The ongoing search for a durable set of strings that will sound reasonable on my Taylor Big Baby without costing the earth has taken a really surprising turn.

I was putting in an order at StringsDirect.com, who, incidentally, are truly excellent and almost always have your strings with you the next day. I noticed their Legacy strings for £2.99 a set. For three pounds a go, I thought they had to be worth a punt, if only for the sake of curiosity.

And they’re amazingly good. Admittedly they do have a very “phosphor bronze” sound but they sound much better on the Taylor than Martins and various other strings have done. And they seem to be lasting longer with continual bashing from my metal fingerpicks than any other strings have done so far.

So an all-round thumbs-up for Legacy strings!