Hello All,
I have a Hofner Beatle Bass copy from Japan that I recently switched over from light gauge rounds to light gauge flats.
I didn't want to spend a ton of $ on TI-Flats or Pyramids. Great strings obviously, but expensive and I wanted to try a more cost efficient route. I tried two sets in the last week. D'Addario Chrome Flats 45 to 100 and Rotosounds Jazz flats 40 to 90 gauge.
First a bit about my Japanese copy. Unlike the Epiphone, Rogue and Jay Turser copies, whatever my "no-name" is weighs about 5 lbs and has a thinner neck then the above mentioned basses. It must have a decent truss-rod in it and the neck wood is strong, because the neck is even thinner than the real Hofner and yet the darn thing thankfully doesn't warp.
All that to say it is very light and probably weighs as much or even slightly less than the Hofner. The others weigh AT LEAST 1 LB more than the Hofner.
OK, the D'Addario Chromes were nice strings. I think they'd go well with the Rogue, Turser and the Epi, for those of you who have that bass and want to go with a not-too-expensive set of strings. My only complaint was the string tension is more than medium, in my opinion, but they sounded good. The bass tones were deep, but it was a bit lacking on the mids and highs. The Chromes are about $24 online. The Longscales will string up just fine on your violin bass neck. The "long scale" term is misleading.
The Rotosounds are a really light gauge, I almost thought I had made a big mistake when I popped them out of their box. They are really skinny. Particularly the G string.
Anway, I love the tension. It's not super low tension like TI flats, but they are nice. You can dig in a bit more, if that is your style. Surprisingly, even in that gauge, the have plenty of good deep tone. They work well with the semi-hollow body characteristics and p-ups of a violin bass. In fact, I think the tone of the rotosounds is deeper and more dynamic than the thicker stringed D'Addario Chromes.
The Rotosounds Jazz flats are about $30 online. I really like them and I just wanted to write any 'geezers' out there like me who like violin basses and are looking for a lower cost FLAT STRING alternatives to La Bellas and particularly Thomastik Infelds, and Pyramids.
The Rotosounds are good strings. Don't let the 40 through 90 gauge thinness turn you off. They have lots of deep bass tone and overall dynamic.
Hope this helps anyone. My two cents.
