Santa Cruz LOW tension vs MID (initial comparison and discovery)

[vindibona1]

I've had the Santa Cruz Mid Tension strings on my Taylor 814ceDLX for about 2.5 weeks now and felt that it was time for a comparison before the Mids went dead.

It may be important to note that our sound perception and expectations are largely comparative. That is, what sounds good by itself without anything to compare it to may sound not so good when played next to an instrument that at that moment is judged better sounding (or vice versa). I made sure to play my 814 with the mid tension strings for a bit before changing strings and forming an opinion. I have also been using my 614ce as a "control" guitar as it's just been sounding (at least in my mind) freakin' awesome lately. FWIW I've been planning on using the 614 on Friday night's gig, unless I'm feeling the 814 more come Friday.

The LOW tension strings went on immediately after playing the 814 with the Mid tensions strings. I'd played no other guitars at this point. It may also be important to note that I had changed the saddle to bone and the pins to buffalo before doing the comparison. I thought the combination of saddle and pins improved the sound of the Mid tensions so I stayed with that combination of pins and saddle.

The first thing I noticed with the Low tension strings is MORE VOLUME overall with this 814. I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it could go either way. There is an important point that I'll make in a bit. The overall sound/tone was very similar, albeit a tad brighter- but I'm going to attribute that to minutes-fresh strings. I didn't feel that much difference in tension from the standpoint of required hand strength. I think had you handed me two guitars identically set up, one with Low and one with Mid Tension strings I might only sense a slight difference- or maybe none at all without having the different strings pointed out to me. Is that due to my setup which has action at factory specs and minimal relief? I'll have to compare later vs my Martin with Sunbeam 12's.

Overall I like what I'm getting initially from the Low tension strings. Perhaps it's the freshness but in terms of "perceived sound quality" when played next to my 614 which I'm loving right now, it was different, but definitely in the same league. If you were to listen to both right now there would be no question that both are outstanding guitars.

Breakthrough conclusion: We often think of volume and/or tone coming from one gauge or another, but what I think I have discovered is that the interdependence of each string as part of the composite may be more important than the stated gauge, or even tension. In some respects this is the premise of Straight Up Strings. But I think other companies that develop strings without considering relative tension achieve a symbiosis in a set, perhaps intuitively thought testing (or even inadvertently).

When I first began testing the SC mids I did an experiment that I was successul with when testing GHS Signature Bronze... I swapped in a light gauge low E for the medium gauge. It grought the GHS strings to life. I also, after having a SC Mid low E go dead on the first set of strings I had, I swapped in an Elixir .53 Low E and the blend, timbre and volume as if the Elixir was part of the SC set. HOWEVER, when I swapped in a Santa Cruz Low tension low E in a Mid tension set... yuck! Huge mismatch! Even though I had 5 string from the Mid tension set, that last low E from a lighter set disturbed what the other strings were doing, creating a thin, week and somewhat unpleasant sound.

It's too early to tell before the Santa Cruz Low tensions settle in, but they may be better for my 814 than the mids. I wouldn't come as a shock as my D35 loves Sunbeam 12's, but loses it's mojo entirely with Sunbeam 13's. I guess there is no substitute for testing and experimenting.

Thanks for taking time to read this. As always, comments are invited.

[brencat]

Nice review. I've found that Mediums can sometimes choke lightly braced guitars, where Lights allow that same guitar to shine. Not saying that's the case with your Taylor, but it might be.

I know people who run Mediums on Gibson acoustics, yet I have yet to try a Gibson strung with Mediums that sounds better than with Lights. Personal preference.

[JerryM]

I have been using the LT SCGC strings now for 2 yrs on all my guitars and have found them to be tone wise and longevity wise far superior to any others I have used in the past.
These strings have a life span that is unbelievable so the extra cost in my mind is justified. Used NanoWeb Elixir 12/53"s for a long time previous to these and have never thought of going back.
My Martin Outlaw comes to life and pumps out volume like crazy with these SC strings as does my J45 and Rainsong Shorty.
I also used them on my SC triple O and Eric Skye same results, just great strings!

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by brencat

Nice review. I've found that Mediums can sometimes choke lightly braced guitars, where Lights allow that same guitar to shine. Not saying that's the case with your Taylor, but it might be.

I know people who run Mediums on Gibson acoustics, yet I have yet to try a Gibson strung with Mediums that sounds better than with Lights. Personal preference.

Thanks for taking time to read the review. My '72 D35 seems to respond better to 12's, as least with Sunbeams and I wouldn't call that guitar "lightly braced". I think it's about allowing the corresponding harmonics of the guitar's construction to vibrate and ring. In some cases I suppose you need heavier strings to "drive" the top. I know my friend Victor loves Sunbeams has tried both 12's and 13's but much prefers 13's on his guitar. So yeah... all depends on the individual guitar...

... But if I have any other conclusion that I've mentioned in other threads... The low E is the lynch pin of the set as it has to potential to drive the harmonics of the other strings. FWIW, Richard Hoover sent me a couple extra low E strings in different tensions to see if the LowT low E works on a MidT set and vice versa. The light E on the mid set was a clear fail. In a day or two I'll try a MidT on this light set.

[tippy5]

Very cool. I love the low E Elixir. Most folks here do not like them on Gibson slopes. But I do on my J-45 rosewood and my ex 2013 J45-TV (that I miss).

Yet on my 1959 Gibson slope I use retro's for some pure old tone. Elixirs do color the sound, but I love the color and use them on 2 of my Goodall's. I like Spectrum's TI for my presentation Goodall standard to hear the ebony.


I never thought of doing this type of experiment. Keep it up, and keep us apprised. I am going to do this with a set of SC mediums and a low E Elixir.

[M Sarad]

I put low tension on my OM. Supple feel coupled with plenty of volume. The low E got weird so I put on Elixir lights, which now have a .013 instead of .012 on the High E.

My SCGC Dread has the Medium tension. Plenty of volume and great for cutting through in a jam situation.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

I put low tension on my OM. Supple feel coupled with plenty of volume. The low E got weird so I put on Elixir lights, which now have a .013 instead of .012 on the High E.

My SCGC Dread has the Medium tension. Plenty of volume and great for cutting through in a jam situation.

Sorry. Was reading this thread through, but got stuck on something you wrote. By way of clarification for me, you mean you just swapped out the SC bass E string for the .053 Elixir, and not the entire set of strings, correct?

By the way, the Elixir lights you mentioned may be HD lights, which have heavier treble strings, .013, .017, and .025 for regular light gauge .012, .016, .024, .032, .042, and .053.

Am interested in the SC strings, particularly the LT ones.
.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by donlyn

Sorry. Was reading this thread through, but got stuck on something you wrote. By way of clarification for me, you mean you just swapped out the SC bass E string for the .053 Elixir, and not the entire set of strings, correct?

By the way, the Elixir lights you mentioned may be HD lights, which have heavier treble strings, .013, .017, and .025 for regular light gauge .012, .016, .024, .032, .042, and .053.

Am interested in the SC strings, particularly the LT ones.
.

On the very first set of SC mids, the low E went dead in 2 days. All I had were Elixirs, so yes, I put an Elixir low E with the rest of the SC mids. Sounded great btw . You wouldn't know it wasn't part of the set by the sound.

I know what HD lights are. I've tested them on my 614, but don't recall if I've ever tried them on my 814.

[vindibona1]

To recap the setup, my 814ceDLX now has an unbleached bone saddle, Santa Cruz LOW tension strings and a mix of ebony and buffalo horn bridge pins. The buffalo horn are installed in slots 1, 2, 5, 6 and the ebony in 3 & 4.

The thing sounded glorious tonight. I felt like I got the sound I wanted and I could do so much more musically than I expected. With the Low Tension strings I could more easily create a larger palette of sounds. I could let the strings ring out. I could hit them hard and then choke the sound. No problem fingerpicking. I don't know that the Low Tensions feel a whole lot different than the mid tensions. There were a couple tunes that were entirely bar chords, so I could feel my left hand tire a bit. But I got through over two hours of playing without any issues. Everyone said the guitar sounded awesome.

I think I finally found the right combination of stuff for this guitar. The only testing that seems yet to be done is to compare the Straight Up Strings with the Santa Cruz and possibly an Elixir Medium or HD light set. Much as I love the SC's I don't love the $18 price tag (plus shipping or tax). I can buy the SUS strings for $8.30 a set including shipping. But if the SC's win I'll just have to bite the bullet. My only concern with the SC's is some possible consistency issues with the SC low E strings. It could be me and a host of human issues, so I'm not ready to make any declarative statements. But if I come to a solid conclusion I'll post them.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

On the very first set of SC mids, the low E went dead in 2 days. All I had were Elixirs, so yes, I put an Elixir low E with the rest of the SC mids. Sounded great btw . You wouldn't know it wasn't part of the set by the sound.

I know what HD lights are. I've tested them on my 614, but don't recall if I've ever tried them on my 814.

Actually I was asking about the low E thing about which M Sarad posted, because I wasn't quite sure what he had done. Your earlier post about the Elixir bass E string was clear. I think M Sarad may have done something along the same lines, but I'm still not sure. And he was the one who had made the comment about the treble string gauges at .013 instead of .012, leading me to think he may have swapped out the entire set.

My curiosity was because I have made a low E swap often enough because it didn't sound right, either because of the guitar's response or because it didn't fit with the rest of the strings/sound. Curiously, I changed some strings today and am not really liking the low E result. I will give it a week or two, and then make a decision to pop on a .056 and see if that improves things.

And I am going to test out the Santa Cruz Low Tensions soon, so I will keep my ears open for bass E string issues.

Thanks for the info,
Don

[donlyn]

And the SC Low Tensions are supposed to be .012 to .056, with 156 lbs of pressure. As opposed to the Elixir PB HDs at .013 to .053, with 174 lbs of pressure.

I took the numbers from the Elixir website and an AGF posting by a Santa Cruz representative. Numbers aren't available on the SC site.

And the difference between the Elixir PB .053 and .056 is only 3 lbs, 26 to 29 lbs.

Don