Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anybody know anything about Rickenbacker Electro Bass Strings in a red box? Set no 4440?

They were made by the Maxima string company for Rickenbacker, specifically for use on a 4001. From what I understand, the designer of these strings was only person who knew exactly how they were made, but he passed away and took his formula with him.

when i got my MJ jetglo in '77, the case had the top part of the box to those strings in the storage pocket. still have it.

ah,i did not know about that story,joey,that is unfortunate,as i hold those strings in very high regard......

Would anyone know the appr. worth of these strings?

rickenbrother wrote:the designer of these strings was only person who knew exactly how they were made, but he passed away and took his formula with him.

I hate when that happens!

I remember those red boxes!

I have an old RIC box too with one set of envelopes and 2 sets of used strings with the date 1980 written in it. I remember giving up on them after 2 sets. I remember the low "E" string being dead. Handling them now they seem floppy/heavy. If Rickenbacker really wanted to remake them they could take an old set to a lab and have them analyzed. I'm sure we'd ALL give them a try again. To those of you who have them here, do the ball ends have sort of rounded edges rather than square edges? Also do your old strings have medium/dark purple silks? Just to check! Thanks!

I'll let you know!

DavyR wrote:I remember the low "E" string being dead. Handling them now they seem floppy/heavy. If Rickenbacker really wanted to remake them they could take an old set to a lab and have them analyzed.

I don't remember the "E" string sounding dead. Did you have the mute touching the string?
I'm sure JH has dissected those strings to see how they were made. RIC doesn't actually make strings.
The Thomastik-Infeld JF-344 set comes very close to the Rickenbacker Electro String 4440 set.

Well these are NOS never been on an instrument, still in the envelopes.

rickenbrother wrote:The Thomastik-Infeld JF-344 set comes very close to the Rickenbacker Electro String 4440 set.

I'd be a *lot* happier with TIs if the bottom two strings were a wee bit heavier... What gauges were these?

No mute! LOL! The low ‘E’ just didn’t produce strong output. Maybe it’s my bass?

At any rate the S 4440 RIC strings that I have from 1980 are completely different strings that the TI JF-344 strings that I have from 2007. There’s just no comparison. I keep reading about how TI are similar and, IMHO, they are worlds apart in tension, feel, tone, etc. Maybe RIC flats changed over the years since 1980? LOL!

Come to think of it these manufacturers are always messing around with their products. The flats that came on my new 2005 Hofner bass are very different than my older set of Hofner flats from 1990 and both of these are both different from my Pyramid flats from 2005!

And, speaking of changing specs on us, I have used Fender Medium picks for decades. About a year or more ago they started to make them thinner and this killed the feel and use of them for me. I emailed Fender and they said that they just get them from the manufacturer and put their name on them. Go call the manufacturer! You can’t win. Nobody cares! Shave ½ mm off a pick to save a fraction of a cent thereby rending them useless!!! You reach a point where you just give up! LOL!

david-the string set i have on my bass did not come packaged as a rickenbacker set,they came in individual maxima sleeves,but they do have the medium-purple silks and the rounded ball ends you describe. i think the gauge,going by feel is something like a 40-100 range,the information printed on the sleeves is in german. i have had some pyramids sets that had a very dead e string,but the maximas are very lively sounding,even the e and a strings. they seem very much like what i remember having purchased decades ago to put on my 4005. as to the value of your (unused?) rick string set,i would think anywhere from $50-100? i found my maximas and paid about $40 shipped from england, on ebay about 2 years ago.

I remember when I got my first 4001 in back '75 these strings were standard on it. I tried Rotosounds and hated them. I went straight back to these although they were a little hard to find even back then.