SIT strings

They really are great tremolo strings! I put a set I had on my Charvel for a little bit onto my Jackson and it made a world of difference with the Kahler 2410. Rotosounds (I tried 66s and 77s) would bind in the nut and the tuning stability was poor. The SITs allow awesome stability with all kinds of trem use, plus they are very bendy (extremely so on my Charvel, I noticed...it was awesome). The strings bend and move across the nut smoothly and it makes a world of difference.

I don't like the sound of them, though. At least, not as much as my beloved Rotos. They are much easier on the frets (I feel less guilty about doing high bends because it doesn't feel like I'm carving grooves across the fretwire) and they greatly enhance tuning, but they are very different feeling and sounding strings. But my Jackson likes them a lot. The SITs sounded bad on my Charvel with a DiMarzio, but with the Jackson's powerhouse pickups and preamp, the nickel rounds sound decent. Very decent. And it has nice action. I might only get SITs for that bass because it seems to be kinda picky about what strings it has on it.

And the 77s that I tried out on the Kelly are extremely happy on my 3B. I'm going to leave them on there until I change the elctronics/bridge. I can coax a very vocal sound out of them and it's a blast to play on the slick feeling treble strings. The bass strings feel a little rough (first experience with 77s--I think I like DR Chromes more), but they have a wonderful timbre. Pricey, but oh so nice.

I've considered trying the SIT's myself. How is the treble response, Martin? Would you say they are not quite as bright as, say, the Roto's are?

EricHaven wrote:

I've considered trying the SIT's myself. How is the treble response, Martin? Would you say they are not quite as bright as, say, the Roto's are?

Probably not. But the steels should be plenty bright.

Chowderboots wrote:

The SITs allow awesome stability with all kinds of trem use, plus they are very

So then they live up to the name (SIT stands for Stay in Tune, in case you didn't know)?

EricHaven wrote:

I've considered trying the SIT's myself. How is the treble response, Martin? Would you say they are not quite as bright as, say, the Roto's are?

I don't know how to describe the sound...it's very different. I couldn't use these on every bass because they don't have the same rich timbre that I'm used to with Rotosounds. It's complex, but they're warmer and not as twangy as even Roto nickels. They make me think of strings that would be used by a slap player--or someone who dials out a touch of mids in favor of a boost in treble in bass. But, don't let that discourage you! That sound only bothered me on a low output pickup (oldy moldy DIMarzio PAF P from my Hamer--really clear, articulate pickup). When I put them on a bass with much raunchier electronics, the power of the pickups kinda made up for the way the strings sound, you know? You're using an X2N-7...that'll probably do the trick. It could probably blow my Kelly's EMGs out of the water.

My recommendation--try the nickels and see if the feel and tuning stability feel good. If you dig em, maybe try the steels and see if you get the same feel and stability, but with a more Roto-y twank.

Kugelspot wrote:

Chowderboots wrote:

The SITs allow awesome stability with all kinds of trem use, plus they are very

So then they live up to the name (SIT stands for Stay in Tune, in case you didn't know)?

Yes, they sure do! That's why I started this thread--to give testimony they do exactly what they promise they'll do! I was astounded that these strings could actually be the answer to my tuning stability woes on my Kelly. After an hour of solid noisemaking and abuse yesterday, I may have had to slightly adjust the tuning once, but that wasn't even after really heavy dives and pulls, just hte strings settling in after it'd been in the case for a couple days. The action is better than ever, too. The only other strings that could give me action this good were Swing 66s, but the constantly shifting tuning was irritating because the action would change a little and sometimes notes would fret out high on the board.

If you find that the tuning stability isn't as good as you want it to be on your Spector, give these suckers a try. They're only like $15 a pack from Wammi J.

I would like to try a set of Roto 88s (compression wound) on the Jackson to see if they'll be as stable and not eat the frets like these SITs, but if they don't, I might keep this bass strung with these for a while.