Sure is, Gilmour. Even a leftie six-string!
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Strings for a 1967 Rickenbaker 4006 six string bass
- Thread starter Rick6
- Start date
Once you find out the proper gauges, I absolutely recommend Thomastik Infeld (TI) Flats for your Ric 6 (I use these on my Ric 4's, as well as on many other basses.)
Hopefully, they offer all of the gauges you need to piece this together. TI's are low tension, and feel very similar to the strings their basses were strung with originally. The best part is that they sound wonderful, and will last you forever - they will be the last set of strings you'll ever buy.
There is a fighting chance that the existing Bass VI sets La Bella makes would fit as is, or maybe with just a little silk trim at the nut, because they're 35.5" long from ball-end to said silk:
767-6F Bass VI Stainless Flats – 26-95
In case @Rick6 is fine with roundwounds, I'd start with either the bass VI sets made by D'Addario or Fender first, as I suggested above.
__
As said above, long-scale strings will also fit no problem. I'm not aware of any string set for E-to-e tuning though. Some companies make 7-string sets for BEADGCF (S.I.T., Dean Markley, Pyramid and I believe others), which could be bought and their lowest discarded: however, the A and E strings in these sets look to be a little beefier than I'd be comfortable putting on that bass.
So I would rather get single strings of gauges similar to those losted by @CrunchyFrog in post #7 above (keeping in mind the choice for high C and F bass strings is not super-ample).
Or, I would go all in, price no issue, and get
- the Optima RB Flatwound 4440.L set, a modern reissue of the Maxima flats that Rickies sported at the time, which has the right gauges to boot;
- augment it with a Thomastik-Infeld JF34033, to use as a high B
- and a D'Addario CG022 guitar Chrome as a high E.
I'd bet Pyramid would custom gauge all 6 and their flats might be reasonably close to the Optimas (?) They've been very accommodating on custom requests and upcharge was nominal.
Tucked away in the reviews tag in that link I posted before is this, from just last week
"RICKENBACKER 4005/6 reviewed by Guitartec
5/26/2023- A beautiful short scale 6-string bass that's difficult to find strings for that actually fit correctly. Here's why....
With a 33.5" scale length and the 2 D&G strings anchored from the trapeze to tuners that sit a few miles away on the headstock, it requires some extra long guitar strings that are wound their full length.
Typically, the 4005-6 is tuned E to E, but one octave lower using string gauges going from approximately .024-.034-.044-.056-.072-.084, which string manufacturers simply don't make long enough to fit this instrument.
Long scale (30.5") baritone strings usually leave the string core sitting in the nut. Even long scale baritone strings are generally only 30.5" or so, so if you find a set that fits throughout it's full length, keep them in an air-tight ziplock freezer bag and bury them in the back yard.
If I find a string set or a manufacturer willing to make such a set, I will post it here. Guitartec Repair, Medway, MA"
"RICKENBACKER 4005/6 reviewed by Guitartec
5/26/2023- A beautiful short scale 6-string bass that's difficult to find strings for that actually fit correctly. Here's why....
With a 33.5" scale length and the 2 D&G strings anchored from the trapeze to tuners that sit a few miles away on the headstock, it requires some extra long guitar strings that are wound their full length.
Typically, the 4005-6 is tuned E to E, but one octave lower using string gauges going from approximately .024-.034-.044-.056-.072-.084, which string manufacturers simply don't make long enough to fit this instrument.
Long scale (30.5") baritone strings usually leave the string core sitting in the nut. Even long scale baritone strings are generally only 30.5" or so, so if you find a set that fits throughout it's full length, keep them in an air-tight ziplock freezer bag and bury them in the back yard.
If I find a string set or a manufacturer willing to make such a set, I will post it here. Guitartec Repair, Medway, MA"
33 1/2 is a long scale bass. It's closer to a full 34" than it is to the medium scale 32". Even the Multivox Marvel, as short as it is overall, sports a 33 7/8" mensure.
Yeah; and when Paul says "A lefty 6-string" he means "only one". I asked him about it, several years ago when it popped up on eBay. Fortunately for this lefty;
1) I already have a lefty '01 COY 4003, which, if not unique, has very, very few siblings. And, I don't really like things that are verging on "too rare to play"; which that lefty 4006-6 most certainly is...
2) It's a Fireglo bass - and I really don't like Fireglo/red instruments. Or much of anything red, actually. And, finally...
3) The starting, reserved bid on the thing was $12,000. Which, TBH, I could have afforded - if I wanted a bass with too many strings, that was too rare to play very much, and in a color I didn't like. Fortunately, before I had a chance to do something stupid, it got sold in a couple of days. I hope it went to somebody who appreciated it...
But, yeah... a 4006-6 is one of those Ricks that are lurking around out there, usually unseen, unknown - and unappreciated...
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Maybe Kalium (roundwound) strings would work. You might even be able to balance the string tensions.
These are for 30.5 scale La Bella 767-6N Bass VI Nickel Rounds – 26-95 656295088942 | eBay and flats La Bella 767-6F Bass VI Strings - Flatwound 656295087112 | eBay
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