I've been using this trick for over 20 years, now, and you can't go wrong with it. When I boil my strings, though, I add a bit of vinegar in the water, it really helps clean them. I've also heard that soaking them in windshield washer/antifreeze will do the same thing, but I don't think I'll be trying that one anytime soon.

My strings cost me just over $60 CDN per set, so I generally don't replace them THAT often. But when I do, I always boil the old set and put them away in my case, as a set of spares. That way, for recording and big gigs, I'll buy new strings for the perfect tone, but if I ever break a string at rehearsal or whatever, I can just reach in my case and pull out a "new" string.

As for doing it to guitar strings...if you were paying $60/set I'd say give it a try...but you're paying $6/set...just don't order that extra beer and buy some new strings dude...

Cheers

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