I'm trying Martin Luxe Kovar strings

[dwasifar]

I got an email from Martin touting their new Luxe strings, wound with Kovar. Kovar is an alloy mostly of iron and cobalt, which was originally developed to have the same thermal expansion properties as borosilicate glass, to use in bonding metal fittings or electrodes to lab glass or electronic tubes. I don't know what possessed Martin to think of it for strings, but they did have to license the patent rights from Ernie Ball because of Ball's cobalt string line.

But I digress. The email promised my Monday back if I were not satisfied. So I figure I can't lose; either it's a typo and I get my money back, or it isn't and I get a three day weekend. I ordered a set in 13-56, pricey at $20. They arrived a week and a half ago, and I waited as long to put them on as my curiosity would allow because I had just restrung recently. But finally I could not bear the wait anymore, and removed a still-perfectly-good set of DR Sunbeams from my Taylor 710 to restring with Luxe. Why the Taylor and not the Guild, I hear you ask? Because I have thousands of hours playing the Taylor and I'm most familiar with it.

So here are my first impressions, pro and con. Usually I start with Pro but this time for no particular reason I'll start with Con.

Cons:

• They are ugly. This is subjective, I know, and they're not the only gray strings on the market; Martin has Monel and D'Addario has NB and they look the same as these. And appearance should not matter. I'm trying very hard not to let myself care about that.
• Their tuning stability seems a little fussy, and they bind in the nut more than I'm used to - more "ping" when tuning.
• Martin promised lower tension and easier fretting, and I'm not seeing that. In fact the string feel might be a tad bit more coarse than I'm used to, but it's so slight, it could be my imagination.
• Tone is a little brasher than I would like, but they're new, so I'll revisit that in a week and report how they've settled in.

Pros:

• They have great dynamics. Some comparison is useful here. I've used a lot of different strings on this guitar, but the ones I've spent the most time with are DR Sunbeam, D'Addario EJ, and Martin SP, all phosphor bronze. Sunbeams are soft but sweet; D'Addarios are loud and jangly; Martin SP is between them. It's hard to play the Sunbeams loud without bottoming them out, but they're great for soft and gentle stuff. It's hard not to play the D'Addarios loud; they are just a loud, forward string, and a Taylor dread is a loud, forward guitar. These Luxe strings are giving me the best of both worlds in this regard. If you back off on them, they sound nice and react well, but you don't have to wham on them to get volume. It's actually quite cool to have that range available so easily.
• They have excellent tone balance on this guitar. In fact, I have never heard the bass so strong on this instrument, with any string. They might not work for every instrument but they work really well for this one. My particular style has me frequently hitting a single bass note on the E or A string between chords for accent, and as you might imagine, with a Taylor's tone balance that single hit note is often not very prominent. With these strings, it stands out as it should.
• Resistance to sliding is slightly less than PBs. I find I hit my target more consistently when sliding a chord up the neck.
• In most other regards they play and feel like PBs.

I think the pros mostly outweigh the cons here. These are first impressions, but let's see how they settle in.

 

[F30]

Thanks for the in depth review, I'm sure others will be curious as I am to their tone and feel.
Let us know how the finish on the strings change as you use them. At $20 many may steer clear.
Do they tarnish fast or stay pretty new looking?

 

[GGJaguar]

Hopefully they last a long time for $20.

 

[dwasifar]

Thanks for the in depth review, I'm sure others will be curious as I am to their tone and feel.
Let us know how the finish on the strings change as you use them. At $20 many may steer clear.
Do they tarnish fast or stay pretty new looking?

Well, the plain strings are tinned steel, same as ordinary Martin SP, so I imagine those two will age like any other plain string. The wound strings are gray, which I predict will conceal dirt better than a PB would.

 

[chazmo]

Is that TRC upside-down?

 

[dwasifar]

Is that TRC upside-down?

Nope, that's how Taylor does it. Did I miss a joke here?

 

[GGJaguar]

Did I miss a joke here?

I think he's looking at the TRC through Guilded lenses.

 

[chazmo]

Nope, that's how Taylor does it. Did I miss a joke here?

Yup, what GG said.

I realize looking at your TRC, though, that it actually looks upside down to me because the bottom of the bell seems to have the outline of the crown of the headstock.

 

[plaidseason]

Yup, what GG said.

I realize looking at your TRC, though, that it actually looks upside down to me because the bottom of the bell seems to have the outline of the crown of the headstock.

This is almost turning into a theology discussion.

 

[chazmo]

Hahaha! Tell me I'm wrong!!!

 

[Bill Ashton]

Not a "Taylor guy," so I may not be attuned...wrong word, but you get the idea...to the "Taylor sound and feel," but I would think that Taylors are designed with the Elixer-string sound in mind...or were?

I find that my Guilds "like" DR's, D'Addario's (not NB), Rotosound, LaBella PB and sometimes GHS; my D55 will "accept" Elixers. My H&D's each have their own "appetite," the Pilgrim likes Martin Monels, D'Addario Nickel Bronze and will tolerate D'Addario PB; my DS loves GHS Vintage Bronze (they just do not last long) and is pretty good with D'Addario XT, EXP and PB. I am thinking that we will see that D'Addario XT's may become the new "standard" D'Addario string...not coated, but different from the regular PB's, y'all should try some (@West R Lee )

As Martin has introduced the new Kovar sets, I will suspect these new formula strings sound great on a Martin or Martin-like guitar, for others YMMV. I will definately look for a set to try on the Pilgrim. Thanks for making us aware!

 

[Bill Ashton]

Yup, what GG said.

I realize looking at your TRC, though, that it actually looks upside down to me because the bottom of the bell seems to have the outline of the crown of the headstock.

Maybe the wood grain would align better? (Runs and ducks for cover, LOL)

 

[dwasifar]

Not a "Taylor guy," so I may not be attuned...wrong word, but you get the idea...to the "Taylor sound and feel," but I would think that Taylors are designed with the Elixer-string sound in mind...or were?

I find that my Guilds "like" DR's, D'Addario's (not NB), Rotosound, LaBella PB and sometimes GHS; my D55 will "accept" Elixers. My H&D's each have their own "appetite," the Pilgrim likes Martin Monels, D'Addario Nickel Bronze and will tolerate D'Addario PB; my DS loves GHS Vintage Bronze (they just do not last long) and is pretty good with D'Addario XT, EXP and PB. I am thinking that we will see that D'Addario XT's may become the new "standard" D'Addario string...not coated, but different from the regular PB's, y'all should try some

As Martin has introduced the new Kovar sets, I will suspect these new formula strings sound great on a Martin or Martin-like guitar, for others YMMV. I will definately look for a set to try on the Pilgrim. Thanks for making us aware!

I don't know if it's completely accurate to assume that the strings that come with the guitar are necessarily what it was "designed for." When I first bought this guitar many moons ago, I used Elixirs for years from this exact logic - "it's what the guitar was built with" - but eventually I started using other kinds and found I liked them better. Taylors still come with Elixir, but I suspect that is mainly so the instruments will have fresh-sounding strings in the showroom, not because they are necessarily best suited overall. When Taylor started using Elixir they were pretty much the only game in town for coated strings, so my guess is they just have a long term deal with Elixir and continue to use them. Granted this is all speculation. Maybe I should write to Taylor and ask.

Similarly, I think it would be a stretch to conclude that the new Martin strings (or any other variety of Martin strings) will always match with any Martin guitar, although I'll go along with you partway and say Martin probably tested them mainly on their own guitars, so the chances of a good match are probably higher.

Also I must point out that D'Addario XTs are coated. But they don't feel like it. Coated strings have come a long way since the early Elixir Polywebs, which felt like they'd been dipped in glue. I still mainly use uncoated but I'm starting to question.

I think the worst coated strings I ever tried were Dean Markley Alchemy, about 20 years ago, when everyone was rushing to compete with Elixir. The coating was tinted gold, and was not consistent from string to string. They felt like plastic and were so incredibly stiff that bends and barres were completely out of the question. Sounded dull and thuddy. Just terrible strings. Soured me on Markley permanently.

Finally, I'll bring up the infamous con man Denny Zager, well known on this and other guitar forums, who used to list his "Zagerized" guitars on eBay with "Taylor strings" included in the description so that his listings would come up in searches for Taylor. There is no such thing as Taylor strings, of course, and when I wrote to him asking where I could get replacement Taylor strings for a Zagerized guitar, he became shifty and evasive and eventually stopped replying.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Back when Taylor still printed its lovely "magazine," and I use the term "lovely" sincerely, it was really great, very classy...Bob Taylor answered a question regarding strings and said exactly that...because they did not know how long a particular guitar would be in a store, they used Elixers so the strings could be near optimum when tried out. Huss & Dalton also said similar, in print, regarding D'Addario EXP strings, which they used as their standard. I can only observe that when we visited Guild in New Hartford, their guitars were strung with EXP at the finish bench.

As to new-ish Taylors, designed by their new luthier (name escapes me ) with his new bracing pattern, they decided on essentially Light Bottom/Heavy Top Elixer strings for this new scheme. Those may well work great with the new bracing pattern, but I will tell you first hand they sound lousy on the old (I bought them for elderly friend's Taylor OO-size guitar) and on my Guild D55 (bought by mistake, same time as previous). GAAAACK!

But this is a way veere (Where IS he? "Don't fear the veere...") from your original post, and I look forward to hearing how those Koval strings are when you have broken them in.

 

[dwasifar]

Speaking of Taylor publications, I once wrote to Taylor asking them why they had stopped recommending the string lock method (some say "Martin method") when restringing. They responded to say they had never recommended that. I replied, "You sure did," and included a link to this document:

https://xec.net/share/restring_guitar.pdf

They had to acknowledge it, but said it was sort of a maverick move on the part of their then-manager of customer service, and they subsequently decided it wasn't necessary.

 

[dwasifar]

and on my Guild D55

What strings are your favorite on the D-55?

 

[Bill Ashton]

I would first look for DR "Veritas." If local store did not have them (and they usually do), I could settle for DR Rare, D'Addario EXP or just PB in medium gauge. If I was mail ordering, I might get some of the other I mentioned...definately NOT Martin Monels or D'Addario Nickel Bronze...she just don't like'em

Tony Rice liked Monel strings and commiserated that they stopped producing them in the 70's, so I guess thats why Martin may have started up with them again? He used them on his hybrid of a Martin D28 body with large sound hole fitted with an OM neck...he didn't do it, thats how he got it. The only "Monel" strings I remember from back then...maybe it was before?...was the Gibson "Chet Atkins" Monel strings in the orange box. Too pricey for this teen back then...

 

[dwasifar]

I would first look for DR "Veritas." If local store did not have them (and they usually do), I could settle for DR Rare, D'Addario EXP or just PB in medium gauge. If I was mail ordering, I might get some of the other I mentioned...definately NOT Martin Monels or D'Addario Nickel Bronze...she just don't like'em

Tony Rice liked Monel strings and commiserated that they stopped producing them in the 70's, so I guess thats why Martin may have started up with them again? He used them on his hybrid of a Martin D28 body with large sound hole fitted with an OM neck...he didn't do it, thats how he got it. The only "Monel" strings I remember from back then...maybe it was before?...was the Gibson "Chet Atkins" Monel strings in the orange box. Too pricey for this teen back then...

With the Veritas, do you use the yellow plated plain strings, or the regular ones?

 

[dwasifar]

Well, the strings have been on for five days, and here is a follow-up report.

By this point, phosphor bronze strings would have started to mellow out some. Not these. They sound essentially identical to when they were put on. This means the "con" item "The tone is a little brasher than I would like" is still true.

To expand on this, I mean brash in the sense of having a metallic edge to it. This is actually okay for fingerpicking, because I pick with bare fingers, and the slightly edgy tone balances the natural muting of fingertips, giving me a clearer and purer fingerpicking tone. But when flatpicking, the tone is still new-string edgy, and less than mellow. I'll try some different pick materials and see if that changes anything. I usually use Cool Picks "Ultra," which is a very bright-sounding pick, so maybe a softer pick will help with that.

The tone situation is actually unique in my experience. I'm accustomed to strings sounding bright and trebly when new, and then mellowing to be less trebly and more midrangey as they age, until they get dull and get replaced. These are currently bright but not trebly, which sounds kind of counterintuitive, but there it is. They are forward, like a new set of PBs, yet have excellent bass response right out of the package, and an overall good tone balance across the instrument's pitch range.

More to come.

 

[GGJaguar]

More to come.

Good, because I am intrigued.