I have a carved Eastman with F holes. I always use 13's on it. I've used Newtone, Martin Retro monel, Ernie Ball aluminum bronze (I do like their twanginess) and Curt Mangan roundcore monels.
I also have a Kent Armstrong floating neck pickup, and a twin head JJB passive piezo under the soundboard. Wired to a TRS jack I run a short TRS cable to a Baggs Mixpro. I blend the two pickups or go all piezo or mag, but I usually play unplugged too.
They're all pretty good, but overall I favor the Mangan strings. Monel is good with the magnetic pickup when I do plug in.
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