things are so bad that I have to boil my strings just to get an extra 2-3 weeks of playing out of them...then I need to hire an accountant, because I have no business managing my own money.

 

[Beth]

Skip Starbucks one day a week.

Can I get an "amen" on this? Starbucks is the hugest ripoff. If gas prices were the same as Starbucks prices, we'd be paying $32/gallon for gas*... conversely, we'd be drinking a $0.78 latte. Which is worse? Gas or coffee prices?


*Calculations based off of a $5.00 latte and a $5.00 gallon of gas

 

[EBMM7181]

I used to spend $5 a day at Starbucks on a mocha frap..... but I stopped throwing my money at them, it's been 6 months since I've been to Starbucks

 

[Beth]

Mocha frap? Mmmmmm yummmm

What we all need now is the Magic Bullet:

The Magic Bullet Blender - Official Website

I've heard Magic Bullet frappucinos are BETTER than the Starbucks ones...