Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

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The seller says they're roundwounds, I thought Ric basses came with OEM flats in the 70's.

I'm tempted to place a bid just to see what they were like.

No, they are flats. Rickenbacker did not market rounds until after the 4003 was introduced. If the original strings are in that box, they are the same purple ended flats that came on all Rick basses through the 70's. I bought a few sets of those back then.

Don't strings have a "shelf life" too? I wonder if they still sound good and new like they did 30 years ago?

I like the "DO NOT USE OTHER STRINGS ON RICKENBACKER INSTRUMENTS" warning.

It should say "Don't come cryin' to RIC if you string it with RotoSounds and the neck warps!"

Haha! Good one, Jeff!

A shelf life for flatwounds? That which is dead cannot become deader.

Most new flats are anything but dead, some of them are brighter and more cutting than round wounds.

Those boxes were used up until about 1985 so they could possibly have round wounds in them. It's too bad the stock number printed on the side of the box is not visible.

But, we didn't offer round wound bass strings for sale (and never have offered RotoSounds, that's for sure) until June 1981.

Haha! Good one, Bob! But seriously, what flats can be bright and cutting?

D'Addario Chromes, for one!

I don't remember seeing those boxes much after '79 '80. The first time I saw RIC rounds they were in different packaging. It must have been after '85 then.

Roto flats, GHS flats, even TI's are bright when they are new. Flats have a more solid bottom so they may not sound as bright to some people and you don't get the Roto twang out of them but there are some very bright flats being made nowadays. I tend more toward the darker flats myself, like Pyramids.

The only flats I have used since switching to rounds in '80 are TI Jazz Flats. I keep a set on my acoustic bass. They have nice warm sound and are very soft. I suppose bright flats would be good on a fretless.

Didn't Ric basses used to come with tapewound strings in the 60's or 70's ... I seem to remember a few years in there somewhere when they did that ...

Bright flats sound much brighter on a fretted like any string does I suppose, even RW's aren't usually very bright on fretless basses. TI's aren't cutting at all though, try the Rotos if you want that, or the GHS, I don't have enough experience with Chromes.