Jamieboy

I chase a tone which is clean, bright, active, "hi-fi", plenty of upper mids. One man's meat is another man's poison and all that. How boring would it be if we all had the same tonal preferences!

Some great replies, thanks all. Seems I'm verging on the outskirts of sanity, although am accompanied by a few similarly-minded souls. I took the Z3 to the gig and loved it. Too deep in to back out now: the clandestine affair has started! Maybe I need to buy two phones and start going on frequent "work" trips....

Wondering just how wierd I am for having these issues over inanimate objects.... I've got a beautiful Sandberg TT which was a 10 yr anniversary gift from my wife. It's amazing and I delight in it every i play it. Feel very lucky to own it. But I've recently bought a Sire Z3 as something cheaper to use in less salubrious venues and as I'd fancied sampling the stingray-ish vibe.... and I bloody love it. Massively exceeded all my expectations and I just love the sound. Got a gig tomorrow where there's no reason not to take the Sandberg, but I really want to use the Z3. Genuinely feel a sense of guilt about it. Anyone else feel any qualms like this?

Did you find anything on this? Interested.

Yeah I really really rate my z3. Sounds and plays fantastic. The sparkles are an added bonus.

If its the new string zing you dont like, my experience is that Elixirs tend to bypass that immediately but sound like a just broken in set for ages. They are smooth too so they could well be up your street. Re NYXLs I think they had a slightly lower tension than the standard xls which I find a bit too stiff. Slightly different tone, which I preferred. Strings are such a personal thing so YMMV but I'd say neither of those are a "bad" choice.

DR Sunbeams are a pretty smooth nickel roundwound. Think I recall daddario NYXL feeling slightly smoother than the normal XL strings too (and preferred them in other ways as well).

My z3 is just under 9lbs. Clearly there'll be variation of weights but they are certainly not all heavy. Hope you're not unlucky.

Just bought one of these bags having seen this thread and it mentioned in a few other places. Absolutely excellent product and great value as well. Thanks.

Never considered sparkles... but got this and love the finish so much!

Bought a z3 in black sparkle last week. Really like it. Been adjusting action and generally tweaking it to my liking. Adore the sparkly finish, which is more sparkly in the flesh than in photos it seems to me. Sounds good to me, although I've never owned a MM stingray so can't directly compare.

As an aside, and in full agreement with this - gotoh supplied screws are basically good for nothing in my view.

Good idea....

Thanks all for the thoughts. Update: the holes weren't as off as it seemed to me they would be (and as the internet would have you believe). I went to try the one-screw line up as per Geek99's suggestion and then I noticed I could just about see the other wood hole through the second gotoh screw hole. Thus by lining them up so neither were dead centre I could just thread both holes. Sorry guys - turns out it was much ado about nothing! 🫣 All now installed and bass balances beautifully. Amazing how much difference the weight of 4 tuners can make to how a bass feels.