I ordered a set of hand wound strings
from http://www.newtonestrings.com/
http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/search/chapman

I finally got around to testing them out and they sound great!
Has anyone else had a chance to try them out?
I like them so much, that I ordered three more sets.

I bought some as a stop gap whilst I was waiting for a friend to bring some SE strings across from the USA for me. It's a killer in the UK as a couple of sets cost over £100 by the time you pay postage and customs clearance and VAT.

I quite like them, all except the wound 0.018" 10th string (lightest bass), however they were brilliant and sent a selection of plain strings to try (ended up with a 0.013").

I now have the SE sets so will get around to back to back them but would use them again for cost, convenience and excellent customer service.

P.S. I use Newtone strings on my mandolins, banjo's and guitars, always good

I noticed the same thing with the 10th string, but overall I like them.
I might try a 0.013" and see if it helps. They have great tone overall.

A friend of mine sent me some of these to try and they were "okay", but the low bass string didn't sound as clear to me as Emmett's, and they were just too light overall.

If you have a 36"-scale instrument these would be way too floppy.

@Neil - I installed a .013" string for the 10th position and you are correct that it sounds much better. Thanks for the tip.

@Greg - My stick is a '78 #404 34" with no truss bar. These light gauge strings work fine on my instrument. Could you elaborate more on which strings are floppy on the 36" sticks? I would assume that it would be only the deepest bass string?

The problem with stick strings is that there are many so options for tuning then add in the two scale lengths. I have to say that for the first time ever I have to challenge something Greg said! Tension will increase with scale length not reduce so would be running at a higher tension on a 36" scale. I know this well as I built a short scale tenor guitar ( in GDAE tuning) and ended up having to go up in gauge a lot! (bridge stay cable for the G!!)

The Newtone set is very similar to the original SE set for a 34" scale in classic tuning in gauge except for that erroneous 0.018 wound. I confirmed this by measurement and also from Emmett's original Free Hands book. This is also where I got 0.013 for the tenth string.

I actually sent Newtone the old set in the end as a reference for future use.

I'm using Matched Reciprocal tuning for my stick.
http://stick.com/instruments/tunings/10/mr/

Below is a string tension calculator.
http://hikkyz.net/misc/stringassembler/

Hi Neil,

I'm sure that "theoretically" you are correct about there needing to be more tension withe the same gauge, but Stick strings are under relatively low tension to begin with.. You're not just dealing with tension, you're dealing with 2" more of string length, so they all feel "slinkier" under your fingers. I played around 20,000-30,000 hours on 34"-scale instruments over a period of 18 1/2 years with light medium and heavy gauges in all combinations bass and melody before I owned my first 36" scale instrument. The difference in feel was immediately obvious to me (but I'm just one person YMMV). I asked Emmett if the gauges were the same, and he said yes they were.

Here's a video of the very first public performance I made on that instrument, which had medium strings on it. At the time, Emmett's medium had two heavies on the bottom, as he had yet to find the "magic strings" for medium bass, and it definitely felt slinkier to me than my 34" -scale Grand Stick with the same gauges.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAuoCCwSQs[/youtube]

I play students' 34"-scale instruments frequently at seminars, helping them set them up, of all ages and string configurations.

The string gauges shown in the ad linked at the beginning of this thread are very light even by SE's standards, so they would already feel pretty slinky on a 34"-scale. More so on a 36" scale.

Also, any new set of strings will have a noticeably improved sound over a really old set. Not saying the New Tone strings aren't good strings, just that there's a certain "wow" factor just from removing the old set...
Just my experience...

Hi Greg,
I don't doubt what you say about feel, it can be a completely different thing to the science. I also know what a difference a small change in scale makes, I much prefer Gibson over Fender due to the slightly shorter scale when it comes to guitars.

I believe the "slinkier" feeling comes from a leverage principle. It takes the same torque (force*radius about a point) to move the string of a certain tension from the default position to the fret on each scale length, but because the distance to the point of anchoring (finger to nut) is greater on a 36" scale instrument, the force needed to move the string is less. So I'm thinking the difference in tension from 34" to 36" is much smaller than the difference in force to maintain a certain torque, making for a slinkier feel.

Does that make sense? I feel like I'm babbling somewhat