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Rating And Reviews: Martin M130 Folk Strings

Unique mix of silk-core and steel strings for folk guitar.

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Martin M130 Silk & Steel Folk Acoustic Guitar Strings (11-47)

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"Warm and sweet sound with complex overtones; great for intimate recordings!" submitted February 26, 2011

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Sound: These strings are a niche product - if you're a general player, you probaby won't like them. However, for a fingerpicker on the right guitar - particularly cedar topped folk guitars - they give outstanding tone. I use them on my Seagull folk mainly for close-mic recording, and the tone is rich, warm, complex, with very, very sweet trebles. Detailed and delicate. Not for the country strummer who wants a robust strident tone. Feature: Silver plated copper wound strings over a silk core; silver plated steel unwound. Ease of Use: Easy to string up, but the lower tension associated with silk strings means you may need to set up your acoustic if you usually use bronze / pb. Maintain as normal. Quality: Been using them for years without any problems. Never had them break on me. Note that the wound strings will not hold their tone anywhere near as long as bronze or coated strings, but then, when they're new they sound fantastic! Value: More expensive than regular strings, but that sound.... Overall: These are still the best sounding mass-produced strings I've heard for deilcate finger-picking, Mitchell / Vega style etc. OK, the tone of the wound strings doesn't last as long as regular strings, they cost a bit more, they don't have any fancy coating.... but at the end of the day, tone is the most important factor. And these babies have a beautiful, complex tone.

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"smooooth as silk" submitted September 18, 2012

By Greg M in Woodstock, GA

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Musical Background: guitar player for 30years, record my own stuff for fun and entertainment

Music Style: jazz,southern rock, reggae,techno

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Overall: I put these on an ovation Balladeer and loved them. The Bronze strings were a bit too bright for my taste and pretty rough on my mostly electric guitar fingers, but these silk and steels were great. I used them a couple of decades ago and thought I'd give them a try on the new Ovation and was quite pleased. They sound great mic'ed or thru the piezo pickup and great acoustically. Easy on the fingers, not as loud as the bronze but, that's what the electric pickup is for. Just picked up a couple more sets.Though I plan on comparing a set of Ernie Ball's silk and bronze to these, just to hear the difference.

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"Great product, probably the only thing Martin makes that most people can afford." submitted December 9, 2007

By a customer from aol.com

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Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: Folk and oldies

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Sound: The sound quality from these strings is amazing. They stay in tune very well after the initial stretching when you first put them on. Quality is considerably bright and twangy, with a good midrange, and decent bass. I'd say the Treble is a sparkly 8, the midrange is a good 7 and the bass is about a 4 on the higher strings and a 8 on the lowers. Feature: Folk strings.... made with silk and steel... unique sound... not much else to say. Ease of Use: It's extremely easy to get a wonderful sound from them, and they're relatively easy on the fingers. Only problem I've ever had with the strings is that I accidentally broke the high E string when I put it on my guitar because I was a n00b and overwound it because I wasn't tuning as I was putting it on. Dumb mistake, I won't do it again. Quality: I'd give it a 10/10 for this, it's absolutely high quality. They last about a month and then you should probably replace them though, they're made for a more delicate sound, not good for jamming hard, but most people that buy folk strings probably aren't looking to do that anyway. Value: If you're a casual acoustic player that doesn't need a perfect folk tone, don't worry about these strings, but if you're a serious acoustic player that wants a great vintage folk sort of tone, don't pass these babies up. They're a bit expensive, but worth it in tone alone. Only gripe is I wish they were cheaper. Manufacturer Support: Haven't had to enquire The Wow Factor: They're strings, how sexy can they be? But I guess if you like the sound it's an automatic DO WANT! Overall: I semi-expensive string, sounds great on my cheap Yamaha FL335. I think they're a good combo because the guitar has good sustain and a high midrange and bass sound, so it offsets the strings hi treble sound to make a perfect tone in my opinion.

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"Don't waste your money on these strings." submitted December 6, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

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Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: Country

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Sound: Dull, no sustain at all Quality: 3rd string broke while installing it on guitar. Never got string up to tune before it broke right in the middle. I never had this happen before and Martin never responded to my email. Value: Had to throw away the entire set. Manufacturer Support: Sent email to advise them of quality problem with strings. Never received acknowledgement or reply. Overall: While strings can break occasionally, it should never happen while they are being tuned for the first time after installation. Clearly any string that breaks when it is a full note below tune is lousy quality.

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