Newtone Strings

just the bassplayer

I recently purchased some Newtone strings ( Gitane Jazz and Django strings) to give them a try. These are basically the .011 gauge, light tension.I've always admired the beautiful tone of Ian Cruickshank's guitar on his instructional video, and wanted to get a more sophisticated, warmer tone - closer to his. Cruickshank endorses them, and sells them through his site; so does this site.
Much to my dismay, both sets of my strings had very dead, buzzing sounding low E strings 0.46. No amount of twisting the end would make one of them usable, while the other is just passable, though with a slight buzz.
The rest of the set were fine. The tone is warmer and the windings feel smaller than the standard Argentine 0.10's, which I normally play on my Gitane D-300 JJ model. They are not as lively, nor as loud. Time alone will tell how they hold up.
Has anyone had better, or worse experience with them?

Jack

This might be a long shot, but could the bigger E string (you said it's a .46, and the Argentine 10s use a .45) be sitting oddly somewhere, and causing a buzz through vibration? I've never tried that brand...

Best,
Jack.

just the bassplayer

Greetings Jack,

No, that was the first thing I checked. It was seated properly.

just the bassplayer

I don't want to leave the impression of a totally negative experience on the topic of these strings, so, I thought I would give an update on the subject.

Having originally put the "Gitane Jazz"set on my guitar, I fussed about with rotating the ball end of the string to tighten it up as best I could to remove the buzz and the deadness. After a few days I removed the set but saved them.
I've now fitted the guitar with the "Django Strings" set. This time I was all the more determined to tighten up the low E string, and got a pair of needlenose pliers to assist me. Some 7 turns later the string was bright, strong and buzz free. With the rest of set fitted on I found something very rewarding. These strings are 0.11 gauge, and do take a bit more strength to play, but not much more. The really nice thing about them is how well balanced the sound us across the set. It makes for wonderful sounding chords, and and even my progressions sounded very full and musically interesting, a bit richer than the Argentines. Individual note lines had what I was looking for. I wish I had the vocabulary to better describe the tone. It's a little bit thicker than the Savarez Argentines and closer to some of the tones that you hear on the Django recordings - not as sharp and piercing as what I hear many of today's artists producing.
As a change from my use of the Argentine 0.10, it was worthwhile - for variety.

pmh425

I just put on a set of the Newtone Gitane Jazz (Thanks to Just the Bass Player for the set) and did not have the problem with the low E. I am pleased with the overall tone of the strings so far, as JTBP indicated, they are warmer then the Savarez and I also find that they do have more bass response as well. I have the set on my Dell'Arte Sweet Chorus 12 Fret D Hole. I will see how they are after a few days.

Jack

Though I haven't tried these, keep in mind that on a 12 fret D-hole any strings are likely to sound warmer and more pronounced in the bass than the same strings on a long scale oval hole...

Best,
Jack.

pmh425

Jack wrote:

Though I haven't tried these, keep in mind that on a 12 fret D-hole any strings are likely to sound warmer and more pronounced in the bass than the same strings on a long scale oval hole...

Best,
Jack.

To clarify, I meant that they have more bass response than the Savarez.

pmh425

pmh425 wrote:

I just put on a set of the Newtone Gitane Jazz (Thanks to Just the Bass Player for the set) and did not have the problem with the low E. I am pleased with the overall tone of the strings so far, as JTBP indicated, they are warmer then the Savarez and I also find that they do have more bass response as well. I have the set on my Dell'Arte Sweet Chorus 12 Fret D Hole. I will see how they are after a few days.

After a couple of days, I am very pleased with these strings. I find they are warmer, thicker (but still very clear), have more complexity to the sound and are more even across the range than Argentine's were on my guitar.

just the bassplayer

I thought I should give an up-date. It's been the better part of a month now that I've been using the Newtone strings. Last week, in a fit of madness, I took the Newtones off, and strung the guitar up with Argentine 0.10s, thinking that I'd enjoy the lower tension.

I was shocked at how tinny and top-end sounding they were compared with the Newtones. An hour later, I put the Newtone strings back on.

Heretic

I'm with you, mate! Play what sounds good to your ears, but play. Too many people seem to be bogged down in meaningless orthodoxies : You must play this brand of guitar, this brand of strings, only with this kind of pick, this kind of pickup and with this kind of bridge.

Have you seen the video clips of Joseph Reinhardt playing an arch top electric with none of those things? And Gary Potter?

artillerie_lourde

Heretic wrote:

I'm with you, mate! Play what sounds good to your ears, but play. Too many people seem to be bogged down in meaningless orthodoxies : You must play this brand of guitar, this brand of strings, only with this kind of pick, this kind of pickup and with this kind of bridge.

Have you seen the video clips of Joseph Reinhardt playing an arch top electric with none of those things? And Gary Potter?

Too Right!