New to 12-stringers

[stsang]

First and foremost, greetings to everybody on the forum as this is my first post!

Welcome to the Forum, Eric and congrats on your first 12-stringer! The first is always special. I'm sure Chris will do a great job for you.

[8mileshigher]

First and foremost, greetings to everybody on the forum as this is my first post!

Welcome to the Forum, Eric and congrats on your first 12-stringer!

+1 --- a warm welcome to you and congratulations on your acquisition.

[RonLovesRic12strings]

I really don't know the reason, but D'Addario strings, IMHO and experience, just do not work on RICK 12's. These strings sound lousy on the RICK 12's and do not intonate well.....also tuning seems unstable. Installing the TI flatwounds makes a WORLD of difference, and they seem to last a long time.

[fatcat]

That is true about them lasting--I installed a JS 110 set on my 370-12 RM, (for root strings)in 2005 and only replaced them this year,after having to replace the shattered tailpiece.
But, I installed Ernie Ball 2230s and am satisfied with them.

[stsang]

That is true about them lasting--I installed a JS 110 set on my 370-12 RM, (for root strings)in 2005 and only replaced them this year,after having to replace the shattered tailpiece.
But, I installed Ernie Ball 2230s and am satisfied with them.

Shattered tailpiece?? What happened?

[fatcat]

Just the well known exploding tailpiece syndrome.

[stsang]

Just the well known exploding tailpiece syndrome.

Oh wow - sorry to hear about that (and thanks for posting a photo). May I ask what is the year of your Ric with the exploded tailpiece? Now I'm worried about my '02...

[Folkie]

Hey, Simon,

I wouldn't worry too much about your 2002 360/12, as far as the "exploding tailpiece syndrome" goes. On a previous thread here, the consensus was that black tailpieces from guitars made around 1989-91 were the most vulnerable to spontaneous shattering. I own a 1991 330/12 with a black tailpiece, and, so far, I've had no problems.

Robert

[stsang]

Hey, Simon,

I wouldn't worry too much about your 2002 360/12, as far as the "exploding tailpiece syndrome" goes. On a previous thread here, the consensus was that black tailpieces from guitars made around 1989-91 were the most vulnerable to spontaneous shattering. I own a 1991 330/12 with a black tailpiece, and, so far, I've had no problems.

Robert

Thanks for the reassurance, Robert! I was a bit worried because Don's previous post said it happened to his 370/12RM (which doesn't have a black tailpiece) but good to hear that newer Rics are free of this problem.

[fatcat]

Mine was made and bought in 1988 (only had to wait a few months between order and delivery back then).

Getting the replacement was easy thru my local dealer, I was only down a few weeks.

[drumbob]

I did put on fresh strings with plenty of wraps, and they are a D'Addario set (10-46) which is confusing to me. I've been using D'Addarios on my Les Paul forever, and have never had a problem before. I had a Rick 370-6 that work great with them as well. What gauge are your flatwounds?

Ron is right. You do not want to use D'Addrio strings! They don't work on a Rick 12. I use Curt Mangums that are made especially for the Rick 12. And yes, they are finicky instruments, but well worth the effort. Chris from Pick Of the Ricks here in NJ recommended the Mangrums, and they have worked out very well. I never change the strings on my 330-12. I have my tech, David Petillo, do it for me. He also sets the action and intonation at the same time. David is the son of famed luthier Phil Petillo, and he regularly does Steve van Zandt's Rick 12, as well as all of Bruce Springsteen's guitars. David is great, he's a total pro, and he's the sweetest guy in the world.

It's important you find the right tech to set the guitar up. I took mine to two other techs before David, and neither one of them could get it right. One of them was Dennis Mac Pherson in Ringwood, NJ, who told me flat out he hated working on Rickenbacker guitars. That should have been an omen for me to go elsewhere. He messed it up royally, so bad it wouldn't intonate or stay in tune at all. He butchered it so badly, I almost gave up and sold the guitar. I won't mention the other guy, because he's good with Strats, Les Pauls, etc. He just doesn't have a handle on Rick 12 strings.

Bottom line: use the right strings and find the right tech to get your Rick 12 set up right. Once you do, it should play great.

[bvstudios]

Hmm, D'Addarios... I'm on my third set in two years (with three more in the box) for my 370/12. No issues, no probs, they stay in tune and intonation is pretty much spot on. True, they're not T1 flats, but they do work. In fact over on the factory forum Mr Hall actually has stated that D'addarios are perfectly acceptable.

Having said that, it's been my experience that strings are just about as personal a thing as is a guitar. Different strokes, etc...

fwimbw

[Tubescreamer]

My problems pretty much went away as soon as I replaced the plain 17 and plain 18 with wound eighteens. HUGE difference. I also had to move the whole bridge to intonate it, but all is well in Jangleworld now. Thanks everybody.

[Folkie]

Bob,

I had a similar experience when I took my beloved 360/12 to a tech who had a great reputation, but, as it turned out, didn't know much about Rickenbackers. I won't go into all the gorey details of how he screwed up my baby, and I won't mention his name.

Luckily, the guitar is still playable. But I learned my lesson the hard way: only Ric experts in the future, even if that means shipping my guitar to New Jersey or farther to have it set up by someone who knows what they're doing.

Robert