Stromberg Newport

Multi-Layer Laminated Binding on Body & Neck
Abalone Inlaid Headstocks - very nicely done!!
Scale Length- 24 3/4"
Neck Radius- 14"
Width at Nut- 1 11/16"
Bout Dimensions: Upper- 11 3/4", Lower- 16 1/2"
Body Depth- 2 7/8"
Sides and Back- Maple
Top- Laminated Spruce
Custom Us Made Multi Layer Bound Black Pickguard
Kent Armstrong? Side Mounted Jazz Slimbucker With Hidden Volume Control Under Guard
Kluson? Deluxe Tuners With Pearloid Tulip Buttons

The sound of this guitar is right on the money for a jazz box. Unamplified it sounds nice, not loud but it has a woody-jazzy tone which I like. Plugged into my Ultrasound amp, I was blown away by how great this Stromberg sounded. Clean, rich and detailed. I didn't miss the tone control at all! Just beautiful.

My guitar is a blemish model finished in natural gloss. The finish is somewhat orangey, the wood grain is very bland, but overall the guitar is attactive nonetheless. At first look, the blemishes were pretty noticeable; the fingerboard binding is a bit sloppy near the body end, some of the binding has finish spots on it and was a bit sloppy as well. I was a bit disappointed with the cosmetics. But for $899...well I was still a bit disappointed. I have a new Samick LaSalle JZ-4 and there's no comparison, the Samick is flawless.

I needed to futz with the pickup mounting. As I played, my hand pressure on the pickguard would cause the screw underneath to buzz against the top. I had to remove the assembly and I used a couple of small pieces of cork to shim beneath the pickguard and beneath the pickup as well. This stabilized the whole setup. Still..on an $899 ($1199 if you get an non-blem model) shouldn't this be taken care of?

When I played this guitar, I immediately fell in love with it. The body is small enough to be very comfortable. The action was perfect. The fretwork is excellent. The guitar just felt right. I don't miss the easy access to the upper frets that much, and after practice getting up there isn't a problem. Besides, as Tommy Tedesco said, "There's no money above the 5th fret". Well, maybe..

Overall this is a nicely made guitar. The top is not too thick, so it resonates well. The hardware is very good. I wouldn't worry about playing this guitar out without a backup. I expect it will last longer the I will, and I'm only 53!
The finish seems durable enough, not really heavy like some Korean and Chinese guitars, but thick enough to absorb some wear.

I only had minimal contact with the folks at W.D. Music, and they were very helpful. I would expect the service to be as good as it has in the past. I've purchased some their products over the years, and they've been great.

I love this gutar. Yeah I know I have some quibbles with finish details, but bottom line is, it sounds and plays great. I also love the looks of it. It has that old vibe to it, and when I play it, wow, it speaks to me and I can't put it down!
If I lost it, well, I'd buy another one. Hopefully, if that ever hppens, ( and I hope not)W.D. Music/Stromberg will have ironed out the finishing bugs and I willingly shell out the $1199 for a non-blem.
Hell I may get another someday anyway!!

A non-cutaway traditional sunburst 16? archtop with a floating pickup/pickguard assembly. The body has a laminated spruce top with laminated maple back and sides . It has a rosewood neck with a rosewood bridge and Kluson? Deluxe tuners with pearloid tulip buttons, The tail piece is a simple gold trapeze style. It has a Kent Armstrong? side mounted jazz ?Slimbucker? with a hidden volume control under the multi layer, bound, black pickguard. A nice deluxe archtop brown leatherette hard shell case comes standard.

The guitar has a beautifully clear, rich, mellow sound when played acoustically and faithfully reproduced at the same and increased volumes when played thru my Polytone ? Mega Brute amp. I looked long and hard to find an instrument that would be so acoustically resonant and not feed back when amplified and this is it. I feel I must mention that I play all styles but am basically a jazz player at heart. I use a custom gauge set of strings (.013-.015-.022-.030-.040-.050 and a 1.0mm Clayton? pick). The Newport has a excellent jazz tone. Although somewhat smaller this guitar?s acoustic properties rival a $6000 Guild ? Artist Award that I once owned. And it?s a whole lot easier to play.

The action is fantastic with its 14" radius neck, 24 3/4" scale, and 1 5/8" nut width. The frets needed no further work but the rosewood bridge string slots needed to be re-cut when I got it in 2003. The Armstrong pickup/pickguard assembly is a problem. It is fragile and wobbly. So I cut a ?" piece of cork to slip under the string side edge of it to stabilize it. That fixed it. Also, the pickguard assembly comes wired with a mini plug and jack assembly superglued to the underside of the pickguard. This is to facilitate the whole assembly?s removal if one wants to play the guitar acoustically without the pickguard and pickup. This proved to be a weak point in the electronic connection as the guitar kept cutting out when any pressure was applied to the pickguard. I decided it was too risky to try to un-superglue the mini jack assembly from the underside of the pickguard so I bypassed it and hardwired everything. I have since had an occasionally problem with the volume dial rubbing against one of the small wires underneath but it is so intermittent and benign that I haven?t bothered to resolder it. The finish on the guitar is beautiful and lustrous. The very few tiny defects and flaws I can find in the finish here and there, expected in a $1200 guitar, are noticeable only upon a very close inspection. They are nothing obvious and would probably have to be pointed out to the casual observer.

Despite the fragility of the custom made pickguard and its electronics the Newport is a solidly built instrument. I have owned many guitars in my lifetime and still own a couple other fine jazz guitars but I am currently using my Stromberg Newport exclusively on all my teaching and performing gigs. It?s a real workhorse and always sounds wonderful.

Larry Davis, of WD Music Products, the designer and importer of this instrument, is always there for me. He always answers my emails and calls.

I have been playing guitar since 1954 and that's 50 years. I own, and have owned, too many guitars to mention, including Gibsons, Guilds, Fenders, and Gretch guitars. If this guitar were stolen or lost it would be mandatory on my part to replace it. Despite all the trouble with the pickguard/pickup assembly, the assembly, along with its hidden volume dial, is still my favorite feature. I owned a '60s Gibson L7 achtop acoustic that had a floating pickguard/pickup assembly and the volume dial simply got in the way on that model. Although I chose this guitar for its simplicity, at the time of purchase I didn't realize it had a hidden volume dial and it was only after I received the guitar that I realize it had this nice feature. I was looking for a L50 style archtop jazz guitar for a reasonable price and found this wonderfully sounding instrument quite by chance simply after reading an article about it in a trade magazine. It has all the features I required and then some and the sound is simply wonderful.

The newport is a very basic archtop non-cutaway jazz box with a floating pickup. The body is laminate. The adjustable bridge is probably rosewood - it is not a tunomatic style bridge. The instrumnent has a classic sunburst finish. The overall appearance of the guitar is not unlike the instruments played by jazz musicians in the 1930's and 1940's before cutaway instruments became popular. A brown case comes with the instrument. The tuners and other components appear to be top notch. There is no tone control for the pickup. I rated an 8 because of the guitar is not feature rich but it's stark beauty is what attracted me to the instrument to start with.

There is a certain pop in a good jazz insturment's tone that is hard for me to describe - rich, full and mellow without a trace of muddiness. Listen to any Barney Kessal or Johnny Smith album and that sound is there. I am using a Marshall Artist series 12 " tube amp with this guitar and it sounds surprisingly wonderful. With one pickup and no tone guitar on the guitar there is little variation in tone, but the guitar delevers the nice rich jazz tone I was looking for. I only use a little reverb or echo with this instrument.

I've owned two epiphone hollow bodies - one was a late 70;s or early 80's model Emporer and the other was a recent vintage Epiphone dot. The components are much nicer on this guitar and the finish work is much more precise. The fret work is as good as any guitar I have ever played. Overall, there appears to be more attention on this guitar than the other imports I've tried in this jaunra.

The floating pickgaurd is a little fragile. This thing is not built like a Tele to withstand beer bottles and general carelessness. Think acoustic instrument. It appears to be dependable as long as it is used and treated as intended.

Never dealt with the company.

I've played guitar for almost 40 years. I have been through a numerous fenders, gibsons, martins and imports. I bought this guitar mostly for finger style jazz. I was also looking for an instrument to improve my standard notation reading skills. This instrument fits the bill nicely. It's sound and finish are way ahead of the Epiphone Emporer and Dot hollow bodies I've owned in the past. I love the guitar's classic appearance. I was a little puzzled about the floating pickup because the guitar is not carved top instrument, but I think the floater does improve the sound considerably.

This guitar is not feature rich and it would be a stretch to use it for anything but classic jazz styles. I've been looking for something like this for a long long time. I would definitely replace it if 'I lost it. It's tone and feel make it a pleasure to play - and the appearance and finish take me back to my childhood when I used to ponder through my Gibson catalog at the f-hole archtops. If you can find one heavily discounted, the price should be comparable with some of the Epiphone hollow bodies.

Cool your jets guys. This isn't an old original Stromberg, it is the reissue of the name by Larry Davis of W.D. Music Products. They acquired the name and are having the guitar built by "a small manufacturer in Korea". I guess that means it isn't made by Samick. It is however an excellent example of Korean manufacturing. This guitar first appeared in my favorite local shop a year ago in 2001 along with it's sister model, a Montreaux. The Newport is a sunburst, non-cutaway, archtop with a single floating, pickguard attached pickup, adjustable rosewood bridge and a trapeze tailpiece. The Montreaux sister model is a natural finished, single rounded cut-away, archtop with two top mounted pickups, adjustable rosewood bridge and a trapeze tailpiece. There are no switches or tone control knob, only a volume control wheel discretely tucked away under the edge of the pickguard. Here's the general specs according to the Stromberg website:

Multi-Layer Laminated Binding on Body & Neck
Abalone Inlaid Headstocks
Scale Length- 24 3/4"
Neck Radius- 12"
Width at Nut- 1 5/8"
Bout Dimensions: Upper- 11 3/4", Lower- 16 1/2"
Body Depth- 2 7/8"
Sides and Back- Maple
Top- Laminated Spruce

They forgot to mention the pearloid block inlays, ala L-5. Here's the kicker. W.D. Music Products buys the parts here in the US and ships them in a box to the Korean manufacturer. There is almost no out sourcing in Korea. So the single floating pickup is a Kent Armstrong humbucker. The tuners are real Klusons. And the hardware is all gold colored. This is a gorgeous guitar to look at from the front row seating at a club date and it feels fantastic to play. The finish quality is excellent and the back of the neck is nicely rounded and feels very comfortable in my hand. The 1 5/8" nut width is narrower than I would order on a custom guitar, but I can play it easily at the first fret and the Merle Travis, Tommy Emmanuel "thumb on the bass strings" chords work a lot better than they would on a wider neck. Stromberg guitars come with a brown vinyl covered, 5 buckle, hardshell, plush lined case. This guitar is not an L-5, Benedetto, D'Angelico or D'Aquisto; but I couldn't afford a $15,000 to $50,000 guitar and wouldn't take one to a gig if I could. I could easily rate this a "1" due to the lack of bells and whistles, but I'm giving it a 10 because it is everything I want, and more than I could get from a used guitar for 3 times the money after a year of searching for the right archtop.

I play blues, rags, western swing, country, r&b, jazz, Celtic, Fahey, Kottke, Travis, Atkins and a little Eddie Van Halen (just kidding). This guitar works for all of my music. No, it does not have the tonal quality of my Santa Cruz when played accoustically, but through a good clean amp such as my Ashdown Peacemaker 40 or Velocette it has a warm, mellow, well rounded tone. I played this guitar for 10 months in the shop before I brought it home on a two month extended trial basis. The Stromberg loved the Bogner Shiva, Dr. Z Route 66, Hughes & Kettner Pure Sound and other such amps in the shop, but most guitars sound pretty good through a $2,000 to $3,000 amp. I have not tried this guitar through a 6L6 - 6V6 Fender style amp, but I'll bet it would sing through a Deluxe Reverb or Bassman. I've never played though a top quality SS amp such as an Evans, but I expect it would do well since they are one of the finest jazz amps available. The guitar is quiet, but it is a hollow body. When I first plugged it into my Ashdown and forgot that I had the drive channel on with the gain dimed, the feedback was overwhelming and immediately advanced into the physically damaging realm. Hitting the standby switch solved that problem. On the clean channel I have no noise problem, but I don't stand in front of the speaker and play Jimi Hendrix with it either. I love jazz, western swing and blues from the 30's, 40's and 50's. This guitar makes all those sounds very well... mellow clarinet sounds, not harsh screeching sax sounds of the post 1960 era. So far, I've only played at home with it, but that will change soon. I love playing it with my Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Victoria Spivey, Memphis Minnie, Lightning Hopkins, Jimmy Reed records (yeah, vinyl). I also try to keep up with Eldon Shamblin on my "Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys" records and it does that sound well also. If I set the amp very clean, I get very acceptable rags, somewhat like a good accoustic electric, think Taylor 614CE. During the year that I spent looking for an archtop, I played several older ES-175's including one with a Charlie Christian pickup and one with a Johnny Smith, a 10 year old ES-165, several new Epiphone Emperor, Broadway and Joe Pass models, a Hamer Eco-Tone and Jazz model, Ibanez AF-120 and AF-200, a couple Heritage 575's, a Guild X-500 and X-170 Manhattan and a variety of less memorable laminated guitars. The tone from this guitar is as good or better than all of them when played through equally good amps. Obviously a laminated top guitar would not be expected to compare favorably to a carved top, but I think the Stromberg sounds as good as the two floating pickup Heritage Eagles that I played.

W.D. Music Products is a small shop that mainly sells accessories like jackplates, truss rod covers and control knobs to repair shops. They have the time to hand set up each of these guitars and they do an excellent job. The guitars come with La Bella flatwounds, 11's I think. The finish quality is superb and the setup is also. I was in the shop when the Strombergs first came in and they looked and played great right out of the shipping boxes. The action is medium low and there is room with the adjustable rosewood bridge to go up or down. 95% of all guitars arrive from the distributor with the nuts on the tops of the tuning machines loose, these were snug. The wood is plain, but the sunburst finish covers that. The edges are all smooth, the frets are smooth and don't sprout out of the binding, there are no flaws. I have always thought that Hamer set the standard for Korean made guitars, but the quality control on these Strombergs is as good or better. The wood on my Santa Cruz is much more beautiful, but the workmanship on this guitar is flawless, so how can I help but give it a 10.

About 6 months after this guitar arrived in the shop, the volume control wheel disappeared. Since it is a Kent Armstrong pickup, replacement is easy. Does that indicate lack of reliability? I doubt it. Everything seems solid and the guitar is still significantly lighter than many laminated archtops. I have yet to play out with it, but when I do I'll use it without a back up. My Tele or Strat is unlikely work as a backup in a venue where this is the appropriate guitar. I'm giving so many 10's, that I think I'll leave this as "no opinion".

I've never dealt with the company directly. They have a good reputation among music shop owners and repairmen. I never thought about the warranty. I don't expect to have a warranty type problem since I have been playing this guitar off and on for a year, but if I do I'll take it back to the shop where I got it and they'll take care of me. They always have. I'm going to leave this as "no opinion" also.

I've been playing guitars for 48 years. I grew up watching Merle Travis every week. Besides this Stromberg, I presently have a gorgeous Santa Cruz D, a Tele, a Strat, a Fender FR-50 reso, a gorgeous custom DeNeve reso, a near mint 1958 Gibson D-8 Console steel guitar and a Melobar lap steel. I have owned everything from a 1905 Martin 0-28 and a 1947 Martin F-9 archtop to a Chinese knockoff Tele. Amps presently include an Ashdown Peacemaker 40, Trace Elliot Velocette and a Peavey Blazer 158. I spend a lot of time shopping for a guitar. When I started this jazz-box quest, I thought I wanted an ES-335 type guitar. They really didn't do it for me. I didn't find enough tone difference between them and the Strat. Then I got on the full size hollow body kick and there was no turning back. I knew this guitar very well before purchasing it and I kept coming back to it. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy it again. I would also consider an Ibanez, Hamer or a Gibson ES-175 with a single pickup from the 60's or '70's, if the price were right. My dream archtops are Gibson Johnny Smiths and the new Benedetto Guild Artist Awards, but I'm unlikely to have an extra 5 to 7 Grand laying around, so I will stick to the laminated top guitars. By the way, the price I entered is the list price. Starr's guitars regularly gives 25% to 30% discounts, but I'm a regular and a friend so I'm not going to tell you what I really paid, but it was less. I looked at guitars with double pickups mounted in the top, but I really wanted the floating pickup to get what little resonance I could out of a laminated top. The tone from the Kent Armstrong pickup is terrific. Like I said earlier, warm, rounded, full, smooth...like honey in your mouth, and never muddy. I love the sunburst finish, f-holes, pickguard and the lack of cut-away. And ohhhh, the abalone headstock inlay puts everybody elses' headstocks to shame. Click on the website at www.strombergguitars.com and look at these instruments. They are even more beautiful when you get them in your hands to play them. It reminds me of playing guitar when I was a kid in the early 50's. I can pretend I'm playing with Bob Wills, Spade Cooley or Jimmy Wakeley. This Stromberg is a fantastic alternative to the guitars I already have and it is quickly becoming the one I pick up every evening, along with the Melobar lap steel. Larry Davis only makes about 500 guitars a year, so they may be difficult to find, but they are definitely worth the search. Hopefully, you will find them in a small quiet shop with good amps and knowledgeable personnel and not in a Guitar Center with head bangers checking out the overdrive on a full stack 5150.