Legendary Bluegrass artist, Tony Rice, played Martin Monel strings loyally on Clarence White’s 1935 D28 until they became unavailable in the 1970’s and he has been missing them ever since. The talented sound engineers at Martin Guitar worked hand-in-hand with Tony to bring back to life his favorite sound Martin Monels. When the new formula was perfected, and Tony put them on his guitar, he said “Welcome back, old friend.” Tony’s favorite thing about Martin Monels is that they don’t change the timbre of the guitar. The compound, nickel-based alloy mellows very quickly to allow the natural, woody sounds of the guitar to pour from the sound hole, unaltered, from the very first strum.