MARTIN Titanium Core Light-Tension Nickel Strings

They are silver strings that almost look like electric guitar strings, they sound amazing as you’d expect from Martin, but 12’s are the heaviest you will find from this particular string. I’ll probably go back to my 13’s. I’m used to heavier strings

À ce prix-là, je pensais qu’elles allaient sonner un peu mieux. Mais le pire, c’est qu’après trois mois d’utilisation quotidienne, l’entourage de la corde de sol s’est coupé sur une frette, et je me suis planté un petit morceau de métal dans le doigt. Première fois qu’un truc comme ça m’arrive ! Bref… Expérience et prix douloureux !

These strings sound incredible. The projection, and clarity, of the wound strings is the best I’ve ever heard in 40+ years of playing. I was concerned with some of the reviewers experiencing breakages, but haven’t had that issue (yet?). In all fairness, I do tune to Eb, and capo the first fret. This provides for lower string tension, and slight better action, on the first few frets. If I don’t suffer any breakage myself, these will be my main acoustic strings from here on out. They’re that good.

*UPDATE – I love them even more 6 months later. They play/feel/sound like broken in strings, without the crud.

I’ll spare the “I’ve tried every other string and THESE are the best” because I haven’t, and they’re not. You might get better sound out of a set of Veritas at once. You will get better playability out of a set of Elixirs. You’ll pay a better price for D’Addario.

But, if you’re like me and your hands melt strings, or you’re looking for a more nuanced, clear sound, and you want a set of strings you won’t have to change, these are your best bet. I have a nasty habit of corroding bronze strings, so the material in these strings was an absolute godsend. They worked well on both my Breedlove 6-string and my Ibanez fanned-fret. The low gauge is a 55, so they can hold a really nice fat, low sound that I like. As long as Martin keeps making them, I will continue to buy them.

I bought these strings because the phosphor bronze strings blacken my fingers and I can taste metal after a short practice session. Titanium as you may not know, is used in replacement parts in the Human body, hips, knees and pins. because it doesn’t react with Human fluids.. Also, Raw Titanium is a 6 on the MoHs hardness scale and is as hard as soft steel with about half of the mass. Titanium as drawn wire is not expensive and can be purchased to be used as strings on the Web. Also as wire as it crystallizes it forms a six sided wire. Imagine then my disappointment to learn that the ‘B’ and higher ‘E’ string are only steel.
I found the strings to be somewhat muted compared to Phosphor Bronze as to the sound produced on my Martin acoustic guitar. In spite of this, the sound sis not consistent across the higher neck scale. The 10 thru 13th fret on the E string had the same G note In short order the E string broke. When I went back to nickel wrapped strings they did not do this. I found the sustain on a note to be less than the Phosphor strings and is suited to relatively fast playing. The strings are listed as ‘light’, but they are heavy in their thickness, your finger tips had better be ‘worn in’ or you will feel it after a longer practice. I did notice some blackening on my fingers after a first use. All this being said, I don’t know why a 6-7 dollar set of Ernie Ball nickel wrapped strings wouldn’t be as suitable. In general I am disappointed. I will see how they hold up to both my skin and skin oil type and how long they last compared to other strings. After some use I will make an update to my eval. At this time I cannot justify buying them because of the general $40 dollar cost.
Update: The high E and D string broke with only moderate playing. Also when it broke it was not being played and had not been played for maybe half an hour. I hate it but I am going to go back to the old blacken the fingers type of strings. I feel these strings are barely adequate. This has earned them a solid 1 star rating both for the expense and their failure.