Hey, Pilgrim, you were right!

[stratovani]

You were right about the La Bella Beatle Bass flats, they sound fantastic on my Hofner Icon, and I love the feel of them! It's only been a week, and already they're breaking in really nicely. I'm now a La Bella convert, and I'll be looking to put a set on my P-Bass as well really soon! Thanks for the recommendation!

[DavePlaysBass]

Glad you found what works for you. Just as a side note, there is a luthier in Fort Collins that is a Hofner fanatic. He even presented a restored Hofner to McCartney in Nashville or so the story goes.

He, the luthier, was having issues with the La Bellas breaking which seemed odd. I recommended the TI flats in the medium scale which have a 106 E string. He claims that the medium scale TIs are the a match made in heaven on the one Hofner he went with them on.

[Pilgrim]

Gee, Stratovani, glad you like them! I put them on a Rogue VB-100 bass (pictured below).

The factory strings on the Rogue were tiny gauge and sounded thin and nasty - I despaired of whether the instrument would be usable. But on a best guess, I bought the Hofner flats and installed them - and they completely transformed the bass. Now it sounds and plays great! Plenty of depth and a nice, rich sound.

A couple of years back there was a long comparison thread on another forum (dedicated to Fender, nudge nudge) where a member tried three or four of the inexpensive violin basses - I'm guessing, but I think it was Douglas, Epi, Rogue and one other. They all sounded similar, all had good workmanship, but the Hofners made ALL of them sound better.

And yes, in my experience Labellas (and most flats) need a few weeks to settle in, and then you're good for a couple of decades before you need strings again.

Enjoy!




And Dave - good to know about the TIs. I've shied away from them based on cost, and haven't had problems with the Labellas breaking. Maybe some day.....