In the 70s, I used Gibson Sonomatic 340L strings (.11 to .56) on my "real" 68 Gibson LPC (Black Beauty). I wish Gibson still made 340Ls. The 340L became the SEG-900M. The vintage LPC bridge pup is so bright, less bright Ni strings are just right on the LPC. The "fretless wonder" isn't the greatest for bending (for which I use other guitars), the .12-56 is turns the LPC into a tone monster. So... I think these strings are perfect for both fretless wonders and for L5s.

I've been trying to track down a warm Chicago blues almost jazz tone for quite a while now. These strings are letting me get there.

They are thick, so if you haven't played on 12's or 13's before be prepared for your hand and fingers to do a lot of work and go through a lot of pain, but the end result is worth it - if this is the tone you are looking for. If you want to play metal or shred, or 80's hair band hard rock, you probably want to look elsewhere. These strings will be too mellow for you.

And contrary to what you may hear or read, twelve gauge strings with wrapped third ARE bendable - every one of them. No, you can't bend the G string at the first fret, but what string set can you do that with? Again though, be prepared for the pain and the learning curve.

I have not found another set of strings by any manufacturer that has the qualities this set has - thick gauge, pure nickel, and round wound. And the vacuum pack isn't just a gimmick - it means the strings will be in condition to play when I open them, even if they've been sitting as spares in my gig bag for six months.

These are a perfect match for acoustic archtops with spruce (or maybe mahogany) tops. I haven't found any other string sounds as good as these. Which is too bad because they're expensive and don't come in bulk packages either.

I read an article about Tony Rice and how he'd use nickel strings on his acoustic flat-top because he didn't like that brightness that comes with bronze or brass. Well, I don't like that brightness either so I tried these on my Ibanez AE28. The two low bass strings still leave me a little wanting (they seem a tad dull, but that most likely has more to do with my guitar and probably doesn't apply to you), but the high end sounds real sweet. Took that ringing "bell"-sy sound right out and lets that warm tone out of my cedar top. Real clean.

This review will probably only help about 2% of you (those that'd like to try nickel on their acoustics), but... there you go. My guitar's no L5 but I still love the darn thing. And I'll have an L5 someday---amongst a whole lot of others.

Sweet strings.

Set my 1969 L-5N right. NEVER sounded better