Art & Lutherie guitars are made in a small factory in Quebec. The company prides itself on the fact that its guitars are hand-built almost entirely from Canadian tone woods. A&L produces a variety of acoustics, and although most of them ship with the same kind of strings, different designs benefit from different types of strings. Matching the string to the guitar brings out the guitar's natural strengths.
Godin Phos Bronze Lights
Art & Lutherie recommends these so-called "high definition" strings for all of its guitars, but the company can't really mean that; you wouldn't put them on the Ami Nylon Cedar, for instance. In actuality, bronze-phosphorus light strings are best for guitars that are used for finger-picking, therefore they work well on A&L's cutaways and the rest of the Ami parlor-guitar line.
Martin Flexible Core FX 80/20 Bronze .013 - .056, MFX-650
For A&L dreadnaughts, you want a string that takes advantage of the body's natural loudness without making the guitar too difficult to play. Martin's medium-gauge flexible-core strings are louder and will provide for greater tensile strength without detracting noticeably from playability.
Martin Marquis Silk & Steel Folk
These strings make an excellent match for A&L's folk guitar line. The steel cores are wrapped in silk before receiving another layer of phosphor bronze wrapping, giving them a rich but more subdued sound suitable for folk guitar.
Newtone Heritage Series Strings
A&L's Ami line comprises smaller, lighter, parlor-size guitars that hark back to the heyday of parlor guitars in the 1910s and '20s. A good match for the Ami line are Newtone's Heritage Series strings, which are built to tune up with less tension, meaning it's easier on a smaller, lighter-braced guitar. They're also easier on your fingers.
