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New DR neon strings

#242
I can't begin to say how disappointed I was in the tone of Black Beauties when they first came out. I had used a few other DR strings prior to that and had high hopes, but they just sounded anemic. I have enjoyed the tone of Fat Beams, but generally am now using Chromes to get a reasonably present and full tone without the round wound fret noise. I may try a set of these coated strings if the reports remain positive.

For the few people who believe they have had a bad string or two in a set, has DR stood behind them for you? At $40 or so a set, I'm not likely to try again on my own dime if I get a mis-matched package. I probably should have tried to contact them when I got those awful Black Beauties, and then I'd know how their customer service is. Instead, they got dumped after about an hour of continuous and unpleasant attempts to dial in a reasonable tone.
 
#244
+1 on the DR customer support kudos!!!

I have had problems every so often (not unlike D'Addario which I've used since the 70's) and all it took was an email telling them I had a problem and within a few days I had not only the string in question replaced .... but a full brand new set shipped to my door!

Lack of confidence in the DR folks is the farthest thing from the truth in my book.

My suggestion is to give them a chance and see if they take good care of you. Getting a bad string when you're expecting them to be just right is a real drag to be sure but if they make good for it .... that's a real bonus in my opinion.

Money well invested if they stand behind their product.

I'm using the DR Sunbeams in medium light guage similar to the D'Addario XL170's on my Lakland Bob Glaub and they are just marvelous in sound and feel.
 
#248
I put the Neons on my P for our last gig, man do they sound great.

I'm a Roto fan but have been experimenting a bit with other strings, I've always liked Lo Riders, and I had a few months with Dunlop nickels, which to be honest sounded fine at first, but when I replaced them with the DRs I was amazed at the authority and presence that was lacking in the Dunlops compared to the Neons. There's no way I'm going back to Dunlops, and they are difficult as well to get to stay on the tuning posts when stringing. To cap it off they never answered my emails, so screw 'em.

These were the first coated strings I've tried since Elixirs, which aren't my cup of tea. The Neons had that just-broken-in-enough-tone, and they have kept that tone for weeks now. I'm really impressed, and they look cool as.

I'll post some pictures from the gig as soon as I get them from the photographer.
 
#249
I've had a set on for two weeks now, and absolutely love the feel and tone. The coating, however, is already wearing away under where my right hand goes. Yeah, I put a little fingernail into my finger playing, but I was expecting better than two weeks. If these are essentially coated Sunbeams, can anyone tell me how the two differ in feel?
 
#250
AlembicBob said:
I can't begin to say how disappointed I was in the tone of Black Beauties when they first came out. I had used a few other DR strings prior to that and had high hopes, but they just sounded anemic. I have enjoyed the tone of Fat Beams, but generally am now using Chromes to get a reasonably present and full tone without the round wound fret noise. I may try a set of these coated strings if the reports remain positive.

For the few people who believe they have had a bad string or two in a set, has DR stood behind them for you? At $40 or so a set, I'm not likely to try again on my own dime if I get a mis-matched package. I probably should have tried to contact them when I got those awful Black Beauties, and then I'd know how their customer service is. Instead, they got dumped after about an hour of continuous and unpleasant attempts to dial in a reasonable tone.
Click to expand...

How long ago was this? I've had a set of Black Beauties on my Ibanez for a few months now and I love them. Sound almost as good as normal DR strings, and the only coating that has come off is whatever is touching the frets a lot.
 
#251
While I got significant coating wear off with the plain nonwound strings on my guitars in less then a month. 1 inch long areas of coating completely worn off. The bass guitar strings havent shown any significant coating wear off at all even though I play with pick 100% of the time. The set thats been on for 3 months has a little bit of minute wear spots that you need a maginfying glass to really see, but nothing actually significant. Surprised JBlars is getting significant wear off.
 
#252
AlembicBob said:
I can't begin to say how disappointed I was in the tone of Black Beauties when they first came out. I had used a few other DR strings prior to that and had high hopes, but they just sounded anemic. I have enjoyed the tone of Fat Beams, but generally am now using Chromes to get a reasonably present and full tone without the round wound fret noise. I may try a set of these coated strings if the reports remain positive.

For the few people who believe they have had a bad string or two in a set, has DR stood behind them for you? At $40 or so a set, I'm not likely to try again on my own dime if I get a mis-matched package. I probably should have tried to contact them when I got those awful Black Beauties, and then I'd know how their customer service is. Instead, they got dumped after about an hour of continuous and unpleasant attempts to dial in a reasonable tone.
Click to expand...

Really? I loved the black beauties I bought. They were fantastic strings. They were, in the end, not what I was looking for, but they are great strings. I've been very happy with all my DR purchases, they've been my "go-to" strings for years. I've yet to have something from them that wasn't fantastic. (Let me say, what I "want" and what the string offers are different... the DR strings have always been as described. This may not be what I wanted but they are what they are. That's what trying out different strings is about! :D)
 
#255
krafty said:
I've been referring to this as the Stryper bass for obvious reasons now. :) Love'em.

IMG_4705.jpg
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Pittsburgh Steelers bass!
 
#260
Alvaro Martín Gómez A.;10553092 said:
BTW, and since I can't find the answer on the DR site, which are the differences between Neons and Extra-Life strings aside from color options?
Click to expand...

Feel-wise, the neon coating is less glossy so they don't feel quite as slick. Tone-wise, I personally can't make out a huge difference (but don't have a bass strung with extra-lifes to hand so I'm going from memory here).
 

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