Why do guitar strings go dead?

[Robert B Murphy]

I would kill a new set of bright bronze strings on a D18 in less than one night way back when. I found that if I changed the strings at the end of the night and left them a whole step low then tuned them to pitch the next day they would last a little longer, but not much. Obviously, because of the short time involved, finger oils and acids had nothing to do with it. They just didn't have that new string zing which I think means that they lost the ability to produce the higher overtones from some physical change in the steel core of the string. Anybody care to offer an idea as to what's going on?

[Rick Barnhart]

From my experience, I’ve found that if I avoid pre-stretching the strings before tuning them, helps make them last longer. Plan ahead a day or two and tune up to pitch every few hours.

For years, I used to grip each string between the nut and bridge and pull them up sharply, before tuning. I always got the same result…dead strings in just a few days. Let the tuning machines do the stretching gradually over a couple days time and see if it works for you.

[John Larson]

The most common reason is the oils from your skin corroding the string or grime building up.
Run your finger down an old string sometime, all that gunk deadens the string.
Coated strings tend to repel this buildup.
It's very dependent on the way your skin's oils (everyones are chemically slightly different) interact with the strings.
A good friend of mine kills strings in about three days.
If your sweat is slightly elevated acidic you are going to be running through strings.

[Robert B Murphy]

I just don't think what's happening is from corrosion or getting gunk dampening, I think it's a change in the metal. I shouldn't have said it is confined to the steel core because I suppose the contact between the winding, the core, and itself might change. I know there is a coating, presumably mineral oil of some kind, that is put on either as a corrosion preventive or left over from the drawing die, but I doubt that matters in the short term. Your idea of bringing it up to tension in steps is an interesting one Rick, kind of like progressive shifting in a semi. I really think what is happening is either mechanical or metallurgical but I have no idea what.

[Erv Niehaus]

I like to use this product to wipe the strings down after I've played.
It gets the gunk and stuff off the strings and it makes the bar slide easier over the strings.
It seems to bring some life back into the strings also.
Erv

[Jack Hanson]

Personally, I favor the sound of old, dead strings. As long as they'll hold their tuning, they're good enough for me. I dislike fresh strings -- especially the bronzewounds on acoustics. Icky yucky.

[Donny Hinson]

Obviously, because of the short time involved, finger oils and acids had nothing to do with it. They just didn't have that new string zing which I think means that they lost the ability to produce the higher overtones from some physical change in the steel core of the string. Anybody care to offer an idea as to what's going on?

I don't think we should automatically assume that that the oils, acids, and moisture can have no effect in a short time, that would have to be investigated scientifically before we could draw that conclusion. Some grades of steel can rust in minutes under the right conditions. However, I think that the physical characteristics of the string do change slightly (both from fret and bar wear and the things mentioned above), and that the string gets microscopically "irregular" over it's length as the result. Think of a tuning fork that has one prong corroded, dirty, and physically worn, while the other is is near pristine. The two prongs, like the two halves of a string, would resonate at slightly different frequencies, causing a slight cancellation of some frequencies, and likely causing a loss of some overtones. (I did prove once to a friend that it's possible to lower the frequency of a tuning fork by simply wrapping a small strip of tape around each prong.)

That's about all I can come up with.

[Robert B Murphy]

Donny, that's all you can come up with??? That makes more sense than anything else I ever heard or that occurred to me. It always seemed that the deadening had to do with the amount of work that the string had to do. I can see how the harder you beat on it, the more the down neck portion of the string gets deformed and messes up the symmetry for any harmonic.

[Erv Niehaus]

I think it also depends on how old the string is.
Sometimes you can put on a new string and it's dead right out of the package.
Erv

[Samuel Phillippe]

Erv, very true this has happend to me quite a few times over the years....not so much latley.
It doesn't seem to matter if they are acoustic or electric.
Sam

[Robert B Murphy]

Erv and Sam, I'd guess that was a manufacturing flaw like not tensioning the winding wire right or having the feed rate right when doing the winding. Most of the time I don't really care but the new string tone can be pretty nice on a martin flat top, telecaster or gretsch.
Long ago someone told me: "A lousy guitar can sound good with new strings but a good guitar sounds good with old strings."

[Allan Revich]

Erv, very true this has happend to me quite a few times over the years....not so much latley.
It doesn't seem to matter if they are acoustic or electric.
Sam

Funny thing for me is that the steel strings on my electrics (lap & Spanish) seem to last forever, but the bronzes on my Dobro last only a month—even though the Dobro doesn’t get played every day.

[Robert B Murphy]

Yeah Allan, me too. I usually only change strings on my single coil guitars when I want that twang, humbuckers not so much.

On dobro I go through .027s pretty often because of deforming and even cutting the windings down near the bridge. Bluegrass is particularly hard on that one and the top D too. They last a lot longer when I play a lot of ballads or swing but rockabilly, bluegrass, blues...unh unh.

Steel doesn't suffer so much from Donny's point about the portion of the string towards the nut getting deformed by hard playing and reducing the strings higher harmonics.

[Dom Franco]

Guitar strings go dead for two basic reasons: 1. Oil, sweat & dust etc. from hands and 2. Wear and kinking due to repeated contact with the fret wire over time. (steel guitar strings do not contact the frets, but the bar will eventually wear down strings as well)

I have played with many musicans that had sweaty palms. They would kill guitar strings after one night. But my hands are not like that and my strings would not corrode at all. However the wound strings would wear out first and go dead from playing and mashing them down on the frets. Unwound strings would kink at the fret positions after time. (Inspect your old strings after use and you will see what I am talking about)

For those players with oily/sweaty hands wiping the strings down after the gig helps them to live longer.

One last thing is rust (sometimes found on the strings of an old guitar that has not been played for years, perhaps left in a case and untouched and neglected)

Dom

[Dom Franco]

I just remembered something... When I was low on cash and couldn't afford new strings, an old guitar player told me to try boiling my strings. IT WORKS!

1. Take off the strings and coil them up

2. Place them in a small pot of water and bring to a boil for 10 miinutes.

3. Uncoil the strings and wipe them down with a clean smooth rag (old t-shirt, handkerchief etc)

4. Restring the guitar and listen to the like new sounds!

**THIS WILL ONLY WORK ON DIRTY STRINGS NOT DAMAGED BY FRET WEAR**

[Dan Behringer]

I’ve been cleaning and reusing strings for decades with WD40 and you don’t have to remove them. I tear a strip off and old T-shirt then saturate a spot with WD40, (not dripping wet). Thread it around one string then twist it tight, then work it up and down the string. After doing each string that way I go back and do the same thing except with a dry piece of T-shirt to remove the dirt and WD40. You’ll be amazed at how much better the strings sound and feel.

WD40 is worthless as a lubricant but it’s one of the best cleaners ever invented. I’ve never seen WD40 ever damage anything I’ve used it on. If I do get it on the surface of the guitar I will wipe it off right away. I’ve used it on my Martin, expensive Fenders, and of course my pedal steels.

[Glenn Demichele]

I just bought some new DR bass strings, and I found an interesting note included with the package. They said you’re supposed to bend the end of the string where it comes off the peg at a right angle to stop the winding from unwinding and letting lose from the core. I’ve never heard that before, but apparently if you leave the cut end straight, the winding can unwind from the core and deaden the string. Makes sense, but only for wound strings.

[Glenn Demichele]

P.s. boiling old bass strings worked for me.

[Clyde Mattocks]

Here's my personal experience whether it means anything or not. My hands don't sweat, so strings last me a long time unless someone else plays my guitar. There are some people that can play it and not affect it. Others can play it and rot the strings in one song. One of the worst of my friends to play it had a guitar that All the hardware was completely rusted. I played in a band with another guitar player who sweated a lot and sometimes changed his strings between sets. So I have to believe that body chemistry and salts has a lot to do with it.