[DCannon]

BTW, after first reading this post, I got a couple sets of Adamas 1818E and John Pearse 600L phosphor bronze to compare with the Martin M540 and MSP4100 I've been using for several years on all my guitars. I've always liked the tone, consistency, playability, and longevity of the Martins on my guitars, but it's good to have an open mind and try other things.

I play in DADGAD tuning and tried the Adamas first on my inherently bright Wechter TO8418 since it was getting time for a string change. The Adamas had a fairly nice tone, good volume, mellower than the Martins, but there was something I just didn't like about them. To me, they played and sounded "soft" and seemed more suited for fingerpicking than any intense strumming, which I get into with some of the things we do in the Celtic band and Irish music sessions. These strings just didn't work for me.

On the other hand, the John Pearse 600L strings are superb in all respects and I like them better than the Martins on the TO8418. Excellent tone, volume, balance, sustain, playability, and intonation. What I'm hearing is a bit more "guts" and depth overall than the Martins, yet sound sweet and ringing when fingerpicking or lightly strumming. Very solid and responsive. I capo a lot on the 5th and 7th frets, and these strings respond beautifully. Most newly installed strings, including the Martins, take some playing-in to optimize the tone, but I couldn't believe how good these strings sounded immediately after installing. I'll have no reservations about restringing just before a performance with JP. Big thumbs-up and looking forward to trying JP on my other guitars.