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Post by surfguy13 on Feb 27, 2022 9:16:01 GMT
I too have had the black finger thing on the odd occasion with Newtones, but also in the distant past with various other strings. I wonder if it might be more to do with the state of the fingers than the strings? Amounts and acidity of sweat and oils on the fingers vary considerably from day to day and throughout the day. Have never had any tarnished Newtones, wound or plain. In fact I have had only two duff strings from them in over 20 years of using them almost exclusively. The first was a dull sounding A string on installation - yes, I did fit it correctly - I sent the string back to Malclom (it was some years ago!) and received a written apology plus two replacement sets. More recently, though still a while ago, I had a D string that didn't intonate properly - it was almost a semitone flat by the 12th fret when first installed. The rest of the set was fine. I detuned it completely and retuned - same result. As I had a spare odd one I put that on instead and all was well. Didn't bother to "complain" - it was obviously a one-off incident as other sets from the same batch were had been fine. I'll forgive them. Keith Yes, I agree Keith, it isn't just Newtones and I have had similar issue with black fingers from many different types of string over the years including bass strings. I also wondered whether it might be due to my hands rather than the strings but when recently tried the DR Sunbeams I had no black finger at all! I mentioned slight tarnishing on the Newtone stings, both Heritage and Masterclass, but I must stress that this was only on the high E and B and didn't seem to affect the sound quality at all and neither did it reduce the life of the strings. I was given several sets of DR Sunbeams and 2 of those sets had tarnishing on the high E and B straight out of the packet. To be frank a bit of black finger and the occasional slight tarnishing on the unwound strings doesn't bother me at all and I will continue to use Newtones as they are superb strings and just as importantly......British! Also because Keith has always been extremely helpful when I have had queries about their strings.
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Phil Taylor
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Post by Phil Taylor on Mar 29, 2022 15:41:15 GMT
The other day I did some recording with Newtone Heritage 12's on my Lamorna and whilst I think the sound may be reasonable I did notice a lot of string noise much more than Elixirs produce. So much so that I had to edit some of it out but there is still a lot that you can hear. Having said that I do tend to obsess about string squeaks, pings and other spurious noises of that ilk. They are 6 weeks or so old now. Because of the clear benefits in comfort with the low tension I was considering trying the next gauge up but because of the string noise I'm not sure whether or not to just go back to my usual Elixirs Anyway we'll see but the video (a little flatpicking piece) will be posted in the plucky sometime soon Phil
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Post by surfguy13 on Mar 29, 2022 17:19:45 GMT
The other day I did some recording with Newtone Heritage 12's on my Lamorna and whilst I think the sound may be reasonable I did notice a lot of string noise much more than Elixirs produce. So much so that I had to edit some of it out but there is still a lot that you can hear. Having said that I do tend to obsess about string squeaks, pings and other spurious noises of that ilk. They are 6 weeks or so old now. Because of the clear benefits in comfort with the low tension I was considering trying the next gauge up but because of the string noise I'm not sure whether or not to just go back to my usual Elixirs Anyway we'll see but the video (a little flatpicking piece) will be posted in the plucky sometime soon Phil Hi Phil I tried the Heritage 12-51 set and found them just too light so spoke to Neil at Newtone about the next gauge up which, I think, are 13-56; I wasn't sure if they'd be a little too heavy. Neil confirmed that they would be the equivalent to a 'standard' 12-54 set which was what I was trying to get away from so no good for me. I have ended up with a 11-50 Masterclass set and they are just perfect in every way. They aren't low tension per se but they are slightly lower tension than a standard set of the gauge. I can heartily recommend them! Guy
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Phil Taylor
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Post by Phil Taylor on May 13, 2022 8:47:12 GMT
Just an quick update. I changed the Heritage 12's to 13's and tension wise they do feel like 12's Elixirs. They sound reasonable but after a month they are quite dirty and the tone has lost it's sparkle and had gone a little dull which tells me they are nearly ready for replacing. I've had Elixirs on the Torridge for 3 months and are still very clean, have lost none of their tone and from past experiences they will last another 3 months easily. Both guitars have been played a lot. So the conclusion is I'll stick with the Elixirs because of longevity and less string noise. Having said that if I do feel my left hand/wrist problem goes worse sometime in the future the Heritage low tension 12's will probably be my string of choice. It's been a worthwhile exercise
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Post by surfguy13 on May 14, 2022 8:09:44 GMT
Just an quick update. I changed the Heritage 12's to 13's and tension wise they do feel like 12's Elixirs. They sound reasonable but after a month they are quite dirty and the tone has lost it's sparkle and had gone a little dull which tells me they are nearly ready for replacing. I've had Elixirs on the Torridge for 3 months and are still very clean, have lost none of their tone and from past experiences they will last another 3 months easily. Both guitars have been played a lot. So the conclusion is I'll stick with the Elixirs because of longevity and less string noise. Having said that if I do feel my left hand/wrist problem goes worse sometime in the future the Heritage low tension 12's will probably be my string of choice. It's been a worthwhile exercise I'm really interested to hear how you have got on with the Heritage 13s Phil. I found the Heritage 12s far to light and was a little worried that the 13s might be a little too heavy after speaking to Niel at Newtone. I too find that the Newtones I have tried get very dirty very quickly and have no idea why. This was the case with both the Heritage and the Masterclass. I also found that a month was the maximum life for either of these sets. I have been trying the DR Sunbeams which are round core and very nice strings indeed. They did not get anything like as dirty as the Newtones but I have to say I found that after a month they are pretty much dead like the Newtones. In a month they get quite a lot of play time. Both Newtone and DR are about the same price and I definitely prefer buying the Newtones as the are made in the UK but I feel that the DR Sunbeams have the edge. I have never tried coated strings so maybe that is the next step.....however, having settled on 11-50 as my preferred gauge I have found that there are very few companies that make them. I will check out Elixir and see if they do 11s. Glad you have given the Heritage strings a try and even though they haven't worked out, at least it has confirmed that Elixirs are the right choice.
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leoroberts
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My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on May 14, 2022 14:53:18 GMT
I find it mildly amusing that a thread entitled 'Final thoughts...' is now running to 4 pages Fascinating thread - but amusing, nonetheless.
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Post by otis1960 on May 21, 2022 9:29:17 GMT
I find it mildly amusing that a thread entitled 'Final thoughts...' is now running to 4 pages Fascinating thread - but amusing, nonetheless. I'm looking forward to the sequel, although it will need an appropriate title
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