Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Timothy,
I was told they are Roto Sound.
They are too bright for me and have a clanky sounding E which is annoying to me.
I think they are stainless.
Possiblly 100's.
Anyway, I'm putting on Pyramids as soon as they arrive in the mail.
I hope I'm happy with those.

Another possiblity if you like light gauge strings are Thomastic-Enfield (sp?) Jazz flats, very nice bright sound for a flat, also if you like the old fashioned solid thumpy sound try stainless Fender med. light flats, they are high tension and really tighten up a Ric with the 33 1/4 scale. After a while on your bass, your fingers can sound like a pick if you want that sound.

Tom, if this instrument was new, it would have had RIC strings, not Roto Sound. If in fact you do have Roto Sounds on this intrument, it would indeed be more brash or bright sounding due to their high iron content, as compared to the RIC's.

The Pyramids will, of course, require significant additional adjustment due to the change in tension, string length intonation resetting, as well as recutting the nut to fit properly. The T-I's usually don't usually require much adjustment but depending on the set, may require some nut re-grooving.

Bobampeg,
I have tried the TI's on a Fender Jazz and P.
I did not like the tension. Too loose!
I like the tension on the Fender Flats but felt it did not cut thru the mix (IMO) for my live sound.
Too much low mids if I recall.
John,
The instrument is new I have yet to send in the warranty.
The dealer said he changed them from Ric strings to better effect the 70's sound....Go figure.
I would have preferred the Ric strings.
Do Pyramids have more tension that the Rick strings being there flats?
I have pyramids on a P Bass now and like the feel and tension over all that I have tried so far.
I will try and tweek it myself. If I have problems I will go to Island Guitars and see if they can set it up for me.
John, There have been some discussion regarding McCartneys toggle setting on his 4001.
Do you know if it was installed backwards do to it being a lefty model?
I find the Toaster selected sound to replicate the records more than the center and Horseshoe position.
What's your thoughts on this?

Tom,
I think Pyramids have more tension than the stock Ric strings but it is nothing to do with whether they are flats or rounds, it has more to do with the center core. With TI's I usually raise the action some to compensate for their lightness, and they are high output so they still sound good and feel good with high action. I can get them comfortable with the higher action, as I like some tension in my strings also.
Yeah Fenders can be kind of thuddy, I just crank up the mid and highs and they cut through, I get a very clear pick like sound with them because of the settings I use.
I think Pyramids are somewhere in the middle of Ti's and -Fenders, maybe leaning a little more toward the Fenders in sound and feel than toward the TI's.
Maybe the dealer was thinking of Chris Squire as the 70's sound, because that bright sound pretty much dominated the 70's.
Also the Ric stock round wounds kill the Rots as far as sound goes IMHO, very sweet sound.

I dunno, The old Roties are good strings, dont sound all that brash after a few days and are consistent. I will only use them, after trying many a different string

Bobampeg,
I agree.
I too like the Ric strings and if the Pyramids don't cut it , I will most likely order some.
Boy,
I have spent enough on strings to buy another 4001CV64.

I've had Pyramids on my 4003 for about a year and a half now, and I love them. I lowered the bridge, adjusted the saddles and truss rods, but I didn't have to mess with the nut slots. Only one string was just a little bit tight in the slot(the D).

Tom,
I did too, a few years ago, I bought all sorts of strings and took most of them off after a week or so, I still have about 15 sets of different types of strings, I've got Rot rounds, Pyramid flats, TI's flats, Fenders flats, rounds, nickle, stainless, Rot flats, Ric rounds, Rot tapewounds, some I have no idea what kind they are.
Old Roties, ahah! "Brash" is an understatement, I think "Forward bordering on rude" is a little closer, haha!

but didnt you use them for like 90 years bob LOL

Speaking of strings!!
I was once told Rick strings are really made by GHS.
Anyone heard this too?
Is it true?
Interested in finding out!
Cheers everyone

It's not true. Trust me. But they do know how to make a great string, one of the top three in my opinion.

I have not tried all string makes out there.
But my faves are , (Not in any particular order)
Fender 7025's
Rickenbacker factory strings
Pyramid Gold Flats.
I guess nickel does it for me.
John,
You wouldn't want to elaborate on who the other top two are would you?

Sure. The other two top quality strings out there are D'Addario and SIT. These are the most consistently wound and quality controlled strings there are, in my opinion. American-made as well, unlike many of the other well-known brands.

These are strings outside of our own brand and I'm happy to mention this to debunk the myth that you absolutely have to use RIC brand strings on our instruments. Sure, we set them up for our strings but all of these brands will work quite nicely and consistently.

"Consistently" is the key word here, that separates true quality from mediocre brands, even so-called mainstream names.

Owen,
I must confess I used them for a LONG time, probably from 1973 to sometime in the early nineties when I switched to Blue steel med. light round wounds. I used flats from 67 until 73. Then went back home again about two or three years ago, and thought, wow, so thats where that great sound came from. My amps were never clear enough when I used flats in the early days, so I didn't realize how good they really could sound, most of the mud was coming from the big 15" Sunn cabinets I was using with my P bass, or the Dual showman with radio Shack speakers in it. I used the Rots to brighten up the sound, cause I needed them and back then they were about the only round wound string available. Rotosound was synonymous with round wound like Fridgidaire was with refrigerator for a long time.
Now with the great amps available today flats sound great, you can hear the full sound of them, it just took me twenty years to realize that. (many top session players used flats all or most of the time in the studio all these years) For a long time flats were almost a curiosity in the bass world, when at one time they used to rule.
The reason I stopped using Rotos was because I kept getting dead strings, and they never really lasted very long for me anyway, a month was a long time for me. Also bass players were getting back to playing bass instead of lead. I think today there are two schools, the round wound players and the flat wound players, I'm sure that there are still many more round wound players than flats, for example here in Perú you can't even get flats, you can get D'Addario rounds though, which kind of surprised me.