Argies and Django?

scot

Before 1995 or so, it was very difficult if not impossible to get Argentines in N America - and if you could get them they were the pre-New Concept strings. Those strings were absolutely the best sounding strings I ever played on, they had the most supple "hand" and had the fattest, roundest sound you could imagine. I even used them on my Gibson flat top and they sounded unbelievable. But at a cost - the D and G would start to unravel in just a couple of hours. I think they only came in one gauge which was supposed to be 11s but were always small. I still have two sets I bought in Paris in 2000 (55ff per set)- I'm saving them for some special occasion. Francois Charle once told me that when Django's Selmer was in their shop to get cleaned up, there were Argentine string sleeves in the case. So I think they did have the Argentines back in the 40s.

In the early 90s, most people in the US used some kind of bronze strings. And really, those kinds of strings sound pretty good once you get used to them. Tony Green still uses them and he gets a great tone. I don't know who it was who pressured Savarez to improve the strings, but the New Concept string is a huge improvement. They don't sound quite as good as the old ones did but it's worth it for the long life of the new ones.