MARTINRetro Acoustic MM12 Light-Gauge Guitar Strings, Monel Nickel

I just found my new favorite resonator guitar string. Retro is right. These sound like someone showed up at the crossroads, retuned my guitar, sprinkled some sugar on it, handed it back to me, and served up some of the sweetest slide blues tones imaginable. Whoo! These are worth every penny and more. Not only do they sound like authentic old school blues, they also look and feel amazing!

These strings make you a better player. I swear. I will never buy another acoustic guitar string, again. So good it is unbelievable. Of course, you need to be able to play the guitar to make them sound good.

Sound and play well.

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.

Martin Retro Acoustic MM12 Light-Gauge Monel NickelI have never been a big fan of Martin strings, but I like these!4 stars - and not sure I've ever had a 5-star set of strings.I'm realizing more and more that strings are a pairing with your specific guitar. Also, the tone is a matter of personal subjective taste. So, the most honest thing I can say is that these seem to pair nicely with my Takamine. They have a clean, crisp and balanced tone. Not overly warm or bright - just somewhere in the middle with a nice balance. They also seem to settle in nicely and almost sound better after about a week or so. They tune up nicely and hold their tune and last longer than standard bronze. I play a mix of finger-style and flat pick and these strings are versatile enough to accommodate both well.Every so often I go through a phase where I try a bunch of new strings, or re-visit brands with new offerings. Most of the time I'm not surprised by anything; usually only confirms my previous thoughts. These Monel strings, though, have been a pleasant surprise and I think I'll be coming back to them.

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.

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.

Retros win, review done.