Thanks for sharing, @HIPCHIP - it’s probably good style and fair game to cite the source of this information (or link to it in the first place) 
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Boiling in water (i.e., 100 C) is not “heating” metals and alloys such as nickel and steel - it’s like taking a lukewarm shower for you 
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Are you sure? I was talking to an old sword maker a few years ago about the art of making Katanas … and how to maintain them. That was very intesting, also to see traditional Katanas in different states of their making…
He told me that heat, even lower temperatures (like boiling point) are not good for the blade. Of course we were talking handmade 5000€ Katanas with folded steel, not strings…
Another test, this time the earrings of my gf, appearantly not cleaned since she was 16 
(Ewww!)
Before:
After:
Again, I don’t know if you can see it from the pictures, but it was dull before … and now shiny!
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Indeed. I just checked the recrystallization temperature of iron and it’s over 460C, so boiling won’t lead to any annealing. That’s almost red hot (~500C).
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I am guessing this would be while in contact with water/vapour/humid air!? I could see some oxidative processes being accelerated… possible affecting the edge most and making it dull!?! (Not an expert, but I kinda doubt it’s the temperature alone that does much…)
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Steam cleaning of metals is common practice and there’s no effective upper bound on the temperature of steam - ISTR it dissociates to plasma at around 4000C.
In reality it’s a few hundred degrees usually and this is used to clean engine bays all the time.
Iron will anneal if held at over 450-ish. This would indeed change the properties of the metal, but boiling? Strongly doubt there’s any effect.
Plus, just buy some new strings ffs. Boiling or cleaning doesn’t really fix them anyway - and metal fatigue is actually something that might be helped with heating, now that I think of it 
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Could be. Unfortunately he has fought his last fight some time ago and I cannot ask him.
Anyway, I am happy with @Al1885 's suggestion: the ultrasonic cleaner rocks and I am currently putting anything in to clean that fits (except body parts).
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This!
Refreshing strings is a “pee in your pants” kind of relieve… it feels good for a very brief moment
Here is another “conundrum” to ponder for you: so, you take off your strings and clean them and dry them etc - that takes an hour at minimum, maybe two (if you did the boiling thing). All this time, the neck of your bass is under no tension, i.e., not in its “natural” state… is that really good for it??
Happy New Year
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Why?
I had a hunting bow many years ago … and to store it I always relieved the tension, so the bow would last for a long time (it lasted about 20 years, before it snapped with a big BANG!).
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Because those poor wood molecules get bent first this way and then that way and that can’t be good 
(I’m obviously trying to mess with you… but you seem to have an inclination to over-think stuff I appreciate inquisitive minds, but don’t rule out common sense to keep you grounded. OK, I let you get back to your new toy now and to finding more stuff that wants to get exposed to ultrasonic vibrations )
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I want to put you into my ultrasonic cleaner! Call me when you are in Hamburg one day
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OK, but I will not touch your basses… unless the strings are squeaky clean!!
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I will cook you a nice string soup before
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Not at the boiling point of water for steel.
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At 374 Commie / 705 Freedom you get a supercritical fluid instead of water vapor.
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I am a fan of anything supercritical.
Let’s see if our socialist sovkhoz can create a 5 year plan to produce a solar powered nuclear device that can generate 374 Commie for the benefit of the revolution!
Thanks to divine leader Stalin, our European heavy industries produces already a lot of vapor
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This is pretty much what it comes down to. IMHO and IME if you’re playing mostly at home while learning or recording it’s likely your strings will last a fairly long period of time. If not be certain that you haven’t bought fakes or consider changing string brands.
If you’re going through them faster than 6-12 months then you must be gigging so you should at least be able to afford new strings. Even when I was gigging every weekend I could manage to get 9-12 months from a set of round wounds if I took care to clean my bass and the strings well after every gig.
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So … this is what I thought too!
Until a bass player visited me, as he had seen my endeavour of modding a fretted bass to fretless on Bassic.de (kind of the German BassBuzz) and wanted to play it.
He played all my basses … and had just one negative remark: the strings of Ronin (the bass I played all summer) were EOL.
I purchased them on 10 Sept 2024 (just checked) from Thomann. Thomann is very trustworthy - so no fakes.
Ok, I have sweaty hands. Yes, I played them in the park and took the bass with me when treavelling … it was sometimes, moist, sandy, dusty, sunny, I needed to get out of light rain once or twice. Didn’t take much care of them, I admit … cleaned them two or three times.
I didn’t play every day. Sometimes an hour, sometimes a few hours - depending on mood and weather.
But nothing really severe. Not like being on tour with Black Flag…
So I wonder, why they are in a bad state? Are my hands that sweaty? They might
I assume that the material wear can’t be to bad. That’s why I think, cleaning will help.
This is what happens when you spend $500 to ‘upgrade’ a $100 Harley Benton bass I guess? 
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