Do packaged strings go stale?

Subject: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 02:34 PM

I usually buy my guitar strings (John Pearse phosphor bronze) three or six sets at a time and I change strings about every month. I'm tempted to buy a dozen (better price per set) but I'm wondering if the last sets I'll use, a year down the road, might go stale in their packaging. What's been your experience?

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: GUEST,Timo_Tuokkola
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 02:46 PM

Since I have never seen an exprey date on any package of strings I have ever bought, I would say they are not likely to go stale as long as they are left untouched in their packaging. There is no guarantee that the strings you buy brand new in the store have not been on the shelf a year or more.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Bert
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 02:47 PM

No but they might get rusty.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Mooh
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 03:00 PM

Yes. They will rust and any corrosion will change the nature of their vibration and affect tone, intonation, and feel. Too much corrosion and they will go dead. I've even seen this with coated strings that a customer took out of the sealed package but didn't string up. They spent several months in a humid and salty climate which rotted the coating. Another customer supplied John Pearse strings for a set-up which were simply left in the package but were a couple of years old.

Leave them in the sealed package until stringing up. Resist buying strings which aren't in sealed packaging (I've never had trouble with D'Addario EJ16s packaged this way for example). In any event, keep them dry, cool, and out of the light, just to be safe.

Years ago, we used to store them in ziplock bags with the air squeezed/sucked out of them, and put them in the freezer. Not sure if it did any good, but it didn't hurt.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 03:17 PM

When a fellow in camp broke a string on his mando ten minutes prior to an open-mike performance, he was bewailing the impossibility of finding a full set on such short notice (at 02:00 am), and was reluctant to replace "one string new" in a set that was (he said) seven years old.

I found the set I bought the last time I thought about changing strings, and was able to provide the needed single string - precisely seven years old and the match was nearly perfect, right down to the rusty spots and the green corrosion stains (although missing the nick that precipitated the break?).

By the time the performance was completed, the "finger grease" level was almost perfectly restored as well - indicating perhaps a bit of nervous tension during the show.

If buying a quantity far ahead of use, storing them well sealed with a dessicant (drier) and in the dark¹ probably wouldn't hurt. Keep only a "safety" quantity in the instrument case - maybe.

¹ Humidity and "ambient atmosphere components" can deposit a "greasy film" on surfaces that can be "hardened" by exposure to bright lights, particularly by exposure to the uv component of sunlight. Hence the suggestion that dark might be better.

It's hard to say how long a set might be on the shelf in the place where you bought them, but they're usually okay (to my requirements) when "new from the store."

I have found visible rust/corrosion on "new" strings carried in the instrument case (unopened packages) when the storage approaches about a year. That does include "carried around a campground and stored in a tent" so in milder conditions it might not be a problem.

John

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: cptsnapper
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 03:47 PM

D'Addario use Corrosion Intercept packaging which seems to work well. I used to work for a firm in Britain which deals in conservation & they sell it. So If you're in the Uk & you want more information you can pm me & I'll give you contact details

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Escapee
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 11:15 PM

Hi,Cool Beans. I buy guitar and banjo string sets by the dozen and I don't have problems with them. I keep unopened, but not sealed, sets in a file drawer and carry a spare or two in my case. I have, however seen "new" strings in a pawnshop that were corroded. They were discontinued and pretty old for new strings. They should be fine if you keep them dry.
Fair winds,
SKP

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Escapee
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 11:48 PM

P.S. I've had no trouble with strings stored for a year or more.
SKP

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 03:27 AM

……I change strings about every month.


If you're changing them that often, even the last set in your dozen are not exactly going to be "old". As was pointed out above, the date of manufacture may be well before the date you buy them.

Quite a long time ago (so long that I can't remember when) I decided to change the weight of strings that I use. I still have a spare set of unused lightweight strings just lying round that I am to mean too throw away. They are in unsealed packets and I have just checked them and, visibly, they look no different from the ones I bought last week – no signs of rust or corrosion.

DC

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 05:50 AM

I've never had a problem with "new" strings aging before I got them out of the packet. The thing that really ages strings is having greasy sweaty fingers on them.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Mooh
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 08:04 AM

Naturally, it will depend on conditions of storage, atmosphere, age, abuse, and original quality.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 12:02 PM

No. They are BRILLIANT in the packaging. Honestly. Leave them there. Never take them out.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 01:07 PM

Cleaning the strings with WD40 helps their life span and improves playability if a small residue is left. Problem is the toxic odor.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 02:13 PM

Thanks. The way I play should mask the toxic odor.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 02:18 PM

I like the smell of rocket. I didn't know it was toxic.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 03:52 PM

WD-40 affects some metals. As a watch club member, I knew several reliable watch makers and technicians, and they wanted no part of WD-40.

Of course I dunno about its effect on strings or stringed instruments.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 08:53 PM

What is the effect of 'Finger Ease' spray on the life of strings?

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Bee
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 12:08 AM

I was advised to use a lint-free cloth wet with straight vinegar to clean strings, especially older ones. It does seem to give them a little extra life, removing tarnish and grease.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: eddie1
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 05:02 AM

I am of "that certain age" which lets me remember when we didn't have the vast choice of strings we have today. I can remember Edinburgh in the early 50s when the only spare strings available were "Black Diamond" Hawaiian guitar strings which the shop had had in stock since pre-WW2!
They were fine and, if you were unfortunate enough to break one at a gig, responded very well to being tied in a reef knot!
You could buy "singles" as well!

Eddie

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Tyke
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 07:35 AM

Do Guitar string go stale? The answer is yes! How do you stop them going stale? The Answer is with difficulty. Storing Guitar Strings in a Small room that has a dehumidifier running is one answer for the retailer as I suspect the dye in the woods string boilers will be aghast at the expense. So what about storing strings in a file or a draw perhaps using silica jell as well. I think that the effective ness of that method of storage would depend on all sorts of things including what the container was made from Oak gives off sulphur example which defiantly has an effect on Silver as dose cigarettes gas and coal fires.

I did try Albion Strings made in Derby however when they move from their factory into some ones Garage the strings were effected. Then I tried Red Wing for a while however I suspect that these none mainstream sting became effected by distribution and sales.

Now always buy my D'Addario strings from ether Hobgoblin or the Music Room. I find that the busier the shop the better is their turn over of Strings. I do not loan out my Guitar's! I have noted that several of my friends suffer from Clammy fingers that ruin Guitar strings. They use fast fret and make sure that they wipe their strings down before putting their instrument down.

I tried titanium strings a few years ago they sounded great I bought them via the Internet directly from the states. The titanium strings had a plastic cap could only be removed once fitted to the Guitar when you cut the stings to size. Well after much thought and deliberation I broke a G string and it unwound like a streamer from the stage out into the audience. When it happened I had to smile as I new then I was going back to good old D'Addario with an ample supply of spare strings from old sets. Now D'Addario is packaged with all the strings in a set sealed inside a plastic bag my understanding of that was to cut down on packaging. Didn't strings used to come individually wrapped in first Acid Free Tissue paper then a paper envelope then the outer packaging? How quickly would this type of packaging break down in landfill compared with the plastic bag now used? However would the resulting change back to Acid free paper packaging cause the strings to be sent to China to be wrapped to save on cost and with a cost in Air Miles to be added into the equation? Yes it's true when I deliberate I deliberate.

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: olddude
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 08:49 PM

No Kidding in the mid 70's my brother in law had a music store and then closed down. He gave me about 20 sets. I used about half of them and forgot about the rest when I moved a few times for different jobs. I found them recently in a junk box. They are still just fine and I have been using them now and they sound great. They were all D'Addario

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 11:14 PM

Wiping the strings with rubbing alcohol can bring them back to life. You just have to be sure not to get any residue on the fingerboard.


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Do packaged strings go stale?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Jul 08 - 05:08 AM

I made the mistake of buying a dozen sets of earthwood Twelve String.

They all went rusty before I got the energy to change strings more than a couple of times. In fact rusty sets were turning up in the back of cupboards long after I sold the guitar!

six string sets - I buy a couple of dozen sets about twice a year, and I always seem to be on the verge of running out.