Lakland Skyline Hollowbody 30 inch scale

[solo4652]

I've tried quite a few different strings. I only play halfwounds or flats now. For a few years, I settled on Labella black tapewounds. Their depth of tone balanced-out the slightly "modern" tone of the pickups to give a nicely rounded sound with plenty of low end. Fender flatwounds didn't work quite so well - a bit too bright on this bass, in my opinion. I also tried some Status black nylons, but I was experiencing a lot of intonation issues. Then, I decided that tapewounds and nylons were a little too slack, and needed quite a high action which was tiring my fretting hand. At that point, I switched to Status Hot Wire half wounds, mainly because they were appreciably cheaper than most other good quality strings. These worked well for me on the bass and became my favourite strings until Status stopped making them. Now, the bass is strung with Picato stainless flatwounds 45/65/80/100 :  https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/picato-stainless-steel-flatwound-45-100-bass-guitar-strings-short-scale?srsltid=AfmBOoqRRdcYcUJCqjgf78pul-hME30NWWN49P_8ZtwkNZBT3oXWarCN  I had one set that lasted 2 years of rehearsing and gigging most weeks. Eventually, they started sounding a bit dull, so I replaced them with an identical new set - better the devil you know, I suppose.

[Light Grenade]

On 24/09/2025 at 10:12, solo4652 said:

I've tried quite a few different strings. I only play halfwounds or flats now. For a few years, I settled on Labella black tapewounds. Their depth of tone balanced-out the slightly "modern" tone of the pickups to give a nicely rounded sound with plenty of low end. Fender flatwounds didn't work quite so well - a bit too bright on this bass, in my opinion. I also tried some Status black nylons, but I was experiencing a lot of intonation issues. Then, I decided that tapewounds and nylons were a little too slack, and needed quite a high action which was tiring my fretting hand. At that point, I switched to Status Hot Wire half wounds, mainly because they were appreciably cheaper than most other good quality strings. These worked well for me on the bass and became my favourite strings until Status stopped making them. Now, the bass is strung with Picato stainless flatwounds 45/65/80/100 :  https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/picato-stainless-steel-flatwound-45-100-bass-guitar-strings-short-scale?srsltid=AfmBOoqRRdcYcUJCqjgf78pul-hME30NWWN49P_8ZtwkNZBT3oXWarCN  I had one set that lasted 2 years of rehearsing and gigging most weeks. Eventually, they started sounding a bit dull, so I replaced them with an identical new set - better the devil you know, I suppose.

Thanks very much for the info.

 

I've been putting it's through it's paces the last day - it's a glorious instrument. Incredibly easy to play and sounds great. I can see me picking this up before my PJ most of the time! 

 

It came with rounds, so I'll be getting some flats on it pronto. 

 

 

[scrumpymike]

On 23/09/2025 at 22:45, Light Grenade said:

I've just picked one of these up and I'm awaiting delivery. My first bass purchase since being more than content with my Lakland PJ for 6 years. Excited! 

 

Does anyone have any recs for strings? I play TI Jazz Flats with my PJ, which I love, so I'd be looking for something similar vibe wise, maybe with slightly higher tension to offset looser tension that comes with the SS.

 

I have zero experience with short-scale basses, so any advice would be grand!

 

@solo4652 Your info on this bass was great in helping me make the purchase - thanks! 

Is it the black one from the Bass Gallery?