MARTINRetro Acoustic MTR13 Bluegrass-Gauge Guitar Strings, Tony Rice’s Choice, Monel Nickel

These strings are the only ones I now use on my parlor guitar. They have a very balanced sound and excellent projection.

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.

thank you for great service and products

These are my absolute favorite pair of strings and I just finished a much more expensive brand of monel strings that don’t even sound nearly the same. The more expensive ones sounded like just a pure nickel. Low end muted and lacking sustain like aluminum bronze. These retro monel strings are absolutely the most well rounded ( lol ) string I’ve ever heard at least on my 2008 214ce they have everything in spades. I can dig in and they respond balanced and punchy but no overtone distortions and very responsive on quiet pieces. Best strings I’ve ever played.I can’t find anything negative other than I play my guitar so much more now I’m replacing these once a month.

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.

I used to use DR Zebras and would probably still be using them except I can't get them anymore. I've tried several different strings since, and these Martin monels are now my new choice for my Godin A6 Ultra, my main gigging guitar. They have great balanced tone with the kind of brightness that you need for electric-acoustics along with sounding good through the magnetic p/u, and they're easier on my fingers than the D'Addario nickel bronze, which also had good tone on my A6. One set of these gets me through 3 3-hour outdoor gigs if I clean them carefully, which is about what I got from the Zebras. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get Zebras again, but if they become available, I'll have to A-B them against the Retros and see who wins.

Put these on my Martin d35, good chance I will use them on all of acoustics. Highly recommended

So much better than the overwhelming trebly overtones of phosphor bronze. Warm, rich, allows the natural tone of the guitar to do its thing.

I thought I would give these Martin Retros a try, loading up my strings as I have been doing for 55 years I have never had a string break instantly from the ball end as you can see in the picture I wasn't even near tuning it up to High E when it snapped right at the ball end, I put them on my TakamineG series which has a very nice feed-through bridge so there's no strain or bend on the string, down through the years we all tend to break strings but I have never had a string break right at the ball. I do not find these strings very bright in fact I'm a bit hesitant to strum hard, they feel cheap. I don't like to give negative reviews I try to find some positiveness in most products but Martin& Co. WHATS GOING ON

I like these strings for all of the above reasons.I like every guitarist i have met HATE changing strings which has to be done regularly because sweaty fingers are acidic and cause corrosion which along with dirt increases mass and kills tone.The pure nickel winding on a tinned steel core do not electrically react with each other.The first set i used i changed after six weeks,only to find the new set sounded the same-i had changed them too soon.I do not like the fact that extra care must be taken when putting them on because the round steel core means the outer winding can loose tension if they are trimmed before a good amount of tension is applied to the string.The outer winding can slip and kill tone.Why martin do this i do not know,all of their other strings are wound on a hexagonal core.A good string that lasts ages and at a good price,what's not to like?

I've tried a lot of different strings on my hummingbird. Didarios (all types) are always clattery and metallic. John Pearce nickels are too wooly.These are just right; a nice bit of twang and sparkly, with plenty of bass and depth. I've put them of 3 different guitars (Gibson, Taylor, Cort) and they are just by far the be best sounding strings on all of them.I almost feel obliged to buy a Martin guitar, given how good their strings are ;)

These seemed like a fitting string for an Epiphone Masterbilt Deluxe Classic. The strings had not been changed from new. After fitting there was a lot of fret buzz on the lower strings and I needed to raise the bridge significantly to compensate. The guitar seems to have significantly less headroom now, and no new standout tones. Perhaps they’ll settle in and I’ll be impressed by the longevity but so far, underwhelmed - don’t think I’ll buy again.

The feel takes a little getting used to, but the sound is pleasantly mellow and I like it. I marked it 5 for brightness which means that they are not actually that bright, but are correct for the brightness I wanted for them. I will try these on other guitars. I normally buy Martin bronze strings, but I may swap to these completely if they suit all my guitars and simply use up the bronze ones I have in the house, apart from a set just in case.