Martin Strings.

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GORDON
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Martin Strings.

Postby GORDON » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:09 pm

Hi All.

I just wanted to direct you to the news page about some exciting news(for me) with regard to Martin SP Strings, and my recently secured endorsement deal with this esteemed company.

http://www.giltrap.co.uk/index.php?page=news&category=01--General_News&display=1333

Be Well all.

G.

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Roger
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Postby Roger » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:45 pm

Gordon,

Excellent news!

Can the SP strings be used on electrics, or will you still be using Ernie Ball?

See you on Thursday.

Roger

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Postby GORDON » Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:26 pm

Hi Roger.

These are purely acoustic strings my friend. Yep, looking forward to Thursday, hope it's as good as my last appearance !

Best Regards to you and the lovely Em.

G.

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Russ Gannicott
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Postby Russ Gannicott » Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:38 pm

That's interesting Gordon - for quite a while now, I, and quite a few others down here have been using SP's for live work and Newtone's for studio. I know our non-pro perspective will be different to yours, but generally the longer life of the SP's outweighs their higher price - ie several gigs at 'new string' sound. However, for sheer presence when first fitted and for 'squeek free' studio work, nothing quite matches up to Newtone's in my opinion.
Good to hear though that a GG endorsement still carries some weight with a mega company like Martin - well done Sir!

All we need now is for you to get together with a British amp manufacturer and design a decent acoustic amp! How about a nice 100 watt twin channel with 2 x 10" speakers, a valve pre-amp channel for Tele playing and an award-session pre-amp channel for acoustic. Reckon that would be worth £500 of anyones money!
So far, there still hasn't been a decent acoustic since the Torque TA100 went out of production! Ok, AER's are nice, but unless you mic it up and chuck it back through the foldback, forget it on a loud stage. And as for Marshall acoustics.....I'll say no more.

Oh yes, by the way, got a really lovely present from the family for my birthday - an Epiphone Mandobird! If you're not familiar, please Google it...it's brilliant!
Congrats again!
Love from the family,
Russ

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Newtone Strings

Postby GORDON » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:38 am

Hi Russ.

Bless you for responding and also for those words of encouragement.

I need to make it clear that the reason I had to look elsewhere for strings was because quite frankly there was no option. Malcolm(bless him) just couldn't meet the demand for the number of string sets I use. It was easier in the early days before his wonderful product took off,but what with his personal circumstances and pressure from elsewhere it was really putting pressure on him,. and as a gesture of friendship I decided to take that pressure off.

Without a doubt the Newtone sound is fabulous,and let's not forget it was I who came up with idea of the Newtone design, although Malcolm for whatever reason (and I respect his reason) there is no mention of this fact on his website! But everybody knows how deeply I was involved, in those early heady days of Newtone.and I feel very privileged to have had such a huge input in their design and early history.At one point I was, just like everybody else paying for my strings,this wasn't a problem for me and I felt that it helped Malc out with his cash flow.You have to support small makers like Malc, it makes the world go round methinks!

Do you remember all those early string packets that I designed Russ, the ones with my hand drawn image and the ones for Ralph McTell? I can't believe that I was able to draw that well in those days,but I doubt if my eyes would be good enough for such detail today. You may even have a poster somewhere that Sue Martin designed for the strings in 1988,and that Hilary and I financed to help with the promotion.......Fond memories indeed.

There were one or two hickups along the way, like when I secured a licencing deal for Malc's strings to be made by another major string maker, I shan't mention names here, but they just didn't stick to our original design,and the strings just didn't sound as good ...hey ho!

Malcs strings go from strength to strength,and I wish Malc and his lovely wife Ann much happiness for the future. In fact Malc, told me only a couple of weeks back that they are planning a cruise, which will do them both the power of good.

Yes, a GG acoustic amp would be nice, but in all honesty I don't use amps any more and much prefere to go direct into the PA.Also it saves my back lugging stuff about at my age... :D

Be Well old buddy.

Gordon.

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Roger
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Postby Roger » Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:33 pm

Gordon/Russ,

Remaining on the subject of strings, do either of you have any thoughts about nylon strings? I currently use D'Addario on my little Hondo, but have found that different strings give different results, particularly on the bass strings.

Thanks,

Roger

PS Gordon, which guitars will be making an appearance tomorrow

PPS Russ, I've been catching up on a few old postings recently. I particularly enjoyed the one about your son and his Firebird!

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Russ Gannicott
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Postby Russ Gannicott » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:09 pm

Hi Gordon,
You know, I think I might still have a couple of early string packets knocking around somewhere! Interesting to be reminded of all that remarkable history once again and I'm quite sure there a few Newtone users, even on this site, who were not aware of your huge contribution to the string's development.

The acoustic amp 'thing' is whole different ballgame - can't say I blame you not wanting to get involved Gordon! The trouble is, unless you are in the position of enjoying good PA systems and experienced engineers, the average pub or club rig is almost guaranteed to make a decent acoustic guitar sound ghastly! For most of us amps are the best answer, but sadly even so called acoustic amplifiers are only marginally better than dodgy PA rigs! Maybe the answer is to lock Jim Marshall and Stewart Ward in a room for a couple of days and see what develops!

Regarding Roger's question about nylon strings.....sorry, but I haven't a clue! All I know is that they're a real pain to mic up in the studio! Sorry Roger!

Have a great one at the Beer Festival - I'll be raising a pint to you from hopefully a dry Cropredy field!

All the best,
Russ

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Postby simjen » Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:20 pm

Just catching up after being away for a while. Great news about the Martin strings. I have been using EXP11's recently. I tried Elixier but they broke too often,

I see that Martin do a coated sting too. Before I order some I would welcome reading any comments you all might have. Or should I just go for the SP's? I guess if they are good enough for Gordon then...

Regards to all

Simon.
Simon Jenny, long term fan.

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Postby BB » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:16 pm

I've used Martin SP on my Fylde Oberon lately, in preference to the coated Elixir Nanowebs I had been using previously. Acoustically, I find them softer than the Elixirs... perhaps a little mellow for my style, but they come into their own when going through the PA. They just sound right with pretty much flat EQ, unlike the Elixirs whose brightness needs taming.

Also, yes, they do seem to last longer. That's longer in terms of how long I can cack-handedly bash away on C, F and G before the G-string pops, not longer in terms of resistance to perspiring digits... no, coated strings do have their place, but in a pub gig scenario, two hours seems all I can expect from the Elixirs, whereas I've left SPs on for weeks after a gig and they've stayed good.

Oh, and greetings from a newcomer to your forum.
Around the bend, my huckleberry friend.

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GORDON
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Martin Strings

Postby GORDON » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:19 pm

Thankyou for your comments on the SP strings, and WELCOME TO OUR fORUM.

Be Well Sir.

G.


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