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Hi there from a newbee
Just bought a Taylor 110e semi and its amazing. Tried a Tak and a Martin in the shop but walked away with the 110e.
I’ve only been playing guitar for 4 years. Before that I played keys. My daughter wanted to learn so I bought her a Parlour Guitar by Westone (small bodied but with a full length narrow neck) hence the signature. I have used the Westone on a number of projects and when amplified through my PA it sounds great.
When my daughter went to study at university she took the Westone with her and I bought an AP5X 12 string version in order to develop my playing style. The only problem I’ve had has been the strings choices. I tried DaDarrio and Martin, Elixir, John Pearse in fact almost all the OTS strings available but they never seemed to be balanced and then someone suggested using Newtone Strings.
I bought three custom sets for the 12 string. They’re round cores rather than the mass production hexagonal cores so they handle differently but play beautifully. Since I use Double Drop D Tuning (a throwback to one of my heroes Jimmy Page) I find the strings put much less stress on the neck and bend beautifully. I found out afterwards that Roy Harper and Nick Harper both use Newtone strings and altered tunings. I would recommend them in preference to the Coated strings I’ve used previously because the cores are round there are less voids for crap to settle in and make the strings dull and unresponsive IMHO.
As for the 110e, its gone down to Bath where my daughter is now taking a Masters Degree, I’ve got the Westone back though and my daughter has written a whole raft of songs using the Taylor so I’m more than happy besides which she paid me for it. A win win situation?
Cheers
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Sorry, it’s been a long time since my last post, but I spotted this thread and thought I might be able to add something.
I’ve used Newtone strings for a long time now on virtually all of the steel strung guitars that I own. They take a little getting used to but are well worth the effort in most cases.
When fitting them, you have to (as with any string) stretch them out and keep retuning to pitch before final trimming, but I’ve found that they take less stretching out than hex-core strings. I think (just a personal deduction – could be way off) that this is because the wrapping wire doesn’t bite and bind to the round-core as much as with hex-cores.
On initial fit they sound very bright – some might say too bright, but after a couple of hours playing they seem to settle in to a state where they just sound magnificent – and seem to stay that way for a very long time.
I am fortunate enough to work just a couple of miles away from where Newtone strings are made, and have always found Malcolm Newton (the maker) to be very approachable. He has often made custom sets for me (for little if anything more than the price of his standard guages bought through shops or internet sites), and I know for a fact that if you play in a particular tuning and just let him know what you need he will not only make the strings to your guage (I prefer heavy bottom and mid tops – 12 – 56) he will also tension them specifically for your tuning preference – try asking D’addario or Gore to do that!
I once watched Nick Harper playing at ‘The Flowerpot’ in Derby and he broke a string during his set and claimed that this happened quite often with Newtones, but considering Nicks style (he constantly tunes up and down as part of the tune!) I’m really not surprised. Personally, I think I’ve only had maybe 2 or 3 actual breakages (that I couldn’t attribute to me being over-zealous) in the last 10 years of using Newtones.
I keep trying other strings, but in the end keep going back to Newtones. I have a Martin D16GT which I currently have strung with Elixirs as I had read that the Martin 16 series were specifically braced to sound best with lighter strings and I happened to have a set of 10-47 Elixir Nanowebs that I’d bought for someone else but ended up not using. Guitar sounds great, but I’m going to re-string with Newtone 10-47’s as soon as I get chance – I’ll post a comparison if I have time.
Hope this helps someone.
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