[jaymen]

Have been using Martin Marquis 80/20 12s on my acoustic archtops for decades as they also work great on my dreadnoughts. I like the silked ends because they protect the tailpiece from damage.

Have tried using flat wound bronze, and flat would nickle strings on my acoustic archtops, but they are really dead and lack good volume and tone.

GC always has good prices on Martin strings so I buy them in a case of 12 if I can. Once a guitar is set-up for a certain brand and gauge of strings, I am loathe to change because that means having to re-set the action and intonation. In my experience, it can take several days for an instrument to move and adjust itself to a different gauge/tension of string so I do not like to change brand and gauge once I find a set of strings I like.

I like to change only one or two strings at a time, use graphite on the nut slot and bridge saddle slots, and clean the mung off the fingerboard using Naphtha/Ronsons.

One exception to this is my '05 Epi Regent which has TI flat Swing Series 11s. The 17" body compensates a little for the tone/volume loss, and the TIs seem to not fall off as much in tone as round wounds, but then again, they don't start out new with that much tone. The reason behind using them is to get better amplified tone when using my Blues Jr. For Jazz and oldies, I use a 12AT7 in the second pre-amp position instead of a 12AX7. This lowers the gain and gives that nice Jazz tone.

Jay