Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am probably the "newest" 4005 owner here. I've found that acquiring strings for this beast is pretty hard. When I landed this 4005 from Gary's, it came with a set of round wound strings on it. They had long, thin ball ends, 4-5" long, and fit nicely into the "R" tailpiece slots. Well, first thing I did was order a set of TI flats, long scale , and though they "fit" in the slots, they are EXTREMELY tight! In fact, they won't seat themselves into the slots the whole way and I'm afraid they will fly out at some point.....

My question to you owners is what kind of strings do you use and have you had to alter your "R" tailpieces in any way??

I just altered the R tailpiece a hair on the e and a string slots...I used a dremel tool with the a heavy duty cut off blade and just ground the slots a little wider...no exploding tailpiece yet and they've been on for at least a year. Congrats on your new aquisition and welcome to the 4005 club...what color is she?

Hi Chris, I went through about 10 different sets of strings at a music store here in Toronto. Now, I've got round-wounds on mine... The biggest problem was with the E string and getting the "R" tailpiece to hold it in place because of the size of the string itself in conjunction with the ball at the end vs the size of the space available in the tailpiece. I've only found 2 sets of strings that will 'fit': RotoSounds and Rics. May I suggest that you just take it into your local music store and ask them to grab any sting set that you're interested in and simply see if the tailpiece can grab the strings - it won't affect the strings and it will certainly help you choose. It worked for me!

I really like the TI flats so......

I just got back from the garage..it took some guts, but I got out the dremel and went to town on the tailpiece....

Problem solved.....it just took some guts and a little encouragement...

Damn, guts is right! Not sure I'd so quick with the dremel on a Rick...especially a 4005!

Still, there are a lot of folks here who aren't as sqirmish as me. Good luck!

I'm not squirmish, I do things to my instruments without batting an eye! As long as they are still aesthetically pleasing.

Hey Chris, I use the TI flats on my 67 as well...great feel on that 4005 neck and no worry about too much tension on that thin old neck...I really just had to grind down a small amount and now the strings seat perfectly.

Dminer- it's fireglo! My favorite....

The TI flats on mine fit perfectly now....all is well in 4005-land!!! Can't wait to get my SVT and plug the 4005 in....