Martin OM-21 guitar strings

[Brad Cox]

Any recommendations on extra light guitar strings for a new Martin OM-21 acoustic guitar? All finger picking.

[Teherie]

I use light gauge on my OM35 for finger picking and they work great.

I find extra light gauge strings to be too loose.

[sinistral]

I have never tried extra light strings on an OM either, so can’t recommend any particular set of those. Have you tried tuning a set of light strings down a half or full step? I would try that with a set of strings like the Santa Cruz parabolic tension strings (low tension set). Martin, D’Addario or Elixir custom lights (or similar tension strings) might be worth a try as well if you haven’t already.

[Silly Moustache]

I have a friend who plays a wonderful Collings OM3 and was surprised to learn that he uses "11s"

I use 12s on my 12 fret 000 Collings and all smaller guitars.

Mediums for dreads, resos etc.

[Gee Man]

I run Santa Cruz low-tension strings on my OM-21 and they are very comfortable on the fingers, can't say they are extra-light, but they sound great on this guitar.

[Mandobart]

I use Curt Mangan round core lights (.012) on my OM (phosphor bronze) and 000 (monel).

[jim1960]

Strings can change the sound of a guitar so much and what is good or bad so subjective, that it makes sense to just buy a bunch of strings and work your way through them, making notes on what you like or don't like about each set while their on the guitar. I do this for every new guitar I get and it's surprising sometimes where I land.

[abn556]

By extra light do you mean 11-52s? If so, I have some D’Addario extra lights on my Larrivee OM-40R which sound really good on there. Same body type and wood as your OM-21. They are the EJ-26s.

Edit - they are Custom Lights

I do also have 10-47 Monels on my LG-0, but its an all hog guitar.

[Jimi2]

Originally Posted by abn556

By extra light do you mean 11-52s? If so, I have some D’Addario extra lights on my Larrivee OM-40R which sound really good on there. Same body type and wood as your OM-21. They are the EJ-26s.

Edit - they are Custom Lights

I do also have 10-47 Monels on my LG-0, but its an all hog guitar.

Yes, OP, do you mean 11-52s or 10-47s? The latter might be a bit extreme, but I haven’t tried those gauges, so I can’t say. I did try D’Addario XS 11-52s on my OM28, which is very similar to your OM21. I prefer 12-53 (lights) on that guitar, but the custom lights (11-52s) sounded pretty good too. Both have a nice rich sound on that rosewood/spruce guitar.

[dnf777]

I have been using Stringjoy Foxwoods 11-52 lately. Thats their coated offering. Very nice tactile feel to them, and the tone is similar to Elixirs. I do like the company also, and am happy to support them. They have a really useful website with lots of great info.

[SalFromChatham]

A proper low action setup with lights (or even mediums) will be easier to play than an imperfectly setup guitar with extra lights.

I have had local NJ shops do the last few setups for me out of convenience, and from two different shops the results were just ok. Brothers Music in PA setup one guitar for me a few years back and it was simply magical. I just don’t want to wait six months now for one…

Find yourself a “Brothers Music”; it will be worth it.

[mattwood]

Straight Up strings light gauge work well on mine