Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

After hearing over the years about how flat wounds are a big contribution to "that sound" for a RIC 12 I ordered some from Pick of the RICS. As posted elsewhere, I was not familiar with the nuances of flat wound stringing up, and as I bent the first low E around the tuning post (as you would with a round wound) the string broke in half only connected by a stream of now unraveled winding tape. I was surprised and disappointed.

However, I called Chris at POTRs and explained what happened. Not only did he patiently listen but told me that I was "not the first to have that happen", and told me to look for where the flat wound began to TAPER near the silk end and to begin winding up that extra portion well before getting to the 'meatier' part of the string proper. He promptly sent out a fresh .44E for my trouble at no charge! What great customer service.

When putting them on, just to be safe, I began winding the strings at about an inch into the silk while maintaining tension on the string in its "R" tailpiece slot.I found it useful to lay out the string (I was changing out one at a time to maintain neck tension) about an inch and a half beyond its "R" slot, start winding up the string, and as it got to a 1/2 inch or so within the"R" range, taking a big paper clip opened up with about a 3/8" long 90 degree bend in one end and easily slipping it through the string brass toggle hole and "guiding" it up into its otherwise inaccessible slot, winding up some tension, and then pulling out the paper clip tool and it would pop right in.

Time consuming but consistently effective. The Thomastiks took one general tuning with a quick re-tweaking a few cents, and the first strum had tranformed my '94 mapleglo with hot toasters to the sound of the ONE-DERS from That Thing You Do.What I didn't realize before was that the RIC factory round wounds have ALL trhe strings ringing all the time, and with Thomastiks, the dry thump of the root strings allows the octaves to ring out more fully.

I had just swapped out plus cash my old 50 watt tube crate amp for a made in the USA flawless Fender Ultimate Chorus (size of a Twin, but like a Roland) 2X12 combo and was a little concerned about getting a sterile solid state tone. Fender did something to these to avoid that and it seems to have a warmth to the crisp clean, and the drive channel has some very tubey 'artifacts' built in. Anyway the Thomastiks magic of thump and shiing makes the guitar really sound like the classic Rickenbacker sound - dry and brilliance in the perfect mix. The strings are a but stiffer and I will have to lower the bridge a but, but "the sound" IS, at least in large part, in these strings. Now maybe I will re-try a Janglebox, but even as is, this is the uncompressed Roger sound…amazing.

If anyone is thinking about whats missing from their RIC twelve with round wounds, this is it. If they came from the factory this way, i think there would be a lot less
head scratching as to what the missing ingredient might be.

Cheers,

Donnell

Hey Donnell,

I just strung up my 360 12 with TI's . I think they sound great and different than the Ric strings, although those also sound great, with a more modern flavor.

I noted that you have to be careful where you choose to make a bend in the wound strings. Once you commit, you are committed!

I run my guitar through a Fender Blackface. No, it doesnt sound like a Vox, but it sure sounds FINE. (nothing wrong with sounding like McGuinn, Campbell, Petty, Peter Buck, Bangles etc etc etc)

I hear that the Janglebox is sonic nirvana, and I will get one when there is more free cash floating around.

However, I have found that a pedal like the Tube Screamer, and the new Soul Food, will make the Ric output a bit hotter, and a little compressed, and enhance the traditional Ric 12 sound as long as you keep the drive settings low. BY the way, turn the gain up a little and you have a R guitar tone like nothing you have ever heard. THis guitar can be much more than a Beatles/Byrds one trick pony

Donnell: Congrats on switching to flatwounds! I've always found them essential to the Rickenbacker 12-string sound. Please give the Janglebox another shot. The flatwounds and (better) amp are helping you get there, but you'll go all the way when you add the Janglebox.

A word of note about the Janglebox (should you be using an original Janglebox 1): a lot of folks like the "Bright" mode on it, but I don't. I always use the "Normal" mode, even though I have hot toasters. Bright sounds too harsh and ice-picky, even upon fiddling with the guitar's tone controls, and depending on the room size, can also contribute to harsh, squealy feedback. I also have my settings for "Gain" and "Attack" at 11 o'clock.

+ 1!!!

Great news, Donnell. Now that you've found the right amp and the right strings, your JangleBox should do what it's supposed to do. I can tell you first hand about how well my JB2 works with my 12-strings and my Fender Princeton Chorus amp (the little brother of your Ultimate Chorus). It may take you a few minutes to dial in, but once you've found that sweet spot, you'll be in jangle heaven.