Posts Tagged Newtone Strings
Newtone Archtop Strings
Posted by DJ in Uncategorized on April 18, 2013
These great strings are now available through eBay; see the previous review here.
Review – “Newtone Archtop” series strings
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Gear Reviews on May 9, 2011
Who are they for?
All Jazz guitarists who want a great sounding string which has better intonation than flatwounds and a smoother feel than normal round wounds.
I’ve known Malcolm Newton for many years as a supplier of strings to our shop, but more than that over the years he has supported our business including the guitar shows of the past and has always been a straight forward and honest businessman. You can find out more about Newtone Strings philosophy and range of products from the website
With that said about Malcolm’s strings I have to point out that I honestly only use them because they are the best (in my humble opinion!)
I used to use D’Addario Chromes (flatwounds) for years, mainly because I didn’t really think of playing anything else because that’s what jazz guitarists use right? I used to like the sound of them after they’d been on for a couple of months (hated them when they were new) but they used to sound very out of tune intonation wise at that point. It was when I changed to my current Eastman guitar that I tried and loved the Archtop strings, flatwound strings just sounded bad to my ears on my solid wood archtop. I didn’t think that roundwound strings would be any good but then I discovered that they were in fact doublewound strings and as such have more in common with autoharp or piano strings! Basically in a nutshell, normal electric strings have one winding around a central core whereas doublewound (you guessed it!) have 2 separate windings which are thinner which gives a few benefits.
-You can pretty much go a gauge higher than normal and the tension feels more or less the same
-Seems to have a higher output than normal strings
-Don’t feel ‘sticky’ like flatwounds can do
-Less finger squeak than normal round wounds
In common with flatwounds I pretty much keep mine on the guitar until they go rusty!
Available in gauges
7 string and custom gauges also available to order
Dan Johnson
