Hi all. New member here and I hope I've posted in the right area. I'm the proud owner of a (relatively new) Streamline 4 string. I purchased about 3 months ago and like all Status owners, was absolutely blown away with the quality, feel and sound of this bass.

A couple of days ago I started to change the strings on my bass. As with any new Status, it came with a set of Hot Wire strings. I'm a former Steinberger owner as well and though I've gotten rid of my old Steinberger I did happen to have a set of RotoSound long scale double ball strings that I had never used. I proceeded to remove the Hot Wires and as I changed the G string, I noticed it seemed very difficult to seat the RotoSounds in the head piece and the bridge. Getting the ball end in one or the other was not an issue but once I had one ball in place there was not enough length to get the other ball in place. This was a bit perplexing as I've used all sorts of strings over the years in the Steinberger (GHS, Roto, La Bella, Ken Smith, etc) and never had any issue changing strings.

I also know that Rob states on the Status website regarding his double ball strings that they meet the industry standard for length, etc (which I do not doubt). So my question is this: has anyone else had this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions? While I have no problem ordering Hot Wires from Rob, I find it very odd that if all the strings are industry standard, wouldn't that apply to any and all double balls? Should I possibly consider trying a set of extra long scale double balls (I found some D'Angelicos that said they were "extra long" and "for European system" but "would not work with Steinberger system" so that sort of confused me).

I guess I just need to know if I should buy several sets in bulk from Rob if I don't have any options for ordering some from a US store and have them in hand in a couple of days.

Any and all help and comments will be appreciated

I've used the Hotwires on my Statii and they're good, but my string of choice has always been Rotosound.
I too have noticed some difficulty in putting on Rotosounds on my Streamline. They barely fit...but they do fit. There is a measurable difference in the lengths of the Hotwires vs the Rotosounds.

Thanks Damn Yank...unfortunately I could not get the Rotos I have to fit even though they were long scale. I guess I will order some Hot Wires

Just an FYI........ I used Status strings on my numerous Steinbergers (20+) for years. I also used them on my Streamline and Eclipse Limited Edition '96 and never had a problem with the strings. My playing fingers were another story........ never as good as the strings. I endorse (not professionally but personally) Status strings whenever I can, they work.

The sound is in your fingers, the bass and strings are just clogging up the line. KWS