Hey all, I have a Starfire on the way, and am wondering what y'all are using for strings? I'm leaning towards flats, and am familiar with Chromes, but trying to get a feel for what folks who have the bass are using... Also, I know it's a short-scale, but the tail length from the anchor to the bridge piece looks a little long... Are you using shorts or mediums? -robert
You require MEDIUM SCALE strings on Starfires. I have used D'Addario Chromes, La Bella Tapewounds, and Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats on my Starfire. I prefer the Chromes. Just be sure to order Medium Scale strings for it!
My Sweetwater rep who sold me my Starfire told me to use regular short-scale. Haven't restrung it yet, so I haven't tried either size stain. Hmm...
I re-strung my Newark SF-I with medium-scale, D'Addario Chromes ECB81M (.045-.100) and like them just fine. They have more tension than some other string sets, which helps keep the E string from being too floppy on account of the shorter scale length, IMHO. Hated the round wounds that came on it: pulled them off after about a 10 minute try out. These basses were made to wear flats.
Right now, it has he strings that came with it. Round wound. I was thinking about trying flats, but I may go with one of those in-between products that claims to have more brightness than flats but smoother (audibly and to the touch) than steel rounds. Thanks for asking.
TIs on my '66 Starfire, sounds great if slightly lacking in deep lows. I haven't tried anything else on it, but am curious as to how LaBella flats would sound.