Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello friends
one of my friend suggested me that if i want good trebles.
i should use medium or high tension strings for classical guitars
im planning to use them
but want to ask that does high tension strings will put
more tension on neck and soundboard?
will it cause the neck to bend ?
thnks in advance

There will be others better qualified than I am in regards to nylon-strung guitars, but I will say that, yes, high tension strings will put more tension on the neck and soundboard. www.daddario.com has some great information on string tensions for different gauge strings, if your actual packages do not tell you the information you want.

Whether or not it will distort your instrument is more than I could say. If I were concerned, I would take some measurements of the deflection of the neck and top, and compare those with *one* gauge higher tension than what you are using now. (That is, if you are using light tension strings right now, go to mediums first instead of hard.)

If you never put strings on a guitar, it will likely never need adjustment. If you put extremely high tension strings on a guitar, it will need adjustment (or repair!) a lot faster than if you use extremely light tension strings. Somewhere in the middle is the balance between tone, playability, and the longevity of your guitar.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for ur reply .
but i dont know my string tension now. because they are chinese strings
and dont have gauge or tension mentioned on the pack

I am very new to guitar building so have little knowledge about this subject but I think Lincoln Goertzen has given you some good advice.
In terms of sound, I guess it partly depends on what you are looking for. For example, on my flamenco guitar (a cheap(ish) Manuel Rodriguez) I often use medium tension trebles with with medium/hard tension basses. I find that with the low action, it gives me just enough growl for a 'flamenco sound' but less buzz than if using medium or light tension basses. I have not noticed distortion in the neck.

I don't know if that helps at all but i'm sure there will be replies from the the more experienced people here with a better understanding of these things

I measure hardly any Neck deflection from stringing up to full tension. That's over the course of a week or so. That may not be the case over a year though. I guess I'll have to measure my personal Guitar to get that information.
The question on whether high tension strings will result in excessive Neck/ Soundboard distortion is impossible to answer. You would need a LOT of information on the particular Guitars construction and wood properties, otherwise it's just a shot in the dark. Some wood also reacts differently to humidity changes, which is another factor.
You would also have to define a timeline and what you deem is acceptable. It might be fine for 10 years or so but severely distorted in 100 years.
I suspect that the vast majority of modern Classical Guitars are OK with high tension strings but there's bound to be the odd case where it was made 'on the edge' or it happened to be made with very floppy Spruce etc.