Gibson '48 L4 strings
 

I need some advice on a set of strings for a '48 acoustic L4. I know this is personal preference but there must be a fairly common "go to" string set. I'm thinking D'adario 12-53's phosphor bronze but that's what I use on my other acoustics. Is there a good preference for archtop acoustic? Flat wound, round, elect., nickel, 80/20's, ??? thanks, huckster

Many people here on the Archtop Forum have been extolling the virtues of the Martin Monel Retros, which are nickel. I plan to try those when I get my first archtop. If you like D'Addario (I do as well on flatops) you may also try the Nickel Round Wounds in its product line.

The Nickel Bronze is their equivalent to the Martin Monels...

My favorites were the ernie ball aluminum bronze strings. They added a nice overtone shimmer to my archtop. Sadly I can't buy them locally so I just use EB 80/20 Lights. I can buy them in my local pharmacy, of all places.

12-53s are fine.

I suggest John Pearse Pure Nickel Acoustic-Electric (960L or 2700) or John Pearse 80/20 200L strings.

While you might be able to get away with them on an Eastman - especially if you're going to doing Gypsy jazz exclusively - IME you don't want to go any lighter than 13-56 on a pre-1970 archtop regardless of maker. The physics of archtop vibration are very different from those of a flattop - piston vs. torsional force - and given their intended use as unamplified comp boxes driving four-to-the-bar behind a 20-piece horn section, you're going to need a heavier string to adequately drive the top and bring out its best; bear in mind that you're also dealing with a short-scale instrument (24-3/4" vs. 25-1/2" for the 17"/18" boxes, as well as their Epiphone competitors), and even if you've never done so before I'd strongly recommend building up your stamina on a set of 13's, with an eye toward stepping up to 14's down the line - you'll be surprised just how much more tone/volume you'll get when you're set up to original factory specs... :guitar:

I'm pretty sure the Martin Monel Retros are monel steel. Through a magnetic pickup, just as with bronze strings, the string balance of the Monel Retros is not good. The plain strings are way louder than wound ones. For magnetic pickups, nickel strings balance much more evenly. I should mention that acoustically, the Monel Retros sound fantastic on an archtop.

Actually we are both partly right. :) It is not pure nickel but mostly nickel with other alloys.

The Wikipedia definition of Monel is:

"Monel is a group of nickel alloys, primarily composed of nickel (up to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon."

Interesting... They sure sound good acoustically, but again, monel is the wrong choice for a guitar equipped with a magnetic pickup. Regardless of whether or not monel contains nickel, in terms of string balance, the difference between Martin Monel Retros and D'Addario nickel wound XL's is stark.