Bitten by sudden impulse, and after a long conversation with a friend of mine who kept hyping Guild basses, I bought a '73 Guild
JS-2 the other day. It's scheduled to arrive tuesday. It's basically equpped like a Gibson EB3 (or the newer SG bass)... two giant humbuckers, short-scale, mahogany body. The biggest difference is a "tone-switch" which supposedly cuts some of the mud allowing a "tight-hard" sound, as the ancient Guild ad proclaims. I'm assuming the bass may need a setup, and at the least some new strings.
I know a lot of people throw flats on these basses and just commit to the total low-end "whoomph" that these are capable of, but I'm a fan of versatility, and with the tone-switch and dual pickups I'm hoping to get some degree of range... from all out "whoomph" to some growling treble, if possible. Basically I'm thinking of getting LaBella Hard Rockin' Steels in the short scale configuration. They're on the heavy side (.054-.111), but with the reduced tension of a short-scale, it ought to feel comparable to the .050-.105's i use on my p-bass.
Here's my question: is this a bad idea? Do any of you guys use stainless strings on these kinds of basses? Would I be better off just sticking with the short-scale version of the Daddario Nickel rounds that I typically use on my p-bass? I'm not concerned with the feel of the heavy-gauge or the uncomfortable qualities of stainless (I played rotos for a while, and they're decidedly harsh, but bearable), but I don't wanna subject my new baby to unnecessary fret-wear if it ain't gonna sound good. Thanks in advance!
