Not only that, there are a few problems besides the physical damage of your instrument. Over time, your top will belly up and the neck will snap. You’ll find that in no time that the neck will permanently swell, bend, or warp until, eventually, the bridge rips off from the top of the body.Įven if your classical guitar has a truss rod, it’s not built to withstand the high tension. Putting steel strings on a classical guitar might make it sound fantastic for a short amount of time before you find out that the guitar is ruined.īut seriously, don’t do that. Can You Put Steel Strings on a Classical Guitar? In fact, the tension on steel strings becomes so high as you go heavier on the gauge that it may bend the neck or affect intonation, even on a regular acoustic guitar. A classical guitar cannot withstand that and will likely strain more than it can handle. Thus, steel strings put more than twice the amount of tension than nylon strings. On the other hand, a typical set of nylon strings comes out to be 80 lbs (36.3 kg) of combined tension.

For all the mathematicians among us, here’s one set of data taken from D’Addario’s website.Ī typical set of light-to-medium gauge steel strings puts around 160 – 180 lbs (72.6 – 81.6 kg) of combined tension on a guitar. Tension is the primary reason why a classical guitar can’t support the weight of steel strings. Nylon strings are significantly thicker than steel strings and are made of a softer core, which in turn makes them softer to play. Steel StringsĪpart from being associated with specific music styles, Nylon and steel strings vary when it comes to string tension, thickness, and nature of the material used in construction. It’s also higher than an acoustic guitar, so you will experience both intonation problems and poor playability. Nylon strings are much larger than steel strings, and the nut on classical guitars has wider slots for the same reason. Even if your nylon string guitar has a truss rod, it’s not enough to counterbalance the tension of steel strings. Steel string acoustic guitars have a metal beam inside their neck, called the truss rod, which helps counteract the tension of the strings.Ĭlassical Guitars traditionally don’t have a truss rod (some newer models do), since they don’t need one due to low tension of nylon strings. Although it’s a matter of personal preference, the action on steel string guitars will always be lower than a traditional classical guitar. On the other hand, acoustic guitars have around 2-2.5 mm of string action. One exception is Flamenco, where the guitars have much lower action.

Nylon strings guitars usually have higher action, around 3-4 mm. the separation between strings and frets (or fretboard). There is a significant difference between the two guitars in terms of string action, i.e. Whereas nylon string guitars have thinner tops and smaller, flexible braces (Fan bracing), acoustic guitars are more robust, with thicker tops and heavier more rigid bracing (X-bracing). Differences in Bracing: Classical Guitar (Left) and Acoustic Guitar (Right)

Classical steel string guitar