Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A new nut? What's wrong with the one that plays it now? (gotcha!)

(rimshot)

I've been playing the wb most of the day today...I'm working on using all 5 fingers and the smoothness of the chromes has been helping....I love the sound..

I distinctly remember EVERY string having really high tension, not just one of them. That was the main problem I had with them; they were harder to play, despite their smoothness, than *every* other string I'd ever played. I don't recall if my Chromes were "Super Softs" or not; I got the only available set on MusiciansFriend at the time, so all I was paying attention to was whether they were D'addario Chromes or not. I might try them again if, as you say, the "Super Soft" set is low tension . . . the one's I had felt like freaking double bass strings, they required so much force to move. Hmmm . . . I'm still debating though, if I want to switch to DR Lo-Riders, but no one can tell me what the differences are between the Lo-Riders and the Hi-Beams (which I currently have).

The best thing would be if Chromes sounded EXACTLY like Hi-Beams, but were still as smooth.

Chromes comes in several different guage sets, the heavier sets would have the feel you recall. The standard sets are ECB 80 Super Soft:40-95, ECB 81 Soft: 45-100, ECB 82 Regular 50-105.

I have a feeling that if you "got the only available set on MusiciansFriend at the time", it was the Regular set.

I just put together four sets of the supersoft at Juststrings. Instead of buying the extra .55 guage, I purchased all single strings. Saves about $5 bucks a set. What do you do with that .60 anyway?

Strangle the cat!

I'm surprised that buying all singles is less pricey, not that they are very pricey to begin with, as they last a lonnnngggg time.

The last time I bought them it was cheaper to buy a set and one single, I think there has been a change in pricing to our advantage!

That, or my math was wrong.

Your math is correct, I checked. Not your math, Just Strings!

If I'd known someone sold singles, I wouldn't have bought a whole set when I broke the brand-new A on my Beatle bass....

I definitely didn't buy the Regular set, because I know I have never owned a string set with a G-string heavier than .045. I think I bought the .045-.100 set, the "Soft" set. I might try Super-Soft in the future . . . but that'll wait until my DR's run out of life, which hasn't happened after four months!

I've had Chromes on a couple of my basses now for a couple of years and they still sound good to me.

Robert, The Lo-Riders have a hex core and the Sunbeams have a round core. This means the Sunbeams will be a little more flexible than the Lo-Riders are. I use the nickel Lo-Riders (45-105) on my 4003. I think the Sunbeams are nickel too. I'm not 100% sure though as I've never used them. The nickel Lo-Riders sound great though. So do the Chromes (45-100) that I have on my V63. I don't want to use flats heaver than that.

I stopped using Chromes because they were a bit stiff and the D string sounded different... no doubt that's why others are using a lighter D. And this was the 45-100 set.

I haven't used flats in a while, but I still swear by LaBella Deep Talkin' Bass stainless flats.

The tension is nice and light and they have a nice lively sound. My last set lasted two years.. and then I broke one!

I believe that's what McCartney uses on his Hofner and Rickenbacker basses. According to what I read in Bass Player magazine, he uses the light guage set 39-96 I think.

I just priced them at juststrings and it was cheaper for the set plus the one string,

than for all individual strings.

Do I have the wrong strings or have they changed prices again?