MARTINRetro Acoustic MM12 Light-Gauge Guitar Strings, Monel Nickel

These are by far the best acoustic guitar strings I have ever tried. Very easy on the fingers without sacrificing sound quality. Wish I had found these earlier.

These simply do everything I want... I've been searching for these strings for years... or I should say, I've been searching for this sound. I didn't know these existed until a few months ago.These just sound "round" to put it simply. The sound is just straight up thicc... chompky... lorge... or whatever the internet has come up with to avoid the word "fat." They're all that and a bag of apples...Trying to explain tone through the internet is pointless... just buy some if you're looking for anything other than the clanky janky standard acoustic sound. Some people love that sound, but I hate nothing more than fresh phosphor-bronze or 80/20 strings and some of them take WEEKS to get decent... breaking strings was a terrible event because it meant breaking in new strings and I always dreaded breaking them.These just sound good out of the box and get better with time. The biggest thing I've found with these other than their unique depth of tone is that I can make them "growl" when stumming hard and sliding. It's like a very fast subtle growl that's almost like a dirty slide guitarish kind of thing. I play with a lot of string/finger lube and slide a TON, I don't lift my fingers much and these fit that style like a dream. This not that shrieking sound from dragging fingers... it's a very low growl that I haven't actually figured out how to reproduce consistently yet but it just happens when I'm feeling good.I've tried all sorts of picks (do this asap if you've never done it) and my "go to" is still tortex yellow standard picks. I also have several other styles of picks in yellow like the Jazz 3XLs (my very close 2nd fav). Seriously... spend $30 on every pick variety pack on Amazon... you don't realize how wild the difference is and your sound may just be hiding in your choice of pick.I'm rambling... but the picks are relevant here because with these strings NONE of the 30ish different picks sound bad. Not one... they might not be what I'm looking for, but all picks still sound good with these strings. More traditional acoustic strings tend to sound like absolute garbage if you don't have the right pick... so with all that said, I think it's safe to assume these strings just sound better overall than anything else I've tried over the last 15 years. This is the first time I'm buying more than 1 pack of the same strings in at least 5-6 years.

Retros win, review done.

I've read in multiple places that these Retro stings do especially nicely on smaller body guitars. I can confirm with my Yamaha CSF1M Parlor, which I also purchased here on AMZN. I went thru all the other major brands, Ex, EB, D'A... both PB and 80/20 and they all seemed to sound a bit "boomy", oil can like and unfortunately lacked the "depth" of this supposedly good instrument compared to its full size brothers. These Retro's completely changed the tone and sound of the guitar. They are loud, clear and have a wonderful warm sound. I bought the extra-lights which I will admit still feel "heavier" perhaps compared to other brands' EL's, so I wouldn't say they're beginner-friendly. BTW, I also have a bone bridge so that may be part of the total sound improvement but it was installed many strings ago before these Retros. So, give them a try. For the price, you can't go wrong and will at least experience what other materials can offer for your instrument and style of playing. Also, being nickel these are not your typical bronze/yellow strings, so depending on guitar "colors", frets, rosette, etc. they may end up looking great on your guitar as it does on my Yamaha parlor, which has silver/metallic accents everywhere, making these strings look awesome with guitar details.Edit: Still sounds amazing after 2 months of moderate playing and no issues. Now tried them on Yamaha APX600FM thin-bodied guitar and wow...they make that guitar just explode with beautiful clear full tones and sound so much bigger than the guitar actually is. and yes, they do sound great plugged in just the same!! This is now my Strings for all my smaller bodied guitars.

Good Price Very happy with purchase

Nice old style strings! Bright sound and play easy!

Sounds great!

I’m thrilled with these bluegrass strings! They’ve brought newfound tone to every guitar I’ve put them on. I’ve put them on two acoustics, a twelve string and two semi hollow electric guitars. A little bridge modification on the acoustic guitars and , WOW! What tones and twang! My guitars have found a new voice and have come alive! I have had three people inquire and have shared the info of my find. Very happy with these strings!🎶🎵🎶🎶