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Neon Strings?

B

balton4

Feb 27, 2012
132
0
Two Harbors, Minnesota
#1
So, while lurking around at Schmidt music store, i found neon strings. These strings were brightly colored (so they would really stand out against my all black epi tbird) and claimed to glow on blacklight.

Does anyone here have any experience with these strings? What is their tone like? Does the extieroir coating that makes it "glow" chip or peel off? Are they worth the 40 bucks schmidt wants for em?

Any better suggestions for an epi tbird (standard, not pro and not goth)?
 
#2
Sound wise they are very articulate for low bass, harmonics are a little muted compared to dr's uncoated strings. Coating holds up very well to pick use for bass strings but not for the guitar strings. I used them for little more then a yr on 3 basses and then got tired of dead in box strings. 3 out of 7 packages. Wont buy dr strings again.
 
#3
darkstorm said:
Sound wise they are very articulate for low bass, harmonics are a little muted compared to dr's uncoated strings. Coating holds up very well to pick use for bass strings but not for the guitar strings. I used them for little more then a yr on 3 basses and then got tired of dead in box strings.
Click to expand...

So, how do they hold up against a pick vs. finger? I use fingers and picks, depending on the tone i wanna get out of it. I could see the harmonics being a little muffeled.
 
#5
I tired a set of the orange one - I guess I got much acid in my sweat... because the coating only lastet 1 gig. Of course if you throw them on a roadword bass it might look nice that the strings are loosing the coating/colour where your play the most. They do sound good though - a bit brighter than most other coated strings I've tried, and they do have a nice feel on your fingers.
another downside that's maybe worth mentioning - if you have a completely black bass (like me) - and the coating starts to come off... it really gets everywhere - I haven't used the strings for about a year, and I consider myself being pretty anal with cleaning my instrument... but that orange coating just goes everywhere. in the saddle and other hard to reach places. Really hard to clean off IMHO
 
#6
I generally don't like coated strings but I put a set of green ones on my all-white Vester anyway. They feel much coarser than elixirs (which is a good thing to me). Soundwise, they're more natural than most coateds I've played though it's still not my cup of tea. The main asset is of course their looks, funky all over the place.

Note that according to Mr Sadowsky, the coating on these strings (and many others) is not conductive. So if your bass is prone to buzzing, it won't go away when touching the strings.
 
#7
crusie said:
I tired a set of the orange one - I guess I got much acid in my sweat... because the coating only lastet 1 gig. Of course if you throw them on a roadword bass it might look nice that the strings are loosing the coating/colour where your play the most. They do sound good though - a bit brighter than most other coated strings I've tried, and they do have a nice feel on your fingers.
another downside that's maybe worth mentioning - if you have a completely black bass (like me) - and the coating starts to come off... it really gets everywhere - I haven't used the strings for about a year, and I consider myself being pretty anal with cleaning my instrument... but that orange coating just goes everywhere. in the saddle and other hard to reach places. Really hard to clean off IMHO
Click to expand...


Sounds like you had the old Neons and not the new DR K3 Neons.
 
#9
mmbongo said:
Sounds like you had the old Neons and not the new DR K3 Neons.
Click to expand...

I actually ended up with 3 different sets - I email dr strings and they sent me a new version ( the k3) and it also ended up rubbing off after 2 gigs... no noticable difference IMO. nice with a good costumer support though. just too bad that their product doesn't keep their promise.

besides - I think the neons has always been the k3 coating - the ones I had an extra set shipped of was the red devils - just after they switched to the k3 coating.

oh and another thing - if using a 35" scale bass - they are cutting it pretty close with the winding - had to string through bridge and not body on my lakland just to achieve this
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5463717088457464257/5463717108907476354
 
#10
darkstorm said:
Had set on for 5 months with no noticeable coating wear off from 100% of the time pick use.
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In that case, if they are holding up against a pick, im going to assume that they will hold up against using fingers (which i use most of the time, being probably 80-90% of the time).

Next question, are they worth the 40 bucks schmidt wants for them, and if not, can i get them for a lower price?
 
#11
balton4 said:
In that case, if they are holding up against a pick, im going to assume that they will hold up against using fingers (which i use most of the time, being probably 80-90% of the time).

Next question, are they worth the 40 bucks schmidt wants for them, and if not, can i get them for a lower price?
Click to expand...


$29 at Bass Strings Online, even cheaper if you register on his site as a TB user so you can get the VIP price. Might help a little, but he already sells DR for about as cheap as possible.

Invalid Link Removed
 
#15
balton4 said:
In that case, if they are holding up against a pick, im going to assume that they will hold up against using fingers (which i use most of the time, being probably 80-90% of the time).

Next question, are they worth the 40 bucks schmidt wants for them, and if not, can i get them for a lower price?
Click to expand...

Heck no dont pay that high a price for them. When I was using them I got them thru amazon.com for $25.45 per set.
 

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