Martin Monel Retro Strings

[Grantgreen42]

I owned a Martin D18 years ago and the best sounding strings after lots of experimentation was Martin Monels 13s. I happened to have a set of them on hand today and restrung my D'angelico with them. Keep in mind I am a die hard Thomastik Infeld 13s flat wound guy. The only reason I did the change was just to experiment and I wanted to use the guitar acoustically a little bit more. Anyway I was very shocked at how good it sounded not only acoustically but plugged into my Henriksen Bud.

Here is how it sounds acoustically:
https://youtu.be/P0-Nz6UfWKU

Plugged In:
https://youtu.be/cKfv5tOO8J8

[Steve DeRosa]

Don't know how you feel about it, but I'd stay with the Monels and never look back; you might also want to repost this on the Archtop subforum - there's a bunch of folks over there who'd be very interested...

[beatcomber]

Being primarily an electric player, I've often thought that monels were "the flatwounds of the acoustic guitar world."

[musicman1951]

Beautiful sound. It's nice when a plan comes together - even an accidental plan.

[1Charlie]

And monels are under $10 a set!

[zoopeda]

Agreed. They sound amazing on the right guitars. (LOVE them on most mahogany backed guitars.) And they last FOREVER. I've found some rosewood to be seemingly allergic to them, but they have become my favorite string for my D-18 and 000-15SM, hands down.

[Teleplucker]

I use them all the time on my guitars

[AgentKooper]

I love them. I use them on all my guitars -- even the rosewood one. They sound the best to my ears, and they last longer than any other strings I've tried. I occasionally throw on a set of PBs just for the sake of variety, but I always go back to the monels. I've started using them on my mandolin too -- same results.

[mr. beaumont]

For an archtop that has a decent acoustic sound but that you also want to play electrically, Monels are the bees knees.

[beatcomber]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

For an archtop that has a decent acoustic sound but that you also want to play electrically, Monels are the bees knees.

I've been itching to try monels on my '64 Kay Speed Demon.

(Right now, it's strung with .011 Thomastik flatwounds.)

[Goodallboy]

Every guitar is different and with that clearly stated, my experience may or may not be relevant.

I tried one set of Monels on my McCollum and they were warm and "woody".

That lasted about a week and then they faded into mush.

[jricc]

Love the Monels/Retros on my Rainsong.

[gmr]

My favorite strings.

[Coler]

They're my preference too. I love the custom lights on my 000 and I'm going to try those on the dreadnought next (currently carrying retro .12s).

[redir]

Originally Posted by 1Charlie

And monels are under $10 a set!

And they seem to last forever too.