The great Stingray 5 string odyssey!

[gmarcus]

So I just picked up a 2011 Musicman Stingray 5 from mntngrown here on TB. Great guy, awesome transaction, sweet bass at a fair price and he even threw in a new set of Slinkey strings!

I have to preface this by saying I have been playing a fender P5 with TI jazz flats for the last 5 years. I love everything about that bass and string combination so the really influences my comments.

I tried three different sets of strings on this bass:

The green package Slinkeys that were on the bass had very little use. And still had quite a bit of high end. The tension was very similar to the TIs. The sound was very even with a lot of zing and boing. These are very smooth feeling for round wounds. The B string was solid and all of the strings sounded similar (obviously the lower strings were darker but they were on the same spectrum). After about a week they started to settle down, but they still had too much finger and fret noise for my taste

Next up was a set of extra long D'Addario Chromes. These are a perfect fit for string through the bridge. I can't help it I just really like flats. As a finger/ pick player they just sound right to me. The chromes are very stiff and the tension is high. Significantly higher than the Slinkey's and the TIs. They have this smooth flat wound sound and feel with a nice high end grind on the frets without all of the finger noise. The B E & A strings packed a lot of punch but the D & G strings had much higher tension and sounded very different (thinner more upper mids). It was like they were on a different bass. After about a week of play (3 hrs/ day) the mids started to come up and the string to string balance was better but still a big difference in the high strings. I got the feeling that these would settle in really well after a month or two, but I just couldn't handle the stiffness and tension. The Ray felt like I was swinging a heavy bat as a warm up for my P5. It sounded great but was just too much work.

Next up are my favorite strings in the world. The TI Jazz Flats. Their tension is loose like rounds, gobs of midrange and really nice balance from string to string. Their tone doesn't have the punch of the Chomes. The notes don't have as firm of an attack, but the lower midrange growl is just really meaty ( my drummer's description). These still need to break in as the mids are not fully developed yet, but these are keepers for me. At $100/ set they better be. On the plus side they should last 5-10 years with the way I play. The set on my P5 are really amazing now after 5 year.

This is one man's opinion YMMV etc.

[bassist4dalord]

Very cool! Thanks for the post; I'm a sting geek. Nice to see a flat lover using an SR5; not too many people think flats when they think MM.

I know you've got the TIs on there now, but I have one other suggestion- D'Addario Tapewounds. They sound sort of like a broken-in set of nickel rounds, with more warmth and NO finger noise. Smoother than glass, tension is equivalent to a light-gauge set of roundwounds. That, and they just look plain cool



I have them on my Squier Standard Precision V (Jazz pickups) and they sound marvelous. B-String is fat and smooth. Tone is very balanced from string to string.

This thread should help, if you're considering them

Black TAPEWOUNDS: I need a reality check

[gmarcus]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check em out when the TIs wear out or I get another bass. My SR5 is black on black with a rosewood fingerboard. If I add black strings it might form a black hole and life on Earth could end as we know it.

[gmarcus]

Update: the TIs are breaking in nicely after a few weeks of an hour or two a day. The annoying zing is going away leaving the lovely rich complex midrange. This combination just growls!

[jasper383]

TIs are great on EBMM basses.

[punisher911]

I have Roto77s on my through bodied SR Classic. Love them. Less tension than Chromes, but not much. Feel a bit rougher, but I'm happy with them. About to put some Chromes on my $$ Corvette 5. lol I'm kind of hard in my picking so I prefer high tension.

[73jbass]

I have Elixirs on all my MM basses and it's a great combination. Once I did a Motown gig and I put a set of flats on a Sterling 4. Sounded awesome.