What to do with old strings

Gear
1

Hello guys!

I have started noticing the strings that I put up on my Cort A4 (D’addario Light Gauge) are starting to get dull. Getting the slap sound is becoming harder for me and when I compare the sound to Josh’s videos now ( Doing the Papa’s got a brand new bag for gold stars) I can hear the big difference of brightness…

I was thinking that it has been about 6 months since I have changed them but looking at amazon order I can see that it has been only 2.5 months! I have been playing about 5-30 minutes every day…

Now I feel bad about needing to change them so often! What do you guys do with your “old” strings anyway?

In another forum someone was talking about sending them to Africa to musicians who would play even bicycle wires… (Which makes me even sadder in my European fantasy dreamworld)

Any creative and sustainable ideas?

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This actually works, I tried it.

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@howard that is great stuff! Thanks

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I even don’t change my strings every 2.5 years, to be honest.

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Update! This gave amazing results such a simple trick!

I put a thin piece of cloth to save the frets getting bumps and passed a couple of times with a piece of cloth to get the extra grime from the strings…

Someone explained the phenomenon as: when the tension is released the coils get tighter and push out the grime between them. Popping the strings shake this grime to come offççç

Thanks again @howard

Lol I can respect that… Maybe slap base is not much your style then ?

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maybe :rofl:

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Hello Fahri, keep at least the D string. This one is very helpful to unblock/ring out a condenser drain tube in a fridge when it happens to get clogged, e.g. with shreds of lettuce. This particularly happens when neglecting to defrost the damn’ unit every once in a while. BTW, if you can find Kerly strings try them, they are gorgeous.

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I would like to get this thread going again for a bit… but not to get more tips on how to revive old strings, but really to hear what options there are to “get rid” of strings I no longer intend to play or revive (for whatever reason)!

  • what is the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of them?
  • are there indeed programs where strings that are FAPP still very playable can be donated to?

Thanks!

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These are excellent questions that I don’t know the answer to, but have thought many many times myself. If anyone has info here, it would be lovely.

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there are specific bins for metal parts, at the recycling centers ; I guess it’s the best way to have the string recycled as much as possible

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Yes, that is always an option, I guess… I was kinda hoping there would be a “better” place for old strings :sweat_smile:

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You can always try this…

:sweat_smile:

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Nice :crazy_face:

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D’Addario has a recycling program called PlayBack. Send in your strings and get reward points for merchandise. The downside is that the minimum you can send in is 2 lbs. Don’t know how many string sets would equal 2 lbs or more.

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@clefbrother, each set of D’Addario strings (in their package) weighs ~100 grams, so I would figure eight to nine sets should equal 2 pounds . . . :thinking:

That’s a lot of strings!

Cheers
Joe

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