Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

where strings are 10 -52? or whatever what measurement we talking?

I have no idea what guage is my my rics at the moment . I have a vernier so I can measure them if the guage is measured .000 of an inch

Strings in the USA are measured in thousands of an inch
Case in Point ...Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies are ;
.010 -high E ,.013-B,.017-G,.026-D,.036-A and for the low E .046

The set of strings some times known as Skinny Heavy , is made up from the plain strings from a Regular slinky set and the wound strings from the Jazz set .

In the 1950's Ernie saw studio players buying sets of Banjo strings and standard sets of guitars strings at the same time.
They would take the .052 or .054 string that was meant for the low E , and throw that string away.

The banjo strings were purchased as they had three .010 strings in the set and one .013

Those clever players would be left with the .010 to .046 set ! The wound G string would become the D/4th string , the D would become the A/5th string and the A would become the low E/6th string .One of the .010 became the high E/1st string .

All companies have nice little names for each packaged set ..."Medium,Light,Heavy Duty,Mellow Benders, Finger squeezers,Bend-O-Matics,Son-O-Matics ....etc.
Those names are meaningless...purely for marketing and name recognition .

The really important factor is WHAT GAUGE the string is , or what size each string is ...again the thickness of each string in thousands of an inch.

For get the "Super duper bendy" name .

Would you buy a pair of shoes by asking for a regular size? NO! you need to know a measurement.

By the way .......because Ernie , in his session work as a steel guitarist saw this happening ...he started selling .010 strings in the studios !
Then after it was a hit ....he started selling plain /single strings in stores and finally sets .

See a need , and fill the order.What a guy .

Mark,
I dont know how familiar you are with RIC strings but, it seems to me when I bought strings from them in the early 90's they were almost flatwounds. Not as dramatic as Pyramids but definately not round with ridges like GHS or others. It may be my bad memory but I remember really liking RIC strings and now I find them a bit coarse and rough. I bought a few sets direct and I had GC order a few sets for me. They were all the same. Did they switch vendors? I realize you worked for them in the 70's (when I was in grade school)but I would think you had contact with them. Your thoughts?

Jon

When Brian Carman was the plant manager , we spoke frequently .
Strings was a topic that was discussed from time to time .I do remember when the original strings could no longer be had ....I wonder why this is?

D'Addario strings were used for a while but customers wanted the old feel , and GHS 'GUS' strings were used for a while .
What else was tried ......I don't know .

I would guess that S.I.T. is now the supplier of the Rick strings , but I really don't know .

You might try some D'Addario half rounds or some GHS GUS strings ....I have some of the 1/2 rounds .

So how is the weather in Tacoma today?Grey and cloudy?

What are half rounds? I am trying the Pyramids now. They feel great, but I am not completely sold. They don't sustain for strumming like the RIC strings do. I just had my amp retubed? so I need to try it some more before I decide. I have tried the D'addario electric 12 sets and was dissapointed. They were a little springy?. Everyone please keep in mind strings are a personal preference. I don't expect anyone to agree with me. I am just looking for suggestions. BTW the weather in lovely Tacoma, Washington is gray and cloudy with occational rain showers. We are supposed to get some sun tomorrow with temperatures reaching 50. I bet the people in LA and Florida are laughing their butts off. I talked to someone in Phoenix today. It is supposed to reach 85. Ahhhhhhh!

Half Rounds start out as round wound strings which are then ground flat (on the outide, of course).
GHS makes roller wound sets. Like the RIC compressed strings, they start out as round wound and then are put through a set of rollers which 'press/compress' them, flattening the outer winding.
I'd like to hear more about both these sets myself, as I have tried neither. I do know that both Eric Johnson & SRV are/were fans of the GHS sets (called 'nickel rocker', BTW).

gregc

Nickel rockers are old timey strings wound with CNC tooling ...nothing new , just heavy on the nickel content .I too like them .They give a darker tone to guitars that are really bright .I use them on my 1952 Esquire -Fender.

I also use GHS Boomers on my Les Paul , that guitar is thick enough already .

On my Flying V (1950's re-issue) I use a mix set of .010 , ,013 , .017, .028,.038 and .050 to get more bottom out of it .
I do a similar thing with my SG ,but use Ernie Ball Skinny Heavy strings on that , as that gets tuned in all sorts of tunings.

I own lots of guitars and I DON'T use the same brand of strings on all of them .
Some times this is a hassle.....but the name of the game is sound and tone .
Get it and love it .What ever works for you .

Jon: I still have the factory strings on my 360/12CW and tend to agree with you...they do feel somewhat coarse when compared with the GHS strings I have on my 1968 370/12. I tend to do more research on this and as of right now I may try the RIC package on the '68 and GHS on the CW. On my basses I use GHS Boomers .45-.90(except.45-.100 on my Wal)and I have been fairly pleased.

Has anyone tried the DR strings on their Rics? I'd like to get a little info before I get a couple of them. Also, who else makes Flatwounds besides the Pyramids? Are they all as expensive as pyramids, too? AL

Al-- I haven't tried any of DR's bass strings, but I have tried DR phosphor bronze strings for acoustic guitars and they are very good quality. Great tone & feel; a bit more expensive, but well worth the price. I'm looking to try a set of DR's Sunbeam strings on one of my basses at some point.

In the meantime, I will soon be installing a set of Thomastik-Infeld Jazz flatwounds on my Ric 4004 Cheyenne I when I convert it to fretless. I'll give a report on the results. Thomastik-Infeld admittedly are expensive but I'm willing to pay extra for top quality. There is a guy down in Georgia who is an authorized Thomastik-Infeld dealer and he sells them for less than anyone else I'm aware of. If anyone here is interested, I'll post the contact info.