Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What strings do you guys recommend? Rickenbacker or other brand? Flat or round wound? Non-standard gauges? I'm new to this world with a 660-12 and could use some advice.

Thanks.

Lots of folks on the RRF seem to like the Thomastik Infeld TI Flats. I prefer the Curt Mangan 12 string set (pure nickel or nickel wound, either one) sold by Pick Of The Ricks (POTR). And of course you can't go wrong with RIC strings. There are lots of threads discussing this very thing. You might try experimenting with all of these at various times and see what you end up liking best.
JimK

Thanks for the advice. I'd never have found POTR on my own.

caliban335 wrote:Thanks for the advice. I'd never have found POTR on my own.

Say hi to Chris & Shelby from all of us, here! They are great folks.

Yep, I had TI Flats on both the 360/12c63 and 350/12v63 I owned. I think they're perfect strings on any semi-hollow or hollow body electric. I don't know how to explain it very well, but they "play" much easier than other flats I've tried. Not as heavy feeling, even among similar gauges.

I've always used DiAddario.

I've always used Ric's strings in the past, but plan to try the Mangan's from POTR next time around.

wmthor wrote:I've always used Ric's strings in the past, but plan to try the Mangan's from POTR next time around.

You might like them. I certainly do.
JimK

jimk wrote:You might like them. I certainly do.
JimK

Placed my order yesterday.

Yep, I had TI Flats on both the 360/12c63 and 350/12v63 I owned. I think they're perfect strings on any semi-hollow or hollow body electric. I don't know how to explain it very well, but they "play" much easier than other flats I've tried. Not as heavy feeling, even among similar gauges.

I agree 100%, and would add that they sound great on solid body guitars as well. I put the TI Flats on my 660/12 and after the strings were "broken in" they were noticeably easier to play than the round wounds I'd always used before. There is also a kind of built-in compression to the sound that limits the incredible brightness of the 660/12 just a bit, making it sound a little warmer. The lead singer in my band put it this way--he said the flats sound "tighter."

I put the Mangans on by 360/12 CW this past week and really like them.

I'm the oddball here(as usual ) I use EB .008 12 string set. I like the flexibility.

Tony

You're not alone, Tony, as I believe Paulie Azpeitia uses that same set for his 381/12. He bends those strings like Mike Campbell believes you can't. Campbell said this in an interview discussing his Rickenbacker 625/12 and the 12-string playing technique, saying you can't really bend strings on a 12-string.

DiAddario here

For the past few years I've sworn by TI flats on my 360-12V64 ... custom sets that I put together based on a long ago post somewhere. Now that the POTR custom sets are available I'm going to try those. I just love the action, feel, and sound of flats on a 12 string.

(On my Rick 6's I used the standard Rickenbacker set, non Ricks get GHS 10's).