Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anyone else here use these? I know they are a very recent product- never seen them before.

Just thought id say that if , like me, you use stainless roundwound strings like rotosounds, these are wayyyyyy better.

I put a set on a day before a 10hr live recording session...my hands sweat quite a lot when playing and i had often kill rotosounds in one 30min gig. These sounded EXACTLY THE SAME after a 10 hr studio session. After a 3 hr rehearsal the following week they have only just lost thier initial brighness, tho still sound very very bright. Are a tiny bit tighter than rotos too which is nice.

Bob - looks like im not "pushing them rots" anymore haha!

I'm in the middle of evaluating them as an option to my usual Dean Markley Will Lee SR2000's. The verdict isn't in yet though.

They do sound very "alive", and the feel is "firmer" or "tighter" than your average set of strings, which may or may not appeal to particular folks.

I can say that they didn't last as long as I'd hoped on my main gigger 5-string.

Hi Owen!

...interesting report. I always hesitate to use steel wounds as I fear them grinding my frets. My "feeling" is that the nickel wounds are less aggressive to the frets. Also the mid fequencies seem enhanced with the nickel wounds (supporting the authentic "Rick-growl". What is your impression by comparison of nickel wounds to the new d'addario prosteels?

Peter they have plenty of mids. A lot infact. My opinion on fretwear is this. The only way to prevent fretwear is to NOT PLAY

...that's for sure, but also: If you play a lot and see your frets getting "scared" and polished lower and lower within a few years...???
I never want to try anybody a refret job on my '98 4003FG, although it is my working horse, cause I fear the binding will be damaged and I prefer the Rick specially because of the smooth neck feeling (never had a cut of bloody plam from the fret ends like those F**d*r-guys, with late 70ies Jazz or Preci basses). Recently bought an early 4004L/FG ...no neck binding..., let's se the refret job done in 2010... I think the nickel wounds are definitely less aggressive to the frets. Why otherwise would Rick Co. sell only those???

Peter, I have a 4003 that is 13 yrs old and i got it 2 yrs ago and it had like new frets. i play it everyday and it has always had stainless strings on it. Im not a light player and the frets are only just begining to wear. I could understand you using nickel rounds as they are a little kinder to frets. I use stainless strings for the sound, which my band needs. I didnt pay £900 for this bass, so i could look at it

Stainless steel formulations are almost always harder than nickel plated steel -- but that's not as big a factor as the surface finish. After all, stainless flats won't wear your frets at all.

A relatively smooth stainless round (La Bella Super Steps, e.g.) will cause much less wear than a rough surfaced nickel plated round. Roto Swingbass even in the nickel plated steel version seem to be almost as rough as a hacksaw blade. No thanks -- I hate the sound of them anyway but I wouldn't subject my frets to that abuse even if I liked 'em.

My choice for rounds, when I use them, are D'addario XLs. Very gentle on the frets, very nice tone.

I'm interested in trying these out, since I am now officially OFF Rotosounds. I put on a brand new set, let it settle for a week, played a show, and broke the A string on the 8th song. Never again!!
Back to D'Addarios for me.

Are these the same as D'Addario Prisms? Those are (were?) the D'Addario steel roundwounds I used until I decided I preferred the Dean Markley steel rounds. Never had good luck with Rotosounds - didn't sound as good as the others, and they tended to break more easily. And yes, I've had to have my '78 4001 re-fretted after a few years of playing loud/fast music with steel rounds on it. (They'll also grind the finish off the fretboard, but it needs to be re-finished anyway, when it's re-fretted.)

Doug, im not sure if they are the same but they have replaced them.

I used to love Rotosounds, however they have looser cores than the daddario's (or ghs or wotever) ...i cant see how anyone can describe them as a high tension string.

Anyway, the quality control on rotos is all over the place, im fed up of getting strings that go dead after one gig, or sets where one string is deader that the rest.

Yup - I've used Daddy ProSteels for a while now.

Roto 66s are fan-bloomin-tastic, but they do have a tendancy to, well... die... very quickly!

If I see some Roto Swing 66s going cheap, I'll invest.

But currently, Daddy ProSteels are strings of choice for the Cheyenne II and Fender... just as good, far more durable.

using those wimpy 100's Mark?;)

I use the nickle XL-170's on all my basses, the .45 .65 .80 .100 is the perfect guage as far as overall balance. I've used them for years, recorded with them, played live, pick or fingerstyle, you cant beat them.

but then again, thats just my opinion.

I use DR nickel Lo-Riders 45-105, on my RIC's now. I love them. They sound great, they last, and they don't eat the frets. I can get them at my local store too. I don't want to need a re-fret job done on my stuff either. But that's just me.