Review : Martin RETRO Monel Strings

While I await the delivery of the Curt Mangan strings I wrote about recently, I was in my local guitar store The Arts Music Store, which is a very dangerous practice in my case and saw on sale a Martin D-35. I know this guitar reasonably well. It has been in the acoustic room for some time and as consequence, suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous test players. Meaning, she has a few life marks on her. Does this affect the tone? Not to me, but the strings on it, D'Addario somethings had reached the level of dead. As happens there was a bit of corrosion on the frets, and the guitar has been handled a lot. I have always wanted a D-35, but not so much as to pay full pop for one. I am also not so disciplined as to put all my guitar dollars away until Black Friday sales events. 

I told the Manager, that I was interested in the guitar and he agreed to let me try it out for a couple of days and if I was not happy could return it. I thanked him and they put it in a loaner case and also told me that they could have it restrung. Since I am rather picky, I asked to do that myself, since I knew I wanted to check the neck, and do a basic setup as well as polish the frets as well as clean and oil the fingerboard. I enjoy this kind of work, so with some Tony Rice playing in the background, got out my maintenance table and kit and went to work.

The strings that I selected were the Martin Retro Acoustic Monel series 12-54. They stretched in nicely and tuned up quickly and have held tune very well. As these are Monel wrapped steel (Nickel/Copper alloy) they are silver coloured instead of bronze coloured. As I mentioned in another post, Monel strings sound different than regular 80/2 or Phosphor Bronze strings. They are also naturally corrosion resistant, which is an important thing for me.

I have to admit, that initially I was not enthused. The D35 didn't have that powerful bottom end or upper midrange punch that I was used to with rosewood bodied, spruce topped bodies. The grain on the top is very widely spaced, suggesting Adirondack versus the documented Sitka spruce and there is plenty of top movement ability. As I sat and played however, I started to notice tones that I had never really heard before. The Monel strings reduce the impact of pick attack (I only fingerpick or use thick V-Picks) and are very neutral sounding. As a consequence, I hear a wider tonal palette, with more delicacy than I have in more traditional string choices. After several hours, I am looking forward to getting the Mangan strings that I ordered for my Gibson L4C arch top.

I am told that Monel strings handle amplification well. The D35 has no built in pickup, although if I buy it, I will install one at some point. The L4C has a Kent Armstrong pickup mounted to the end of the neck that I installed some years ago and once restrung, I will try that out through my acoustic amp rig.

The Monel strings feel different to the traditional strings as well. The high E and B are plain steel, but the rest are Monel wound strings. The guitar is not as loud as with the strings that were on it, but there is more clarity in the quieter tones. It took a bit of getting used to, but I am very impressed by these strings. I am not habitually a fan of Martin strings, but these are different. I do notice that my other acoustics, strung more traditionally, are louder and boomier. We will see what transpires, but I may end up transitioning my larger body acoustics to this different string structure. You might consider trying a set yourself.

Have a great day and keep on playing.