Strings, Please advise

[epitreture]

Hi, I have a 360/12 arriving on Wednesday and I'll have to put on new strings. I usually play Beatles, Byrds, Who etc., and I've always just used Rick strings, but I've always heard that flatwounds are better sounding. I've been reading about the new Pyramids with the round core and was wondering if anyone here has tried them yet or if they're available yet? Is there really any noticable difference in sound from roundwound strings? I would be very grateful for your opinions.
Thanks.

[libratune]

There's been a lot of discussion of Pyramid and other brands of 12 string sets. Do a search for "Pyramid" and you'll find them.

Here's a recent extended discussion thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=388246&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=pyramid

[JakeK]

The best strings for 12-strings, in my opinion, are Pick of the Ricks' custom Thomastik-Infeld 12-string set.

[RonLovesRic12strings]

I agree with Jake that the Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds are the best choice for a RIC 12-string. They not only sound terrific, but you'll get the added benefit of less "stiffness", if you will, therefore improving playability. The two Ric 12's that I've strung with these flatwounds even intonate better !

The compressed-wound RIC 12-string set also sound good and is a good second choice for re-stringing.

Some folks swear by Pyramid strings, but I'm told these strings tend to have a very stiff feel. I, personally, have not tried these.

I know a lot of folks balk at the high price of the flatwounds, but you won't be disappointed.

[whojamfan]

I love my TI Flats from Pick of the Ricks. RIC strings didn't do it for me, and the Pyramids were stiff as a clutch cable, IMHO.

[teb]

TI flats on both my twelves. Ric strings are good, but different in sound and feel, depending what your looking for. I started with Pyramids and would never go back to them. Stiff, hard to play and an awful lot of tension that both you and your guitar's neck are fighting without it providing any benefits.

[YukonCor55]

I just restrung my 370/12 with POTR Custom (Curt Mangan) Nickelwound 10/42s. I play a lot of Tom Petty stuff and I'm very happy with the tone and playability these strings provide. At less than 10 bucks a set you just can't beat 'em.

[tennis_nick]

TI flats on both my twelves. Ric strings are good, but different in sound and feel, depending what your looking for. I started with Pyramids and would never go back to them. Stiff, hard to play and an awful lot of tension that both you and your guitar's neck are fighting without it providing any benefits.

Has nobody heard of the new pyramids yet?

[teb]

Heard of them?
Yes.
Heard a whole bunch of first-hand accounts from people that I trust who have tried them and found that they have cured the rather obvious problems that the old Pyramids had - with sound clips that show that their sound is an improvement over other brands?
No.
At the price that Pyramids run, that would have to happen before I would think seriously about trying them again. My twelves play like butter with TI flats and give me the sounds I'm looking for. Same with the three basses I own which now have TIs instead of the Pyramids that came on them. Unless Pyramid can somehow come up with something that's obviously better, there isn't much reason to switch.

One of the very few things I've ever seen J.H. (the man who owns the company that built my guitars) and M.A. (the man who sets them up so that I can play them) agree on, is that Pyramids aren't particularly good strings for them (high tension and irregularity in diameters due to their hand-winding process). When those two guys actually agree on something, I listen closely. There is no reason that Pyramid couldn't develop a line of strings similar to the old Maximas or TI Jazz Flats, but until they have a proven track record with sound bytes to back it up which sound better than what I already have, they aren't getting any more of my money.

[sloop_john_b]

Well said, Todd. Though I am curious about the new Pyramids, I'm inclined to stick with the tried-and-tested (by me) Thomastik's.

[epitreture]

I really appreciate everybody's experience on this. You've convinced me. I've just ordered a set of TI's from POTR. I can't wait to try them!

[Rickygirl]

I think the Rick strings are the best too. Sound fantastic and are intended for the purpose. I was very pleased when I changed mine back to Rick strings. It sounded wonderful IMHO.

[tennis_nick]

[quote]There is no reason that Pyramid couldn't develop a line of strings similar to the old Maximas or TI Jazz Flats,/quote]


Didn't you read what I've been saying?
That's exactly what they've done, using documents from the late 50's as a blueprint for the new strings.

[teb]

Sure, I read what you've been saying, as well as the previous thread about new Pyramids, and the miserably small bit on information that seems to be out there on the web about them - but I'm not sure you read what I've been saying. My response is simply "Show me the proof that they're great strings". Kind of a "Where's the beef?" sort of thing. I am thoroughly convinced that my twelves, guitars and basses have the best strings available for the music that I play and if I have problems with the sound, it's generally caused by my lack of musical ability, not the strings. The TIs are easy on my guitars, easy on my fingers and usually produce the sounds I'm looking for, both live and on recordings, with a minimum of knob tweaking. A JangleBox is pretty much the only gizmo I add to the guitars, along with a little reverb on the mix, and I usually record all guitars by running them through one of my bass amp heads and out to the board.

The new Pyramids might be great strings, and you must be dead set on trying to get people to convert to them, but I'm not sure that anybody we know has actually tried them yet - including you - and I haven't read any reviews or heard any sound clips of them yet. Why would I want to switch from what I know are great strings for my purposes to something that nobody seems to have even tried yet?

On the other hand, if you come to a respected forum like this one and ask "Hey guys and gals, what do you think of TI Flats and does anybody have any sound clips of them in action?" you will immediately hear from a whole bunch of folks - most of whom like them a lot and use them on at least some of their instruments. Some of those folks will also have recordings so that you can even hear what they sound like. At that point, you can make your own decisions about them (or ask your doctor if TI flats are right for you). Without that sort of actual feedback from actual users, buying expensive strings just because the blueprints for them date back to the '50s and somebody, somewhere, thinks that they will be good is a gamble that doesn't interest me at all. I didn't start playing until about 1963, but I often really get a kick out of young people and their fanatical facination with vintage equipment. It's got to be vintage if it's going to be really good..... I was around back then and there was some great equipment - but an awful lot of the stuff we had available was absolute junk compared to what is available today.

Just to put my money where my mouth is, here are a bunch of short clips that show my TI flats in action - in case anybody out there wants to know what they sound like. The music may or may not be to your taste, but listen to the guitars. They're all recorded in the corner of my home office using either a Korg D1200 or D1600 digital recorder, except the last one, where one of our guys sent me a demo from his home studio and I recorded my part on top of it here.
#1 has two stereo tracks of my 370/12WB with TI Jazz Flats and the bass is my Hofner 500/1-V63 with TI Jazz Flats.
#2 Same twelve, neck pickup only and played with a bare right hand using a combination of thumb-tapping and sort of a semi-banjo-style, almost-frailing technique up about the 19th fret. Same Hofner bass.
#3 Same guitar and bass in a more typical "jangle" mode using the neck and bridge pickups.
#4 Takamine acoustic six-string with D'Addario EXP bronze strings, an old Epiphone hollow-body six for lead with the treble rolled all the way off, using TI Jazz Flats and the JangleBox, The Hofner, flat-picked for bass and the 370/12 toward the end as a fairly subtle filler.
#5 The twelve added late in #2 in a more conventional mode - bright, crisp and clear. Flat-picked
#6 An old Martin D-28, my '68 Hagstrom 8-string bass with TI flats for both the primary and octave strings and one of our guys who can sing a hell of a lot better than I can.

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... amples.mp3

Now, if I start hearing a bunch of reports that the new Pyramids are easy on the guitar necks, easy on the fingers and I hear a bunch of clips where they sound better than my TIs do, I'd consider switching. However, anything less than that won't do it and they're too expensive to buy out of simple curiosity.

[epitreture]

Great stuff, Todd! That's just the sound I'm looking for out of my Ricks.