As we documented in , he has a unique place in rock ’n’ roll history. A fledgling guitar maker and modder, he started touring with The Rolling Stones in 1972 as ‘guitar tuner’ and in conjunction with Keith Richards created a five-string open G-tuned electric that featured in many Stones shows during the early to mid‐’70s. Ted developed the design and, with initial funding from Keith, set up shop in Austin later in the ’70s where he and a small team began making guitars for local players and plenty of rock stars.
Ted passed away in 2016, but prior to this current Newman owner, Jeff Smith, worked with him to digitise the design, which Ted approved. Since then, Jeff has worked with numerous boutique makers to produce very limited versions of the modern Newman design and in 2023 started work with Cream T to co-produce a range of Newman models made here in the UK by Auden Musical Instrument Company. Cream T owner, Tim Lobley, wanted to start this new part of the Newman story with the unique electric five‐string you see here.
As you’d expect, compared with the pair of prototypes we played earlier in the year, the finished Newman 5 String looks and feels like a proper guitar should. This first run of just 12 instruments shares the same specification and there are no options: what you see is what you get. There’s an obvious Fender-like construction style, but the scale length is 628mm (24.
75 inches), not the longer 648mm (25.5 inches) you might expect. As with an .