I picked up a sx jazz bass fretless 6 years ago from Rondo Music and liked it so much I looked for a fretted version. After finding one (this is the vintage series) I put a set of Bass Lines pickups on it. This post is more about different strings I tried. If you already have a sx vintage you know how cool they are.

I tried a set of Rotosound flat wounds on both models. Works good if you want the McCartney thump dead sound or stand up sound. If I remember correctly the E string was a bit dead compared to the other strings but it is a short scale neck. They are really good for vintage motown type sound also. By the way I play through GK amps right now to give you idea of what I’m listening through.

A couple of weeks ago I tried a pair of GHS flatwounds – Stainless Steel from a site called BassStringsOnline.com and all I can say is wow. They fit the bass perfectly, didn’t have to touch the nut…E string is .095. I was going to try the Chromes but the E was at .100 and didn’t want to get in to widening the nut because I think the SX is cut for .095. I believe the rotosounds were .090 so no problem

After reading a review that a player liked the Stainless Steels better than the Chromes, I thought I would give it a shot. These are really nice strings! Also I’ve had them about 3 weeks and been different places playing them so the honeymoon is over and still impressed.

They have a wide tonal range variation for starters, especially for flatwounds. On my SX the tone knob really effects where these strings can go with tone. If I go for treble, I start getting a good snarl similar to roundwounds or I can back off the tone knob and slide back toward the thump dead tone that flatwounds are known for. I could never do that on the Rotosound flatwounds.

The E string is nice and alive like the other strings, a little more tension so a quick neck adjustment took care of it. If you own a short scale neck and want to try something that can visit many places in tone, give these strings a look.

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