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  #1  
Old 05-14-2023, 12:18 PM
bestremera bestremera is offline
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Default does changing string tension change neck relief

Question about experimenting with low, medium and high tension strings.
Electric guitars are easy to adjust the action when changing to heavier or lighter gauge strings. But if you want to experiment with classical guitar strings of different tensions, how does that affect neck relief and will it throw it off so much that you will need to set up the guitar for each new tension?
Thanks
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Old 05-14-2023, 03:00 PM
4-string 4-string is offline
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IME it will affect neck relief, but not to the extent that a setup is needed. Intonation on the other hand might be a different story.
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Old 05-15-2023, 05:37 AM
bestremera bestremera is offline
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Thanks 4-String.
BTW, You should spring for the other two springs. They're totally worth it
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Old 05-15-2023, 06:15 AM
4-string 4-string is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bestremera View Post
Thanks 4-String.
BTW, You should spring for the other two springs. They're totally worth it


I'm working on it! Recovering bass player.
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There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres - Pythagoras

Martin OM-28V
Yamaha FSX3
Godin Arena Pro CW Bourbon Burst
Manuel Rodriguez Magistral D-C
EBS Stanley Clarke Sig. Acoustic Pre
Alto TX210 powered speaker
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Old 05-15-2023, 07:46 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bestremera View Post
Question about experimenting with low, medium and high tension strings.
Electric guitars are easy to adjust the action when changing to heavier or lighter gauge strings. But if you want to experiment with classical guitar strings of different tensions, how does that affect neck relief and will it throw it off so much that you will need to set up the guitar for each new tension?
Thanks
It sounds like you are used to coming at string tensions from a steel strung guitar perspective.

Changing guages on a steel strung guitar has much more impact on neck relief than changing nylon tensions between normal, hard, and extra hard. The amount of actual tension difference is much less with nylon sets than it is with steel string sets, so the effect is way less on actual neck relief. Most classical necks are built heavily enough (usually thicker and a full 2" wide...) so going from normal to hard won't have as much of an impact on setup.

Intonation is not generally a problem, since nylon strings don't react in the same way as steel strings do when fretted. That's the entire reason you see so little compensation added to string length for classicals.
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Old 05-15-2023, 12:56 PM
redir redir is offline
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Agree with Rudy, you probably won't notice a difference because it is imperceptible or simply not there. IF it does change the relief significantly then there is something wrong with the neck.
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Old 05-25-2023, 09:18 PM
gormank gormank is offline
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I think you may find differences in all tensions. For myself (ex-classical player trying to come back to it) low tension doesn't work. Medium tension is good, and my current guitar has the lattice top and the luthier specifically states not to use high tension.
But experiment. It's amazing how different strings and tensions will impact your playing.
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