Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Not sure how they'd work with a lower tuning (might be too light) but S.I.T has a light gague 8-string set: SIT_NR81890L - for about $20 might be worth a look at:
1st G Nickel Plated Wound .018 2nd G Nickel Plated Wound .040
3rd D Nickel Plated Wound .025 4th D Nickel Plated Wound .055
5th A Nickel Plated Wound .035 6th A Nickel Plated Wound .070
7th E Nickel Plated Wound .045 8th E Nickel Plated Wound .095
Again Joey, a sweet look bass! You gonna post some audio clips on your web site?

I woulds seriously consider the SIT NR81890L set if I was going to tune it to standard pitch. The price is very reasonable and I think the strings in that set might have the same gauge that the RIC 8 string set had. But that might be light for a dropped tuning. I might go with the D'Addario EXL170-8 set. If I can reasonably fit a .105" fundamental E string on there, it might be better.

D'Addario EXL170-8 set:
G - 0.045 / 0.018
D - 0.065 / 0.028
A - 0.080 / 0.040
E - 0.100 / 0.050

Tom, I might eventually put at least one sound clip of the S/8 on my website, but not with strings it has on it now, they sound and even look very worn.
Dane, I most likely won't be joining you in the potato headstock club, but you never know.

Wow Joey, great looking bass! This turned out to be a really sweet deal for you. And a RIHS! It will sound really good on any Rick you put it on, but personally I've found the 70s 4001 basses sound best with their original pups. I like my RIHS on my 2004 4003 with RIC flats.

So glad that thread did not jeopardize your pursuing this bass.

Thanks John, I'll also keep an eye out for you for a sweet V63 deal.

I wouldn't mind having an 8 string bass myself; I like them. If I did, I would want the fundamental note above the octave, since I play with a pick 99% of the time. Plus I've found that playing an 8 stringer with fingers is a little messy sounding for me anyway. And I would definitely want a Ric too.

Awesome Bass!!! How does she sound?

Nice score, Joey. With a black TRC and Pickguard she'd be the twin of mine!

Glad you were able to get her in the end, Joey. I think you're gonna have a lot of fun with this one!

Also looking forward to seeing what you put the HS on. I love the RIHS and i'm sure you will too!

This S/8 sounds pretty good despite how old and dead the strings are. I can't wait put new strings on her. I might change the order of the strings. From playing my 12 string bass, I got so used to the octave strings being on the bass side, so if I play chords or arpeggios on the S/8, I tend to mute the octave string. rather than fret it properly.
This bass intonates pretty well. The E and G octave strings are slightly off. That's okay with me, it gives a little chorusing effect that I do purposely with my 12 string.
Jeff, I was thinking about getting it a black TRC and pickguard.
This bass will see quite a bit of use. My band mates are quite excited about it, especially since we are a one guitar band (which I much prefer in a hard rock/metal band) it wil fill in more of the sound...and I think we may have found our new singer!!

I'm thinking about getting a guitar combo amp with a 1 x 12" speaker to send the highs to, adding distortion to it's output. Anyone recommend a decent guitar combo like that? I was wondering how the 65 watt Fender Frontman 65R was? John B, Jdog or anyone else who plays guitar as well as bass know if that combo amp is decent or recommend something good, very portable, not too heavy. I already have enough heavy gear to carry to a gig!!

You mean this one, Joey? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=483721

It ought to do the job just fine.

That's the one, thanks John!

rickenbrother wrote:This S/8 sounds pretty good despite how old and dead the strings are. I can't wait put new strings on her. I might change the order of the strings. From playing my 12 string bass, I got so used to the octave strings being on the bass side, so if I play chords or arpeggios on the S/8, I tend to mute the octave string. rather than fret it properly.

That's the problem I have with my S/8 as well - I much prefer the 4008 setup. I guess it fits the shape of my fingers better.

I'm glad you said that, Harry. I was beginning to think it was MY fingers.

When I had mine I found that the best right hand technique for getting good reaction from both the regular and octave strings was to strike the strings instead of my traditional plucking method.


Don't forget the cheese-grater effect Joey......