Jumbo 12 String - Almost Done

[johnnparchem]

Great looking guitar. I am not sure how long it would be before I try a 12 string. The setup must be fun.

[Ken C]

Nice Bruce! I'm with John, the joy of setting one up and keeping it in tune is enough to keep me from building as 12. Yours looks great!

Ken

[Bruce Dow]

Thanks, folks.

The set-up was not too bad. (Other than having all the strings get into one big spaghetti knot).

I did mess up one of the slots on the nut. But I got to use a technique I learned here on this forum. I just filled it in with CA and some filings I saved from the other slots, then re-cut it.

I set the action based on the bass string of each pair. But I will admit that I did not know whether the string pairs should be set so that the tops or the bottoms of the string pair were the same height. I set the action so that they are aligned at the bottom... Let me know if I did that incorrectly. I now have the skill to fill in and re-cut my slots if I have to raise the treble string of each pair a bit.

Tuning was another matter. The first time I tuned it took about 15 minutes. But with an electronic tuner, it is pretty easy. It stays in tune pretty well, now that the strings have settled in.

The more I play it, the more I love it. It is great for some of those simple "big strumming" songs....

Proud Mary (CCR)
Baby I Love Your Way (Frampton)
Mad World (Tears for Fears)
Give a Little Bit (Supertramp)
Anything from Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, John Denver
etc
etc.

My fret file finally came, so I'll need to make the time to de-string it and finish it up.

[johnnparchem]

I fell in love with the sound of a 12 string in the 60s when Roger McGuinn of the Byrds played one. That was a 12 string electric Rickenbacker.