Martin Authentic Acoustic Guitar Strings, Flexible-Core MA130FX 92/8 Phosphor Bronze

This may help someone looking at these strings:I have a Martin Custom D (I believe it's basically a D-15 with a spruce top) that I bought a couple years ago as my lifetime guitar. I haven't even changed the strings on it yet, but they were getting old and grungy so it was time. I think they were Martin PB mediums. They sounded great, but I thought they were a tad high on tension and thickness. I play electric too so I prefer slightly lighter strings.I decided to give these Silk and Phosphor custom 11 Martins a try. Stringing them was a breeze as I could right away tell they were thinner and more flexible than the original strings. I could tell right away my Custom D lost plenty of volume. From the first chord I finger picked, I was a bit disappointed in the loss of volume and presence. I would be embarrassed to play my guitar in a bluegrass jam with these strings.On the other hand, for practicing around the house and fingerpicking, they are pretty dreamy. I would imagine to move up to the next gauge in these silk and phosphors would help bring up the volume a good bit. They also retain the guitar's natural sound profile, so playing is still a pleasure. The bass is drastically reduced but the mids and treble tones are still there. The guitar has lost some of that signature Martin ring and bass , but I know I can always get it back if I swap back to regular PBs. These strings definitely make my Martin sound a bit more like a Taylor strung with Elixirs, if anyone is interested, which I know most will not be. But it's good to know I can experiment and get different sounds out of the same guitar. For the price, these are worth a try and I have no regrets, especially as practice strings!Just thought I'd update this review: as these strings aged , they actually got better. I swapped them off my Custom D and onto a Martin OM-15. They lost any brightness but they still have a great fundamental tone. They sound close to Martin monel strings now. I still love them and they're getting dark with age but still ring true and sound amazing. Great value!

After trying smaller gauge strings on my Epiphone acoustic/electric, this set ended up being the perfect gauge for this guitar. The flexible core on the wound strings seems to make the action easier.

These strings are not for every guitar. But, if you get them on the right one, they are wonderful. If your guitar has a top that is very responsive to lighter gauge strings, these are awesome. They feel great on the fingers and strum beautifully. If you are an aggressive strummer they may not be for you either, but if you can control your dynamics they're great. I recently put these on a carbon fiber topped guitar and they absolutely sing and are a joy to play.

These strings have an excellent "soft" hand, similar to Savarez Argentines, and work perfectly for fingerpicking my old Martin M-38 sans fingerpicks. I prefer this type of string because I don't use this guitar to play out anywhere and since I only play it solo I don't need a lot of volume. The flex core is easy on my old hands, and they hold their tune very well. Only downside is they don't last long and are kind of pricey.

I've played the Martin Silk-N-Steel strings for years on my Blueridge Custom Shop acoustic cutaway electric guitar. When Martin came out with the 92/8 Phosphor Bronze Flexible Core MA130FX I tried a set and have been playing these ever since. I like the tone and playability of these strings. I don't like the brighter sounds of most strings and really like the tones of the silk and steel strings. My personal preference. I lean towards the blues and jazz tones. I change strings fairly often, as soon as the intonation hints that it's going out. I play from one end of the neck to the other end and enjoy a finely tuned instrument. I play thru a Laney A1 acoustic amp tied to a pedal board with a SuperNatural Reverb and Hall of Fame Reverb pedal, a Boss delay, Bodyrez pedal, 10 band EQ, Spark Booster, a tuner and a Diamond Kill Switch Plus along with a good clean abundant supply of power. The 10 band EQ allows me to tighten-up the low end and tame the upper high frequencies as the middle of the EQ is flat. All of this combined with the Martin strings gives me a tone that sounds great when playing live or recording.

I finger pick and these feel so playable. High quality, pretty warm for the gauge. Easy to bend. Highly recommend.

These strings sound amazing on my Alvarez and they last a long time. They bend pretty well too. I ordered more, then got ALS and now I have to sell my guitars. I highly recommend these strings. The best I've ever owned.

Great product