I did actually try this one and was reasonably impressed with the quality considering the price but this is another one that Martin highly recommends ultra light strings..........I believe I need something that will handle medium gauge 12 strings and sound great.......the B & E (2nd & 1st) strings just make it sound more like a mandolin to me and others have weighed in as well. Frustrating and expensive....I would pay well into 4 figures for an excellent condition 1968 or earlier Martin D-12-35 (desirable Brazilian wood!) but when REverb.com recommends around two thousand as a fair market price yet everyone still expects $3K -$5K and the 12 string market is flat......it just seems too unreasonable and I lean toward sticking with the 6 string Martin I already own and this pretty decent Takamine 12 string.........