List night was was able to put some strings (LaBella Low Tension Flats) on the '66 NR that are pretty close to what is on the '64 (LaBella DTF) and do some back and forth. The Low Tensions are naturally a little less bright and a little more dark, as you would expect with round cores. Even with the darker/deeper strings the '64 still had more beef. The '66 with 916s more mids and highs. At home it sound nice and punchy. but Sunday it lacked some heft and some kind of presence. I'm hoping the darker strings will bring some beef to the table for Wed rehearsal. May be I need to do a little EQing. As mentioned Sunday, sounded good with the Ampeg, just not approaching the '64 kind of Thunderbird magic. I'm optimistic and have several string options yet to try, but worse case scenario I can drop in the pups from the doner Epi and see how they do. The Epis are little darker than a VP (pup placement and blend wiring and the 916s might be a better fit in that. I'd have to unsolder the cans to get the gold back on the '66. But I'm getting way ahead of myself--just realizing I have options if strings and EQ don't get me where I want to go.
As an aside, I was considering DTFs but with the repair I was wanting to lessen stress on the neck if possible and asked La Bella if they had tension numbers as I know what some rounds are I might use. They replied the next morning and said that unfortunately they don't publish those numbers, but they did suggest the Low Tensions and gave numbers for those. Since I had a set on a Pbass I swapped then last night.
As an aside, I was considering DTFs but with the repair I was wanting to lessen stress on the neck if possible and asked La Bella if they had tension numbers as I know what some rounds are I might use. They replied the next morning and said that unfortunately they don't publish those numbers, but they did suggest the Low Tensions and gave numbers for those. Since I had a set on a Pbass I swapped then last night.
