Thanks for the update, dwasifar. Sounds interesting for sure.
Wow, 1994! That's some time ago for sure!I replied, "You sure did," and included a link to this document:
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.
I'm very interested to hear if your impressions coincide with mine.I just put the mediums of these on my JF30 we'll see how it goes
Yes, this is coinciding with my experience. The string-to-string balance remains consistent on my guitar, as it was at first, so I'm not experiencing the loud A and quacky D that you did. Perhaps that's because you used 12s and I'm using 13s. And they have plenty of volume and dynamics. But the metallic tone continues to annoy, and may be increasing (not sure if it's that, or if I'm just more annoyed). I've been tempted to take them off and claim my money back (or my Monday) from Martin, and I'll probably do that tomorrow. They've been on for three weeks; how long for you?Hello, all. Caught this thread when I searched Google for reviews of these strings, and figured my own experience might be helpful. I recently tried the Kovar Luxe 12-54s on my Martin 000-18, and the tryout lasted just two weeks before I changed back to my trusty Martin Flexcore 12-54 PBs (the ones with Tommy Emmanuel's name on them, although that's not why I favor them). I had a very similar experience with the Kovars. When I first installed them I thought they had an excellent tone and focus, but that "metallic" thing kicked in after a couple days or so and it kind of threw me. Not to mention - the D string sounded quacky from the getgo, just "off" tonally. The increased bass response - in terms of volume and resonance - on the two bottom strings was notable, but on my guitar, the A string was actually louder and more resonant than the low E, so go figure. After changing back to the Flexcore PBs, the issues I encountered disappeared, and the guitar sounded right and in balance again. While one set may not be enough for a final word, I strongly doubt I'll try these again when the cost exceeds any benefits (a 3-pack of the Martin Flexcores cost me the same $20 at Sweetwater), and the issues I encountered make my trying them again even less likely.
Like I wrote, I kept them on for just two weeks.
I had the Kovars on long enough, however, to know that I won't use them at least on this guitar again
Can't say I'm going for anything, but I do have a son with that surname. Who knows, it might be mine, too.Off topic, but I'm curious about your username. In German, "wiederspiel" means "play again." Is that what you were going for?
Overall I like them quite a bit -- especially when they are new. They do not work on all guitars. I put them on a 60's Epi Texan and they puked. On my one and only Taylor (710), they were fantastic as well as on my '67 Martin D18.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:
Pros:
- 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.
I think the pros mostly outweigh the cons here. These are first impressions, but let's see how they settle in.
- 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.