I'm sure you (& Grace, and the rest of the SE team) know best, and I fully accept that SE strings are always going to be the ideal.

However, on occasions practicalities may well mean that a supply that can be had within a few days is an attractive, even if inferior, substitute (temporary or otherwise).

I prefer the NewTone strings on my 1978 vintage #404 Stick.
They have better tone than the strings that I received from SE.

The SE vintage Stick strings ended up on my Railboard. They sound great on the Railboard. I almost sold the Railboard several times, because I couldn't get that tone. Tone is everything. If something doesn't sound right, I simply stop playing. When I feel the right tone, I can play for hours and hours.

The big game changer was when I bought the Line 6 Helix Floor. It does everything that I could ever possibly want in the way of effects. I'm very happy with my setup and I play every day. Emmett has designed a very, very cool instrument.

If I hadn't heard Michael Kollwitz playing at the Banyan Tree park in Lahaina, Maui. my life would have taken a much different path.

No worries, I was only commenting on the .016 as a melody string. When you get up above fret 14 or so, it just won't sound good, IMO.

So a .015 would be better. Get what works for you, but check it out. We play 34-36" scale instruments, so there is a balance in the strings. Finding something that sounds great all the way up and down the string is tough to do. Also, many strings are not long enough to cover the nut of a 36" scale instrument before the winding wrap starts.

Purely out of interest, and because this will apply to David's vintage instrument, the gauges (in thousands of an inch) listed in Free Hands are:

Melody: 0.008, 0.009, 0.011, 0.014, 0.022w
Bass: 0.101w, 0.065w, 0.040w, 0.022w, 0.013

I'm assuming this would be, or would closely approximate, Classic Light. I can't speak for any non-SE strings as I've never tried them yet.

Regards

AxS

Ah. I see. Great tip. If I end up trying a set from Newton I'll add that variation in too. It would be a only small addition to the cost to include both options, and doing so would give extra dimension to the possibilities to try out & with which to expand my 'education'.

Ah. Arcodath's post has just arrived as I was writing my reply. That's a very useful addition as I don't have a copy of Free Hands yet.
Maybe Newtone don't use D'Addario strings to build their sets & that affects their selection? If so, experimentation is probably the only way to find out.

PS. When ordering a copy of The Stick Book (classic) and the CD a couple of days ago I asked if it might be possible to include the 'complimentary' copy of Free Hands that's part of my Railboard order in advance too. Time will tell...