New Martin Magnifico M265 strings?

[gmr]

Has anyone tried the new string sets from Martin, the M165 and M265? They are a nylgut string made by Aquila to Martin’s specs, if my assumptions are correct. I cannot find information on the Normal Tension M265 set. But it sounds like the high tension M165 set does indeed have pretty high tension. The highest tension strings I have used so far have been Savarez 520r high tension set. The only others I have used have been the normal Savarez 520r, D’Addario EJ45, Labella Folk, and La Bella 2001 Mediums. I am not sure which of these new Martin sets to try. So far the La Bella 2001 seems to be my favorites, though I am liking the high tension 520R set as well. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the tone and feel of these new Martin Strings.

[gmr]

I stopped in my local guitar shop at lunch today. They had just received some of these M265 strings, so I will be able to get a firsthand sampling of these new Martin strings. I am hoping they will sound really great, especially if I can buy them at my local shop. My go to strings have lately been LaBella 2001 but I have to drive over to the closest GC to get those.

[MCDEMO1]

The small shops in my area do not carry Martin nylon strings. The GCs only have the ball end version of the Magnifico (160 & 260 designations).

I'm going to order some of the high tension on-line because they are supposed to sound very good on Martin long scale (26.44") 000C nylon string guitars.

Mark

[gmr]

I finally got around to putting these new strings on my little Córdoba C5. The trebles seem to be settling in very quickly. They feel thinner and higher in tension than my usual “normal tension” nylon string sets. The specs show these strings to have 95.3 lbs tension total. The high tension version is 102.8. Martin does not say what they used as a scale length to measure the tensions. If they used the longer scale length of their latest 000 nylon string guitar, the overall tension on a 650mm scale would be slightly less. The tension does feel substantial under my fingers, on my 650 scale guitar. They also seem to have a bit of a rectified feel but they look shiny and are not noisy/scratchy sounding. In short, they feel really nice to me. Tonally they are a bit different in a pleasing way, to my ears. I have not played them enough to determine if I like these better than standard nylon strings but so far they are quite promising. After two days, these strings are settling in nicely even though I haven’t played them a whole bunch. Still having to bring them up to pitch when I started to play yesterday evening, but just a little. Even though these strings are normal tension, they are noticeably higher tension than other strings I normally play. They are almost the same tension as Savarez Corum New Cristal strings. The trebles are noticeably smaller in diameter, gray in color, and have a nice tactile feel to them. Very solid feeling strings. As a primarily steel string player, the treble strings feel more familiar to my fingers than typical nylon string sets. I have another set to put on my Esteso when it is ready for a string change. I think that guitar will be more telling than my C5...