MM Newtone electric Slide strings

[Deleted]

I have today bought a used Squire Strat copy to play slide with at v v loud jam nights and perhaps try to get a 3 piece together to rock some blues.

The guitar has 10's fitted and with these open E (as D) and open A (as G) work very well. No rattle and some very good sounds.

I am likely to go for the 13-52 Newtone MM Electric Slide strings. Reviews I have read claim that the 3rd is too heavy and thus too loud.

I use the 15's on my Delta and there is no imbalance when using that through an amp.

So I wonder if others have tried the 13's on a Strat or Tele and if they find any string volume imbalance?

Thanks

[Michael Messer]

Hi Barry,

Do you believe that Newtone and I would design and market a set of strings that are not balanced? We have been doing the MM Electric Slide Classics for nearly ten years now. They are very popular and until reading your post I have never heard of anyone saying they are not balanced. Perhaps the person who made that comment in a review should adjust their pickup. A plain 22 is not light, but it is totally balanced.

I use the 15 to 56 set on my Telecaster. I keep it tuned in open D & G. If I was tuning to high tunings like E & A, I would use the 13s.

Has anyone had problems with these strings? Now that the point has been raised I am interested to hear comments.

Shine On
Michael.

[lewiscohen]

I've been using the .013's and .015's on various electrics and lap steels and haven't had any problems with balance.....not that I've specifically sat down and listened for it - but then I think if you have to do that in order to hear an issue then it's not an issue in the first place, if you catch my drift. You can convince yourself that all sorts of things are going on with a piece of kit if you sit down and actively cork-sniff rather than using it in a real-world scenario.

Is the review you're referring to actually the user comment on stringsdirect.com, where the guy also complains about intonation, saying the strings will intonate fine on a telecaster but not on a Gibson? If so, I think you can discard with confidence........(as is the sensible thing to do with 90% of user comments on the web )

[Deleted]

Lewiscohen

Yes this is the review. I was very tempted to disregard it for a number of reasons, one being that I have £100 worth of Newtone strings in my flat so my confidence in these is fairly great.

Michael

No, I didn't believe the review but I used this excellent forum as a way of asking the question.

The flatbucker I have has no adjustable poles and the 15's I use on the Delta work very well indeed. Strat style pickups are similar in that regard.

I shall order some 13's and tune the Squire to D and G. I only tune it to higher tunings now because it has 10's and they need to be tight to get the guitar working as I want it.

To end where I started, I use Newtone strings on all my 5 acoustics and shall soon have them on all my 6 guitars. They are very good strings indeed.

[leeophonic]

Barry,
I have used these strings in the past with no complaints on a guitar not unlike Mikes a Dave King telecaster , also have used the acoustic ones on various resonators and had no issues or problems.
Strings, setup sound etc, what works for me may not for you, life,s great tapestry!
Regards
Lee

[Michael Messer]

Thanks Lewis.

Anyone who says that a guitar string intonates correctly on a Fender but not on a Gibson, has not got a clue about the subject of guitars and strings.

Shine On
Michael.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your very kind comments about the strings. I agree about the 15/56 set. I use them all the time, but I do tune to D & G. I think the 13/52 set comes into its own in high tunings, which is what they were designed for.

Interestingly, the MM Electric Slide Classics are not round core, they have a hexagonal core. It is the core thickness and winding that creates the great tone & feel. When we developed these strings we tried all sorts of variations and the hex' core came out best. It is interesting because on an acoustic guitar, even with nickel, round cores win every time.

Malcolm Newton (Mr Newtone) really knows his stuff. MM strings are my idea and my gauges. They tested and approved by me, but it really is Malcolm's skill that creates such excellent strings. I just sow the seed and test them.

Shine On
Michael

[Deleted]

Please please read my last message. I use Newtones on all my guitars and will on the strat.

I merely, it seems to me, used this forum for one of the purposes for which it is intended. That is to ask an informed question. I was not, have not and will not ever knock these strings because they are the best that money can buy.

Neither have I or will I question anyone's competence in the design and/or construction of these strings. Nothing written in any email from me on this site has ever suggested otherwise.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Barry,

Don't worry, I totally understand. I know you are a Newtone user on all your guitars, that is why I was concerned about your comment.

Keeping it real and giving honest opinions and advice, is what this forum is about. What concerned me about your question was aired in my replies.

Shine On
Michael

[Deleted]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the offer but I have lots of 15-56's as I use them on my Delta, which has a flatbucker and sounds v good through the Bose and also unamplified.

I tried them on my Squire Strat and the springs were not strong enough to keep the bridge down. It's a cheap Squire Strat. Not a real Fender and not a G & L Legacy which I once owned but had to sell.

I have some 13's on order and will see how they go. The Squire sounded very very good to me in E and A with whatever make of 10's that were fitted. I don't want a reso blues sound from this I want a real dirty loud bluesy sound,which the Squire gives on 10's.

If the 13' s are too heavy I'll perhaps try 12's or go with 10's and keep the tuning high to E and A. Having been playing for 40 years and writing songs for 39 years I know what will work. for me

[Deleted]

Hi Chris

Good advice and thanks.

The point of me getting the Strat is not to get a reso sound. If I play in any band I have 3 reso's all with pickups and providing the volume is not ear damagingly dangerous they work very well.

I got the strat to play for fun at the London Charlotte Street Blues jam on a Wednesday. I took my Delta and was told that it wouldn't work there due to the ' very loud volume' at which they play.Feedback at a musical restaurant / pub is unwelcome! Thus the cheap strat!

I shall fit some Newtone Electric Master 10's and tune it high to E and A. The sound I get from this is what I want from the guitar. Not a reso sound but a good sound. Using a Diamond Bottleneck Glass/Steel slide I get quite a range of tones together with the differences between the 3 pickups.

This is not any criticism of the MM strings.

Have you any MP3's of your band? I'd like to hear them. You could send them to me via my website email.

Cheers

[Deleted]

Hallo

Rather than start a new thread I'll stick this on here.

On the aforementioned strat there is a tremolo arm which I want to remove. I have tried pulling it out and unscrewing it but without success.

How do I get rid of it? On my long gone G&L Legacy I simply unscrewed the horrible thing. But the guitar I now have is a Squire so it is very different.

HELP!

[thebluesbear( al)]

Barry

need pics....have a idea but need to see a picture ....

al

[andys]

Barry,

How many springs are on the back of the trem on the Strat?

If there are only 3 you will have trouble with heavy strings pulling it up.

The solution is to add two more springs and if that doesnt work, block the trem like Clapton (and others) does on his Strats. You basicly push a block of wood between the back block of the trem and the back of the body cavity.

Replacing the trem on a strat like yours with a hardtail bridge is not so easy because there is a large cavity which probably wouldnt work with this. Hardtail strats dont have a routed trem cavity.

Also it is best not to replace the trem even if you block it as the 5 springs do add a small degree of reverb to a strats tone anyway.

The only other way is to replace the strat with a hardtail Squier like a Tom Delonge strat or even a Hello Kitty one.

Or if you dont want trem hassles full stop, dare I say get a Squier Tele!!!

[Stevie]

Assuming that it's a screw in arm (which I reckon it is) It sounds like the thread has stripped. That being the case, you'll need to apply constant upwards pressure (pull!) while rotating the arm counter clockwise. The idea being to force the threads to re-engage further along the stud. Once the two threads start to engage, it will wind out easily. If you ever wanted to put a bar back in, you could drill out the damaged thread and put a heli-coil in. The Squier is most likely going to be 5mm whereas an American one would be 10-32 unf. I have mentioned Axesrus on this forum before, it would make more sense to wing your one and buy a replacement. Cheaper than you'd think. I have several Wilkinson bridges and some of those have a tiny grub screw to secure the push in arm. One of these has to have the whole assembly removed to adjust the screw (Nice one Trev!) It follows that this could also be the reason why your arm wont come out. Good luck Barry.