Official Luthiers Forum!

i'm relatively new to guitar making. i've made a martin kit and another from scratch.

i'm thinking about making a 12-string. any of you veterans have any crucial tips for making 12-strings?

specifically...

top thickness
bracing considerations
anything else?

_________________

_____a_____d_____a_____m_____k_____a_____y_____

yakmatter.com

Adam,
You'll need to add 6 more tuners.

Sorry I'm not much help, as I've never built one. But you should search the archives because I'm pretty this question was asked here before.

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

i see. apparently i need to read the fine print. '+12 +string' returns a much better set of results than '12 string' or, even worse '12-string'.

i'll be sure to add the extra 6 tuners. : )

thanks for the reply!

_________________

_____a_____d_____a_____m_____k_____a_____y_____

yakmatter.com

Layout your neck taper and string spacing in advance I beef up my X brace from .3125 thick x .75 tall to .375 thick x .875 tall. I go from one UTG brace to two. That is pretty much the extent of my alterations out side of neck width/taper and string spacing.

Adam,
I forgot to mention that I sell neck templates for 12 string guitars. These will be very helpful when trying to figure out the string spacing and bridge string spacings. You can find them here(Look at S1.885 and S1.875):
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com/products/p10-1.html

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

For my 12 strings I use 1/7/8th nut. As far as building the body I don't make drastic changes. My bracing pattern is exactly the same The only difference are a slightly thicker top and slightly beefier bracing. But dont go overboard. For me, since I use deflection, my most recent SJ 6 was deflected to 280 and my most recent SJ 12 was deflected to 230.
The tops were both lutz spruce from Shane. (Probably from the same log)
The top thickness difference was 0.094 for the 12 and 0.088 for the 6
X brace height was 0.55 for the 6 and 0.6 for the 12
That was it

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Hi Adam... Another thing that's kind of common is to add a third tone bar. Also a little bigger bridge plate.

long

_________________
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Please give strong consideration to a 1-15/16" string spacing at the nut and 2-3/8 to 2-1/2" at the bridge. The difference in playability is amazing and useful.

_________________
-donh-

Everything is a tone control!