Would high tension strings damage the guitar top?
 

I have been told that the high tension strings could cause fingerboards and tops bended up especially those guitars with decent quality. In other words, high tension strings had better to be put on good quality handmade guitars. Is that true?

In general, the answer would be no. Specifics would help, though, like which
strings you are using and which you're considering, and what kind of guitar you
have.

I agree with what Carey said, but would add that terms like "high tension," "medium tension," "hard tension," and "normal tension," do not tell you much about the actual tension of the strings since these are not standardized categories. One maker's high tension could be lower tension than another's medium tension, for example. Also, the published tensions for strings is often inconsistent even among the same maker, and the method used for measuring the tensions is often unclear (the scale length used, for example). Hope this helps.

The age of the guitar is also something I might consider. I have a couple of '50s 00-28Gs on which I've been advised, by people much more knowledgeable than I, to avoid using hard tension strings. So, I don't use them on those guitars. I do like the way harder tension strings feel, though.

My guitar is a solid ceder top with laminated Africa Mahogany back and sides. The strings I consider to put on is Savarez's high tension strings or D'Addario EJ46 hard tention.

Altamira Guitars N100+
Top: Solid Cedar
Back & Sides: Laminated African Mahogany
Neck: African Mahogany
Fingerboard: Indian Rosewood
Scale Length: 650 mm
Finish: Polished Gloss

Like m-thirty-great said, tensions vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even within the manufacturer itself...one set of NT Savarez strings (such as Corum/Alliance) may be several pounds different from another type of Savarez NT strings.

My Burguet came with Savarez 500ARJ installed by the builder. which is the corum/alliance HT/NT (HT basses and and NT trebles). They're about 94.2 lbs total so I am trying to stay at or below that. In comparison, Savarez 510 ARJ HT/NT is about 91.16.

So trying to go by NT HT can give you a false impression.

For the more common strings, Strings by Mail does list the string tensions in lbs so you can decide for yourself.

I believe the D'Addario tensions run a bit lighter than Savarez.

EJ46s would be fine, as would Savarez high tension nylon. I haven't used
HT carbons.

High tension strings should be fine on pretty much any conventional nylon-string guitar. A lot of manufacturers specify what tension they recommend, you may want to check out what yours advises.

My guitar's maker (James Goodall) recommends the Savarez Corum/Alliance HT. My teacher recommends HT strings. As far as I'm concerned that pretty well debunks the OP's opening statement.

YMMV,
Dave

The difference in D'addario is only 4 lbs (normal to hard) , but I firmly believe that a lightly built classical doesn't need hard tension strings to sound really good (I prefer normal on my instrument by a long shot).

Yes, I agree. On the OP's guitar, though, a slightly higher tension string might help a bit.