Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi there, i'm trying to sort the haystack of used and old strings i have. In between them there is something like two / three sets of almost unused Ric Roundwound strings ... is there a way to tell them from the other brands ? I know they are quite similar if not identical to D'Addario Roundwounds ...

Thank you

D'addarios have colored ball ends, right?

so also rick strings have coloured string ends ?

Yeah, D'Addario's have different colour ball ends to differentiate the strings. Ric strings have very shiny chrome ball ends and the other ends are plain, i.e. no coloured windings like on Rotosounds. The problem is lots of strings are like this!

Some RIC strings have colored ball ends too. Those were made by D'Addario to RIC specifications. Similar to the standard D'Addario sets, but not necessarily the same...

I recently compared some Ric roundwound strings to the 45, 55, 75, 105 D'Addario nickel XL strings (bought singly) that I'm currently using. To my eyes they look exactly the same (same proportions, winding, etc.), except that the Ric strings had silver ball ends, whereas the D'Addario singly bought strings had brass ends (you only get the coloured ends in sets, not single strings). Although they look the same, (which makes me wonder if they are made in the same factory), they do sound different though, which makes me think the exact compounds used are slightly different. To me, the Ric strings have slightly more emphasis on the mid frequencies, and are perhaps slightly more refined, whereas the D'Addarios seems to have slightly more bottom end. They both have a nice bright top end.

The silver ball ends on the original set of Ric strings that I have seem to be bigger than those on all the other bass strings that I have, I don't know whether this is a characteristic trait or not?