Lo Riders/Pedulla J2-5 = Happiness for me

[BruceRichardson]

Hi gang,

Just wanted to pass along a tip/recommendation if anyone else has faced this situation.

I purchased (used, a great deal) a Pedulla J2-5 (Rapture) several months ago. I had fallen in love with it while looking for a fretted five to use along with my fretless Warwick 5. As part of the deal, I got a set of new strings. The person who sold me the bass said he'd been using Nickel Slinkys on his to great result, so I went with the recommendation.

Well, for months I fought rattles and setup problems on this bass, set it up constantly, could never find any issue at all with the near-mint and perfect neck/fretboard, on and on. For some reason, I just chalked it up to being a rattly bass with otherwise very nice tone.

Cut to the present: I needed strings, and was thinking actually of going with some groundwounds, but on a totally different lark, decided to get a set of Stainless Lo Riders (135 B-String).

WOW. At this juncture I can only speculate that the particular resonance of this bass wants a stiffer string, because it has (again) become the bass I fell in love with. Tone, ironically, is both darker and more pointed with the Lo Riders, and the stiffness is very helpful. In fact, the action on this bass can really go nice and low due to the very nice neck build and trussrod implementation, and the stiffness of the strings is nothing but a help in making the entire thing feel great.

Hopefully this may help someone else in the same situation. I have a P-Lyte that really comes alive with the Slinkys, and I would never have imagined that they would just be a horribly mismatched choice with the Pedulla, but there you go.

The tone I'm getting with the Lo Riders is just dead on with this bass. In fact, the first tune I played on stage nearly shocked me with the difference, it was so immediately evident.