Official Luthiers Forum!

I just noticed Taylor has redesigned the 12 string bridge, essentially doing away with it, using a 6 string bridge, putting two strings in each hole and slotting the saddle to space the strings out.

Has anyone check this out? How about has anyone tried it yet? Is it as simple as it looks or are there other pieces to it inside the guitar.
Here's a link to a picture of it
https://i.imgur.com/OiPVNdi.jpg

That just seems nuts. I bet it’s more complicated than it looks. And why wouldn’t the strings have a consistent break angle over the saddle with the conventional setup?

This ain’t new.

Colleen, the front row of pins will yield a different break angle than the back row of pins…

Taylor are not the first - there was a post not so long ago covering 12 strings with 6 hole bridges which I just can't find at the moment
Post on another forum here https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=551938

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Seems like a manufacturing optimization to me. And a reminder that I'm glad I only have to deal with 6 strings.

Here's one from 8 years ago:) http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=584614#p584614

I will definitely do it this way if I ever make a 12 string. Less holes in the soundboard, and less pins with their added cost and weight and fiddling-with when changing strings.

I use the two strings per hole approach on my flat top octave mandolins. Half as many holes and smaller bridge size while maintaining plenty of gluing surface area. If the holes are slotted correctly for the two strings, string changes aren't any more difficult.

I don't know about inside of the Taylor 12-string, but there's nothing on the inside of my octave mandolins that's different from my guitars that have bridges with one string per hole. If I built a 12-string guitar, I would do the same.

One thing I do that's different from Taylor's approach is that each string in a hole has its own ramp. This separates the strings from each other so that the saddle doesn't have to be slotted to space the strings out on the saddle.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Yep.....been doing that on my 8 string ukuleles for years......probably learned about it here on OLF......

I've done it both ways - two rows of pins, or a single row with two strings per hole. when I use a single row I "V" out the string slots so the strings are properly spaced and the ball ends don't interfere with each other as J mentioned.
Either way works fine, but as Dennis mentioned - less holes in a highly stressed area.

Sigh..... and I just invented the jet engine in my basement.

Bet ya those bridges will peel up just as easily as a 12 hole bridge will AND with better break angles too, now that's special....

Yes, the two-strings-in-the-same-hole trick has been around for decades. I also have done it on an octave mandolin. Very easy to achieve just by cutting two slots in the front of the hole and using a non-slotted pin. Like Dennis said, it means the bridge can be less massive and there are fewer holes drilled through the top.

I'm not sure a less massive bridge on a 12 is desirable.... Gluing foot print is even more important on a 12 which is why they are typically larger than a 6 string bridge.

That is what I do on the 12 string falcate braced guitars. The braces interfere with 12 holes. I first saw this in the Aussie forum

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Martin's D12 David Crosby artist model twelve-string with six-hole bridge was based on the D-18 which Mr. Crosby had renecked and converted to a 12 string in 1964 while he was with the Byrds so as to have a Martin-branded 12 string. This was well before the D12-20 became available in late 1964 or the D12-35 in 1965. I don't have the custom Martin model reference book at hand, but IIRC, the guitar duplicated the 1964 conversion to a degree, including the bridge configuration and maple neck (???), but added a 45-Style rosette and some model-specific inlay. We had one of these in for work well before the pandemic, but I don't recall anything remarkable beyond the odd bridge configuration and the sailing ship inlay (I actually recall the inlay, but not exact location... possibly peghead?).

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Yes, headstock
https://reverb.com/uk/item/41398183-martin-d12-david-crosby-special-edition-2009-vintage-amber

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

This isn't quite the same... I converted a small guitar into a dulcitar - guitar strung in dulcimer tuning. I didn't want to redrill the bridge, so I added brass pins to aid in string spacing. The nut was also recut for string spacing. This basically yielded a convertible instrument. I can restring it as a guitar, or play it like this (which is pretty fun). You have to pay attention when stringing it because of the crossover at the bridge.

https://imgur.com/3hIp9yK

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Very clever and cool!

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter