Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

OK...
I have a 1975 4001...Well I belive it is a 1973 with the wrong jack plate but thats another story...
The other day I played a bass with flatwounds at a music store..the bass belonged to a customer who was trying out amps... He was a cool guy and let me try his homemade P-Bass..It was a great bass..It had flatwounds that sounded amazing and felt amazing, very smooth... It was the first time that my Beatles playing sounded correct and proper..
I forgot the name of the set...that is why I am asking here... The strings had red silk on the ends just like the Rot-O-Sounds but they were not RotoSounds... The guy said they were low tension and I think he said they strings were made by a company that also makes strings for upright bass.. The brand began with a T and was two syllables.. He mentioned that they were low tension and therefore work great on 4001 basses...
I previously bought a box of Rot-O-Sound flat wounds that are still sitting in the box, because someone told me that they were very hig tension strings..What is the concensious on Roto Flats...do they work out on 4001 basses and do they have more tension then their round wounds??
Best Regards
Chris

Thomastik-Infeld possibly?

http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/start/index.html

I think John's probably right; if I can find my box of TIs that I think I have, I'll check tonight.

I have a set of Rotosound flats on my 4003FL TUR and haven't noticed anything funny going on with them.

D'Addario Chromes are also highly recommended flats!

Yep, T.I. Jazz Flats have red silk and you can actually feel how low tension they are compared to most other strings as you play.

Rotosound Flats are about medium tension, as far as strings go . . . at least, that's what I found. In my experience, Chromes were actually very high tension, but everyone else reports medium to low tension with those. The Rotosounds are very nice to play and have a unique sound . . . very bite-y for flatwounds. I stopped using them when my E string went dead (and I mean, REALLY dead, far more dead than is desirable for flats) within a month.

My Fender 9050 ML's are low tension.

Compared to a torture rack, maybe!

TI's are the next strings to go on my 75 4001. Still torn about what to put on the Laredo...right now I'm leaning towards keeping RW's on it. Heck, for how long the current set of strings has been on the 4004, they might as well be flats!

But the fretless J bass is going to keep having those Fender bridge cables on it. Something about them that I like.

Rotosounds are nice flats, and like Bobcat said, have a unique sound. The biggest problem for me wasn't the tension, but the fact that it got to the point where I couldn't get a set that didn't have a dead string in it. I switched to D'Addario Chromes which are cheaper and sound great and are a little lower in tension. I use the 45-100 set and the tension has been very nice on my Rick V63. 4001's though are a different animal from the modern 4003 because of the truss rod design. Some do just fine with higher tension rounds/flats, others don't. I would go with the lighter guage Chromes or the TI's if you decide to use flats to be safe IMHO. D'Addario post the tension of their strings on their website, so does TI, I think. Good luck.

I also like Chromes for flats as you can thump, but you also can get a fair amount of clank too. I found them to be decent as far as tension goes. Those Fender flats are definetly higher tension - had to adjust the rods quite a bit when I put them on the 4003. And that was going from Roto rounds.

I took those Fenders off the 4001 because the neck was bowing a bit too much for my tastes. And I really do not want to mess with the neck. But I really don't like the feel and sound of RW's on it.

Maybe they have to die a horrible death like the RW's on the 4004 for me to like them...

BTW, the neck on the 4001 is arrow straight with the RW's on it, so I don't think the flats did anything bad to the bass.

My TI's have the red silk, and they are the best flats I have ever used--phenomenal, all around. They have bounced around three different basses of mine, and currently are on my C64. Some people compare them to Pyramids, which is a great compliment. I have yet to try Pyramids so cannot give a comparison.

Chromes are great, too. They are brighter, smoother, and have higher tension. Great sound, too. Between the chromes and TI's, the TI's are more true to the vintage flat sound, whereas the chromes would better suit those who love the sound of rounds but want the feel of flats. They are brighter and more aggressive sounding than the TI's.

"In my experience, Chromes were actually very high tension, but everyone else reports medium to low tension with those"

What guage set did you try? I use a set made up of the Super Soft set (40-95) and I replace the .060 D string with a single .055. This set is just about as low in tension as the TIs but with a better balance among all the strings; the TIs have a considerably higher tension D string compared to the E, A and G, which I find a lot of string sets seem to have for some reason.

I have TIs on four basses including my 4001. I also have their spiros on my upright.

The jazz flats sound best played with a light touch because of the low tension . They are gorgeous strings once you get used to them.

Tried pyramids and rotos, ditched both for TI's. I also use their r/w's on my 79 4001 - not as bright as rotos but good all round sound and nice tension.

I prefer TI flats as well. I had Pyrmids on my 77 4001 and those sounded great but I think the TIs feel and play better, and in fact just had them put on my 2003 4003VP. I'm still a big fan of the standard RIC compressed rounds too though, they sound wonderful with the toaster. Don't know how they sound on a 4003 with standard neck p'up.