Flat wound strings

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Feb 21, 2001 12:31 pm

Hi -
I have a 1997 and 360-12V64 which have had stock Rick strings until now; I've become intrigued with flat wound strings, and am thinking of making custom sets out of D'addario Chromes, GHS, or Thomastik-Infeld strings that either match or come in just under the Rick gauges - I don't want to have to shave the nut for larger gauges while I experiment. Has anyone tried something similar; if so, what have you experienced, particularly in the way of neck tension on Rick 12's? Also, I would like to have the work done professionally - does anyone have any recommendations in the Boston area? It seems that many guitar 'setup' people either do not see many Rick 12's, or do not like working on them.

Thanks!

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed Mar 07, 2001 4:07 am

Steve: I found the D'Addario Chromes to be a big disappointment from the sound standpoint. I also tried GHS strings and found them to be unsatisfactory. So for the D'Addarion and GHS I can say the results were more expensive in the end and the results poorer than the Rickenbacker set. Thomastik-Infeld makes a nice flat wound but the availability was not good for me so I have yet to try them. I also tried Pyramid Strings which produced a super sound. The side effects for me were a truss-rod adjustment and reduced playability. I found them to produce a very nice vintage jangly sound but were very rigid unlike the more flexible Rickenbacker strings. In the end, I am back with Rickenbacker strings which do the job very well with regard to sound and playability for me. I am sure I will experiment again, but for now I am happy that the Rickenbacker strings do the best job for me on the 12 string.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Mar 08, 2001 4:58 am

Thanks for your comments, Peter! I'm playing a custom set of Thomastik-Infelds on my 1997, just to get a feel for them. I do like the playability of the flat wounds, but the difference in sound hasn't astounded me yet-it may grow on me. I too may consider going back to the Rick strings at some point, as I do like them.
I ordered the strings as singles from juststrings.com - kind of pricey for the flats, but I wanted to get sizes as close to the Rick ones as possible.

admin · Post by **admin** » Thu Mar 08, 2001 5:25 am

Thanks Steve. You seem to hve stuck a compromise that will give you the opportunity to evaluate the sound without making many adjustments to your instrument. Good idea. I have found juststings.com to be excellent. Please give us a report after you have had the opportunity to evaluate the Thomastik-Infelds further. I know of several others who will be interested in your evaluation.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Mar 08, 2001 9:08 am

The string guages that I have on the 1997 are:
.039, .033, .025, .017, .013, .010
Seems kind of small for the low E, but it's the closest under a .042. I'll post with some impressions after I've had a chance to flail away a bit ... tough with a toddler around - as soon as she hears even the unamplified guitar, she comes running!!

Steve_G. · Post by **Steve_G.** » Fri Mar 09, 2001 5:37 am

I don't think you can put flatwounds on without adjusting the truss rods, even if they are the same guage as the original Ric strings. Flatwounds have higher tension than roundwound strings of the same guage. Check out D'Addario's web site (www.daddario.com). They have all their different types of strings listed with guages and tensions.

steve · Post by **steve** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 9:40 am

Hi Peter -

Sorry for having taken so long to get back with a report, but I've been tremendously busy ... after having the flats on my 1997 for a while now, I still find that I am torn between them and the stock Rick strings; the flats have a plunkier chime to them which I like, and are easier to fret. Also, I like the fact that I can get my action lower. In short, though, they haven't astounded me to the degree that I wouldn't go back to the regular Rick strings.

Jan_Leonard_Borgh · Post by **Jan_Leonard_Borgh** » Wed May 09, 2001 3:18 am

I'm using stock Ric string on my 330/12 VPicks, but as the low G-string is wound, I feel that it has less output than the rest of the strings. Should I change to a plain low G-string or just a thicker string? It's a brand new guitar.

sornord · Post by **sornord** » Sun Jun 03, 2001 6:56 am

Just my two cents:

My 660/12 was delivered with Pyramid flats. After I broke one, I put on a set of Rickenbackers. The difference: The Pyramids have more of the "classic" sound to me, at least un-amped, but the Rick strings are easier to play. The Pyramid flats were MUCH stiffer and harder to fret and I found the finger-to-string friction to be noticibly increased. That's probably true of all flats. The Ricks are brighter and appear to be of a lighter guage, even though the sizes are the same on the packages of the two strings. I'm also going to have to re-intonate it too as some of the strings (all the the G and D) now don't fret true, especially the low A and E pairs.