Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I get the impression people are avoiding Pyramids in favor of T.I.'s and Rick strings on their Rick 12's. I personally like the sound and feel of Pyramids, and despite their cost, they seem to last forever. But I'm curious....is all that tension (.46 on the bottom) too much for the neck? Will the use of Pyramids create problems over time?

Yes!

I'll never use Pyramids again.

I never did go for Pyramids, as they are too cost prohibitive, and usually have to be ordered - You can just go down to a music store and get them in many cases.

I loved the sound of Pyramids, however, I found them to be hard on my instruments due to the high tension and hard on my hands as well.

I actually prefer the compressed round wound RIC strings for my Rickenbacker 12 strings but confess I have never tried a TI set. Perhaps it is time.

Like Peter, I liked the sound of the Pyramids very much but they were murder on my c64 bass.

I hear the Egyptians still love them.

Sorry.

It might sound unusual, but I'm perfectly happy with the Rickenbacker 12-string sets. I use Elixirs on my sixers quite joyfully.

McGuinn recommends the Pyramids, but I think I'll go with the Rick strings next time since so many of you are unhappy.

I have no intention of putting Pyramids on my Ric. As some one already pointed out, they're too expensive; and I agree. I am a tight-fisted, miserly--er I mean thrifty (yeah that's it...thrifty) old Dutchman after all.

I have Pyramids on my six strings.

I abandoned the Pyramids in favor of the RIC strings.

Pyramids were first promoted as being very similar to our original Maxima-made strings which attracted many people to try them. However, the stiffness of the Pyramids is so extreme by comparison, combined with all the adjustment necessary to accomodate them- including having to move the bridge in some cases- makes them difficult to live with. The only real similarity is that they are flat and have purple silking.

When people who require flat-wounds realized that Thomastik Infeld offers an infinitely closer match to the Maxima's, at a much better price, the Pyramids became much less attractive.

I really like the feel and sound of my Rickenbacker strings on my 360/12, but my bass player has been very enthusiastic about Thomastik Infelds, so I will probably try those next. I've played a 330/12 that had Pyramids, and I just didn't like the way they felt. I can't even explain why.

I tried two sets of Pyramids bass strings and found the E string horribly dead in both cases. I tried them on a different bass and got the same result. The other strings were great though.