Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Bojan, do you work for or are paid to promote Pyramid?

http://www.thestringguy.com/tension.html

Just posting info, no idea how accurate it is.

I tried two sets of D'Addario strings on my Ric 12 and they were unacceptable; the main prioblem was they wouldn't stay in tune at all. Then, on the advice of Chris at Pick 'O Ricks, I tried the Curt Mangum strings, which have been fine. Someone told me that D'Addario makes the Mangum strings. If that's true, they're doing something different that works.

OK, I said at some point in this thread that I would give my opinion of Thomastik-Infelt flatwounds when I tried them. I just put on a 10-44 set of jazz flatwounds on my 340/6 and I really have to say that they are tremendous!! Wonderful sound, nice and percussive but twangier than the Pyramids, great feel, kind to my fingers (and to my guitar's neck), and they really do have the original vintage vibe. Overall, much better strings! I'm sticking with Thomastik-Infelt. Definitely!

Happy Holidays to everyone!!
Bojan

wow did'nt see that coming after reading the rest of the thread. Good show , mate! Nice to hear the TI's are working out.

As my 360's up for new strings, I must try those TI 10-44 Jazz Flats for comparison (The current strings are 10 gauge D'Addario's).

Interesting thread. After trying Kenny Howes' TI-equipped 360/12 OS, I'd be interested in trying the TIs eventually. I've used the D'Addario's, which were okay but difficult for me to do bends with, and I actually like to do bends on my 12 string. After watching video of Tim Finn bend like mad on his Dano 12 during Crowded House's Sydney farewell concert fromthe 90s, I thought I'd try something lighter, and ended up going with a super light round wound Ernie Ball set .008-.040, which is the complete opposite direction from where most folks have gone; I've never had any of the staying in tune issues mentioned with D'Addarios (or my new fave Ernie Balls either) on my 381/12. The light gauge ensures no bowed neck issues, and the 12 saddle bridge likely makes up for any intonation issues that might be present using such a light gauge of 12 string. the only possible drawback is perhaps a lower string volume from using a lighter gauge set, if that makes any sense, but that's easily compensated for.

.008-.040? I'd break 'em!

kennyhowes wrote:.008-.040? I'd break 'em!

Yep.
At least 3 of those would be gone by the end of the first song.

Wildberry wrote:As my 360's up for new strings, I must try those TI 10-44 Jazz Flats for comparison (The current strings are 10 gauge D'Addario's).

Well, I put those TI 10-44s on my 360 and must say I like them a bit more than D'Addario's. The lower e string on my old set was getting bad, but somehow I think the TI lower e and A strings sound slightly different than D'Addario 10 gauge. For now I think I'll be sticking to TIs.

Anyone use Dean Markley strings? Got a little ad with my TIs - any experience is welcome!

I used D'Addario chromes in the past the .11 set. It was probably the worst thing I ever did. It played horrible and string tension was through the roof, got it set up 5 times in a year just to get rid of fret buzz but it just kept coming. They just lack stability in my opinion.

Now I switched to Thomastik Infeld: the George Benson .012 set, it plays out of this world and super fast. But you really got to work if you want to bend. I mostly only use this for rhythm. However the price is high but they last for months. I also tried the swinger set, might be the best all around.
I got this set up on a Epi Riviera elitist.


Just to say something about roundwounds.
Some roundwound advice from me:
For round wound strings I like .010 the best for easy bending, the TI Power Brights are an absolute winner here with me.
They are stable and stay fresh for weeks. As soon as I'm getting a RIC 360/6 I'm gonna put those on.

btw anybody tried "new" maxima / optima? strings

I wanted to try those a while ago but the TI's are so good, I haven't had the urge to try something new.

I have a question about flatwounds and Ric's, hope I don't seem stupid...
Do you achieve the 'chime' like sound with flatwounds on a Ric? I was thinking of making a Ric 360, my only guitar with round wounds just for the typical 'ringing' sustain. Since I don't own one, but always had the plan to put round wound strings on my future 360/6. Would you suggest to stick with flat's on a RIC too?


I have various hollowbodies all with TI flat's and ofcourse it's personal but doesn't a RIC lose a lot of it's signature sound?

Kekke wrote:I wanted to try those a while ago but the TI's are so good, I haven't had the urge to try something new.

I have a question about flatwounds and Ric's, hope I don't seem stupid...
Do you achieve the 'chime' like sound with flatwounds on a Ric? I was thinking of making a Ric 360, my only guitar with round wounds just for the typical 'ringing' sustain. Since I don't own one, but always had the plan to put round wound strings on my future 360/6. Would you suggest to stick with flat's on a RIC too?


I have various hollowbodies all with TI flat's and ofcourse it's personal but doesn't a RIC lose a lot of it's signature sound?

In my humble opinion, 12 string guitars strung with flatwounds chime MORE than when they are strung with roundwounds. Something about the contrast between the flatwound string holding the fundamental and the octave string doing most of the "harmonic" work makes a chime that stands out. If all of the strings are roundwound there is too much harmonic information. Too much sheen and glitter.

I would recommend staying with roundwounds for a 6 string Rickenbacker if you want chime. I have a 6-String Rickenbacker strung with Flatwounds and it isn't chimey at all. It sounds great though, just not chimey!

Holy ancient thread, Batman! The last post here...I don't even think we had cell phones. We might not even have had cars!

I fell for the Pyramid talk all those moons ago. I strung them up on a guitar of mine and sure enough I found out the criticism of them was true: stiff as heck and thud from the lower strings.

The TI flats play far better than Pyramids, but even those can't compare to the vibrancy of roundwounds. I've come to learn that flatwounds are best for bass guitars. My Hofner with LaBella flats thuds -- and that's what it is supposed to do. Sounds just like Paul's.