I prefer and recommend light tension strings on all my guitars. Light tension strings yield more volume, tone variation, dynamic range, and sustain. My soundboards aren't any more fragile that other fine guitars, so you can go with harder tension if you prefer. "Very hard" tension on any fine guitar is a bad idea, in my opinion. It puts a lot of extra pull on the bridge. The more tension, the more likely that a guitar could someday warp (usually by dipping slightly in front of the bridge on the saddle side), even if slightly. I have gone to great lengths to avoid that problem (which is a real problem for most lattice braced guitars, as I have witnessed many times) by careful bridge and bracing design, and have never had a problem, but extra hard is still a lot of tension. Keep in mind that tone and musicality can suffer from unnecessary tension.
I think that extra high tension strings are an unfortunate product in general. There is a popular belief that more tension equals more volume, but that is simply not the case with my guitars. I tried them out for a few years as a player, too, but ultimately adjusted my playing and found that light tension means more musical flexibility, and much easier left and right hand technique.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I'm always happy to help.
Tomas Borobia - Luthier
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