Retro Monels on Eastman AR810
 

I have an all acoustic non cutaway 810 archtop. I had been following string suggestions and followed up by getting medium Retro Monels for mine. I had a hard time getting the kind of sound out of it with other strings. I want to say thanks for the advice, I find the Retro's a really, really good fit for this guitar. I had been wanting to sell it but now I'm thinking it's a keeper. Weird, I know, but it seemed to have a harsh sound with the bronze strings, but now it's warmer sounding. More like I imagined an archtop sounding like. Unfortunately, I'm not all that good at playing jazz but I can play through the chord progressions pretty well and it does sound nice, but it also seems to sound nice playing country and old timey gospel stuff which I do play a lot of.
Anyway, just a shout out for the good advice.

I've had the same positive experience with the Retros as you though I'm using light gauge on my old Gretsch Model 35 acoustic archtop. The strings give the guitar a warm and full sound not shrill like with PBs.

- and people say that archtops lack versatility... :rolleyes:

Agreed, they were traditionally played with all kinds of music.