Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I currently use Rickenbacker nickel roundwound 45-55-75-105 strings on my 1975 4001. They have even tension,are reasonably bright, enhance the growl nicely and yet to me they have a warm smoothness to them. I like the fat E string too. I like to play different styles with different sounds ranging from James Jamerson thump to Geddy Lee aggressive brightness and these strings seem versatile enough for me. I play with fingers and with a pick depending on the sound and feel I'm after.

I use Landstrom Sharkfin Gold Letter Red picks. They are light and flexible but have a nice snappy tone to them - good for a smooth or bright tone. I find that light picks, together with a lightish playing style enable me to play with a low action without unwanted fret buzz. I use the same picks for playing guitar too. I've tried many others but these are the only ones that give me the right feel and tone, although Dunlop tortex red .50mm picks come close.


One the subject of Chris Squire I recommend you have a look at this video from his website. I think somewhere he shows you his picking technique with the thumb follow through which gives that harmonic richness to his sound. I think he explains it better ... http://www.chrissquire.com/videos/my-vi ... ?video=188

GHS Bass Precision Flats™
Set M3050 0.045", 0.065", 0.085", & 0.105"
I usually use my fingers. I rarely play bass and keep it here on hand for when a real bass player comes along. If I do use a pick I use the same ones I play guitar with. The blue area on these is rough like sandpaper so I can hang on to them without issues. I'm not sure who makes them. 0.8mm

4001S - GHS Precision Flatwounds
4003 - GHS Precision Flatwounds
4001CS - Rotosound Swing Bass

I've experimented with many sets of rounds and flats and love these for my 2009 4003 MG.

Bassists use picks?

DR SUNBEAMS on the Cii. MAXIMA flats on the 4000. whatever picks i can find,but i prefer herco (the olive green ones),for the occasional times i am going for the "plectrum effect",i am mostly a fingerstyle player,and find i can get plenty of "crispiness" out of the ric's that way.

Nice to see the Squire interview, thanks Antony, always enlightening. Its amazing how good the condition of his original Rick is.

4001C64: TI JF344. Great tone for this bass, and I can deal with the floppiness to get the tone.

4003: La Bella flats gauged .049-.109 (for now). I have a set of Circle K balanced .112 rounds that I will put on soon. Bear in mind that the band I use this bass in tunes down a full step, so the tension at those gauges is ideal.

Picks: Big Stubby picks, and also some 2mm Dunlops I have found laying around the rehearsal studio. My guitarist used to work for Fernandez and therefore has tons of picks of all sizes, some of which end up on the floor.

partime wrote:Nice to see the Squire interview, thanks Antony, always enlightening. Its amazing how good the condition of his original Rick is.

Of course that Ric is 20 years older than it was in that video.

Currently i'm using Elixers. I liked them on other basses and I like them on the Ric also. They sound great and stay sounding great for a long time. I play fingerstyle 98% of the time, but on occasion I use a medium pick. Not really sure of the brand. I have never been really comfortable playing with a pick. I wish I could bring up my comfort level because I like the clean attack you get with a pick.

Rotosound RS66 strings ( 45-105 ) & Herco Flex 75 picks,the same combination as the guy who made me want a Rickenbacker bass Mr.Chris Squire.

lucky wrote:Rotosound RS66 strings ( 45-105 ) & Herco Flex 75 picks,the same combination as the guy who made me want a Rickenbacker bass Mr.Chris Squire.

Apparently NFB-418 has never heard of him.

iamthebassman wrote:Apparently NFB-418 has never heard of him.

Good! Fingerstyle and flats are amazing on a Rickenbacker. Sounds better than some of Jamerson's stuff on a Precision to my ears.

Going against the grain a bit, I use these..

http://www.pure-tone.com/catalog/produc ... ucts_id=45

They feel (and sound) like a cross between Rotosounds and what Daddarios used to feel like. And they have slightly lower tension than usual and are safe for 4001 necks. I also use the five string set on my 4003s/5.
They are softer than Stainless as I have noticed that ultimately they get fret notches on them, so they don't grind your frets to death either...

Gauge is 45,60,80,100

They last and last.... and they are cheap!

emac.

On my 66 4005 fg, I use TI jazz flats (longscale of course)
On my 76 4001 mg, I use DA chromes or Ghs flats
On my 87 4003s8 fg, I use TI Jazz flats and a set of piccolo strings for the octave strings (can't remember which brand, but I got them from Just Strings) I use the lowest tension set possible because I had to make new (stronger) truss rods for the neck...which had habitual neck bow under the high all tension of all 8 strings, until I added the new rods.
I've always played with a pick and I still use the old JIM DUNLOP 1mm black with the grip.