How old is old? I know there's forum members here that just don't change their strings (and some of those basses are the better part of a decade old, IIRC). There was another member who asked if Sheldon would start vacuum packing his strings to keep their freshness. There's people on both sides of the spectrum, but as far as I know, what "kills" strings is dead skin and oil from your fingers, not actual "age". This is why wiping strings down after playing and soaking old sets in alcohol helps preserve strings. (Also, how old is the steel before it's processed into wire? How old is the wire before it's processed into strings? How long do the strings sit in a warehouse before hitting store shelves? Who knows how old strings are when they finally go on our basses?) In short, although I've heard otherwise, I don't think strings sitting in stores for a few years will dampen that bright tone new strings have, nor make them brittle and prone to breakage. Buy with confidence. If I am wrong, please someone correct me.

The old bass luthier in l'Isle-Adam just threw out and replaced a whole bunch of (Fender) string packs that had been in his shop unused for a year - he said they'd become [i:2adhr57e]oxidé[/i:2adhr57e]. Personally I'm glad I can't tell the difference between [i:2adhr57e]oxidé[/i:2adhr57e] and not - saves me a bunch of money and worry

The only way I could see a set going bad on the shelf is if they were exposed to tropical or coastal air, which can be fairly corrosive. if properly stored in a marginally climate controlled environment, nickel and stainless steel doesn't degrade by itself.

[quote="Wayon":ac1xhp9x]Hello all. I have just recently received my new ABZ 5. What I'm wondering is how long do the strings last on the shelf? I don't think there's a whole lot of Dingwalls here and I'm pretty sure the strings at the music store are pretty old. Is there a shelf life on the Voodoo strings? I'm sure there must be. Anyone have experience on this? Thanks.[/quote:ac1xhp9x] If you have any problems with them let me know and we'll take care of you.

Normally I like D'Addarios on my guitars and basses, but use Dunlops on my Les Paul. There's something about the Les Paul / Dunlop combo that works for me. Dunlops are packaged in the standard cardboard box, and each string is individually packaged in a paper envelope. D'Addarios are just sealed in a rubberized bag (but not vaccuum sealed). I hadn't played my Les Paul in a while and decided to change the strings. I used my standard Dunlops, which had been sitting in my toolkit for about a year in their original package. They sounded absolutely horrendous. They would not stay in tune, and had absolutely zero presence. I bought a new set of Dunlops and immediately installed them -- Magic! Sounded exactly the way they should. Maybe it was the packaging? Maybe I got a bad batch? Maybe you shouldn't store them in a toolkit (i.e. a gigantic plastic tacklebox). Maybe my Les Paul sat too long and the neck needed time to re-settle? Regardless, I'm now of the mid that if the strings aren't at least sealed they have a shelf life of about a year. Past that your mileage may vary. When I receive my SP5 I intend to use Dingwall Voodoo Steels.... Sealed, vaccuum packed, or otherwise. If I'm not satisified, I'll be building a custom set of D'Addarios. Trying different strings is part of the fun of a new instrument! Andrew

Hi there. My set of strings that came originally with my ABZ6 started losing their zing esp. the A a few months after purchase. I've been a regular Elixir user so have just tried out a bit of a hybrid steel/nickel combination, which I have posted in the 'Elixirs' forum, if you wish to have a look. Taking a slightly different angle, if you are after shelf-life then Elixirs will certainly do it for you- the Elixirs on my fretless have been on for many, many months and still sound well defined!! I know people throw old ones away if sat on a shelf, but I have had sets on the shelf on for months on end and even over a year with nice new sizzle when I put them on. Shelf-life would therefore likely vary between coated and non-coated strings; having said that if non-coated ones are kept in the correct environment (like I do with some ancient Elites) I doubt there is any significant problem, and I would agree with AndrewK on that.