12STRINGGUITARIST

Hi!

I've learnt that some people use mismatched treble pairs on their 12-strings. For instance, 0.10 and 0.09, 0.13 and 0.12, instead of two 10s or two 13s relatively.

What's the deal with mismatching those treble strings? How does it affect overall sound?

Thanks!

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This was a discussion we began on the old 12stringguitarist.com site.  I carried it over here because of its historical interest.

Reply by Gregory West on August 8, 2009 at 7:07am

What a great topic! We'll have to research that one!

OK, all you old guys...start reminiscing!

An ancillary topic would be "Who made the first electric 12-string?"

Reply by Gregory West on August 10, 2009 at 10:09pm

OK guys, I've been doing some...Read More

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Performing with a 12-string guitar always is somewhat risky. Here are a few tips that might help. If you guys have more ideas to submit, please add comments to this post.

Tuning is always my major concern, especially at festivals or outdoor gigs. Changing temps, humidity, direct sunlight, etc. can wreak havoc on your best tuning job. If you're playing outside, or if your guitar has had to be stored in the car (cold or hot) it's best to get to the gig plenty early so the guitar can acclimate to the temperature and be stable before you start...Read More

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This is a cross-post from my Tiny Island personal blog. I though it would be something my visitors here would enjoy.

Yesterday at school, we were having a rehearsal for the annual spring concert. As a small, independent school, our arts and music offerings are fairly limited. It's primarily through the efforts of a couple of dedicated music teachers that the students get opportunities like this to display their talents.

The musicians at school look forward to this concert, because they get to perform solos and group numbers in addition to the choral group's performance. At yesterday's rehearsal,...Read More

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Buying a 12-string is always an adventure. Many newbies are enchanted by the sound of a 12-string, but they don't know what to look for. Sadly, most music stores aren't much help when it comes to buying one. I have rarely gone into a music store and found more than one or two to choos from and usually, the ones they have are dreadfully out of tune.

Most stores don't do setups on their guitars before purchase. They don't touch the truss rod at all. The factory sets the action on the guitar a little bit high so as...Read More

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This is probably the most common question and there are a lot of places about it on the web. Here is the short version with options:

Option 1: Tune it like a 6-string, but the skinny octave strings on the E, A, D, and G strings should be an octave higher. To get the pitch, you can use a tuner, a piano, or the octave harmonic on the 12-th fret for reference. Note, don't be surprised if the strings break more frequently. The gauge on the G string high octave is usually a .008 to .010 on most sets....Read More

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The selection of woods used in the construction of an acoustic guitar (and electrics to a lesser degree) can greatly influence the sound of the instrument. The qualities of sound are highly subjective and each player and listener will develop preferences that are very personal. Nevertheless, there are broad generalizations we can make when discussing guitar construction that can help define the nature of the materials used and their impact on tone.

Now, admittedly, there is a separate philosophy that the construction of the guitar is far more critical to the tone of an instrument than the materials used....Read More

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I got my first 12-string when I was 17. I had played guitar for about three years at that point and I already owned a couple of 6-string guitars. I had an electric and a bass and a couple of acoustics. My dad mentioned that a guy where he worked had a 12-string for sale and he wanted to know if I might be interested. "Sure," I told him! A couple of days later, he appeared with the guitar in the case and said the guy wanted $90 for it, if I liked it.

I had picked up a...Read More

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