Santa Cruz Parabolic Strings Low versus Medium

[Grantgreen42]

Hi,

I was recently on a business trip in Atlanta and stopped off at Maple Street Guitars. It was a wonderful experience and I got to try various guitars among them a beautiful Eric Skye 00.
In any event, although I did not buy it I was fascinated by the sound and the Santa Cruz Parabolic strings that it was strung with and ended up buying the Low Tension set.

I just restrung my Martin 00-28 with them and I am not as thrilled with it as I thought I would be. I prefer heavier tension strings and had the Elixir hybrid Phosporous Bronze before. I absolutely loved those strings and it provided a clear balance sound to the overall guitar tone. The new strings sound fine, but they feel floppy and there is definitely a noticeable decline in the volume of the guitar. Because I spent $18 bucks on these I will leave it on for a while.

My question is should I have used the Medium Tension strings? Keep in mind I am player that uses 13s (even on small bodied guitars). I don't know if I should try the medium tension and if I do will I still have a decrease in sound?

Anyway below is how they sound on the 00-28
https://youtu.be/6iLdBEpzC-U

Here is how it sound with Martin Authentic 13s
https://youtu.be/ZH2kE58bPrc

With Elixir Hybrids (13-54) ... this was my favorite sound because it kept the bass
https://youtu.be/FHrUqnvSTmE

[drplayer]

The medium tension SCGC strings have the same overall tension as a standard light gage set (e.g. John Pearse 600L @ 163#)—assuming the guitar has a standard scale length. The low tension set—if my memory serves me right—is about 156#. So, if you typically use 13’s, the SCGC medium tension might feel/sound better to you than the low tension; however, the overall string tension will still be considerably lower than a standard medium gage set (13’s), which are typically in the 180#-190# range.

[brandall10]

The gauge differences between the medium and low tension sets are weird and follow a different 'parabola', so to speak. They both share the same low E string.

I've tried both the mediums and lights. Felt the same as you about the lights, weirdly unbalanced (this was on a SCGC OM fwiw), but liked the mediums on my OM-28A quite a bit, felt like lights, but sounded more like mediums with a bit less volume.

[rick-slo]

Buy the mediums and see what you think.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by drplayer

The medium tension SCGC strings have the same overall tension as a standard light gage set (e.g. John Pearse 600L @ 163#)—assuming the guitar has a standard scale length. The low tension set—if my memory serves me right—is about 156#. So, if you typically use 13’s, the SCGC medium tension might feel/sound better to you than the low tension; however, the overall string tension will still be considerably lower than a standard medium gage set (13’s), which are typically in the 180#-190# range.

I will second that opinion.

[Grantgreen42]

Originally Posted by drplayer

The medium tension SCGC strings have the same overall tension as a standard light gage set (e.g. John Pearse 600L @ 163#)—assuming the guitar has a standard scale length. The low tension set—if my memory serves me right—is about 156#. So, if you typically use 13’s, the SCGC medium tension might feel/sound better to you than the low tension; however, the overall string tension will still be considerably lower than a standard medium gage set (13’s), which are typically in the 180#-190# range.

In other words no matter how you slice it even if I use a medium set I will get a lower volume and the feel will still be less resistant (do 't want to use the term floppy) than a typical set of 13s?

[sayheyjeff]

I am a big fan of these strings and have been using them on all of my acoustics. I prefer the medium tensions and use them on all except the PJ. Use the low tensions on the PJ as Mr. Hoover suggested that the mediums would pull up the bridge. The low tensions are more than fine on the PJ. The mediums. Sound great on my 0018vs. Always used medium strings before discovering the Santa Cruz strings on a visit to Santa Cruz.

Jeff

[UncleJesse]

I hated the low tension on my Ceo7. No volume and it seemed to sap the bass out of it. Good to know about what was posted earlier. Maybe I'll try a medium set on it.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by Grantgreen42

Hi,

I was recently on a business trip in Atlanta and stopped off at Maple Street Guitars. It was a wonderful experience and I got to try various guitars among them a beautiful Eric Skye 00.
In any event, although I did not buy it I was fascinated by the sound and the Santa Cruz Parabolic strings that it was strung with and ended up buying the Low Tension set.

I just restrung my Martin 00-28 with them and I am not as thrilled with it as I thought I would be. I prefer heavier tension strings and had the Elixir hybrid Phosporous Bronze before. I absolutely loved those strings and it provided a clear balance sound to the overall guitar tone. The new strings sound fine, but they feel floppy and there is definitely a noticeable decline in the volume of the guitar. Because I spent $18 bucks on these I will leave it on for a while.

My question is should I have used the Medium Tension strings? Keep in mind I am player that uses 13s (even on small bodied guitars). I don't know if I should try the medium tension and if I do will I still have a decrease in sound?

Anyway below is how they sound on the 00-28
https://youtu.be/6iLdBEpzC-U

Here is how it sound with Martin Authentic 13s
https://youtu.be/ZH2kE58bPrc

With Elixir Hybrids (13-54) ... this was my favorite sound because it kept the bass
https://youtu.be/FHrUqnvSTmE

The SC mediums might have been a better choice. Be aware that the light and medium sets have the same gauge low E string. That will provide more resultant harmonics while the 13 high E with minimal gauge increase in the B and G strings will provide more fundamental strength in those strings.

You might also want to try Straight Up Strings, which are similarly designed,and yet different than the SC's... but at half the price. I've got a set of Heavies (same as medium 13-56ish) on my 614ce right now and liking them a lot.

[brandall10]

Something's off on that chart. It's showing a .33 string as being lower tension than a .32.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by brandall10

Something's off on that chart. It's showing a .33 string as being lower tension than a .32.

That can occur depending on the relative diameters of the core wire and wrap wire.

[drplayer]

Originally Posted by Grantgreen42

In other words no matter how you slice it even if I use a medium set I will get a lower volume and the feel will still be less resistant (do 't want to use the term floppy) than a typical set of 13s?

They will definitely feel less resistant. As for lower volume--though that would stand to reason--you'd need to try them to prove that assumption correct.

[tadol]

We will be doing a podcast with Richard to get more into the science and technology behind the SCGC strings in the next couple months. The research they’ve been doing and the people involved in their project is quite impressive. Getting that info into an easily digestible format is a challenge -

[gmel555]

I’ve tried both lo and mid tension. My experience was/is the lo-tensions were ok but nothing special on several guitars of various sizes and scale length. The mid-tensions were superior to the lo-t’s and in at least one instance, my Larrivee D-19, they are far and away the best sounding strings ever on that guitar. Suggest you try the mid-t’s. On the right guitar they’re great.