Indian Rosewood low-tuned 12 String

[Joe Sustaire]

Well these seem to have generated some interest. The first one I built with off from Stringfest '18 to tour with Andy Cohen for a while to learn some new songs and get edumacated. Now my nephew Kelly in Texas has ordered one for himself, so I guess I better get building.

This one will use my Stella Grand Concert mold with a 1" spacer inserted to give it a 15 1/2" lower bout. It will have a 26 1/2'' scale so it can be tuned down B to b in standard tuning. Now I've only built these with mahogany b/s before to focus on the fundamental tones which go well with the roots music I lean towards, but since Kelly is a young man with more contemporary leanings I thought I'd try IR b/s and see if it has more overtones which I think will work better for him.

So Indian Rosewood b/s with a Thermally Modified Engleman Spruce top. And here they are.......
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[John J]

All right Joe! Glad to see a build log on this. I will follow along. Good to see activity here. My first guitar that I bought way back was a twelve string Yamaha. I have a twelve on my to do list.

Thanks for posting.

John

[Joe Sustaire]

Since this will be a ladder with tone-bar type bracing the top is sanded down to just under .140 to start with to help counter the potato chip curl these ladder braced guitars are prone to after a few years of tension. The thicker top and the tone bars running lengthwise with the top will help counter that tendency while still giving that tonal quality that I like.

And since I promised John a full build thread I'll delve into how I join plates following Jonathan Kinkead's "Build Your Own Acoustid Guitar" book.

Some years back I picked up an old Rockwell Delta 6" jointer at an auction for a good price and I use it for general shop jointing and use it to establish a good edge on the plates. Then I do a couple of passes on a newer Delta 6'' jointer that's set up to just barely take off a shaving and is used only for plate joining purposes, a quick check for light gaps against a window and most times I'm good to go. And yeah, I stumbled across this one about a month after I'd got the other jointer and couldn't pass it up.

To join the plates I use finishing nails against one edge of the plates, slip a 1/4" stick under the join and set another strip of nails against the edge of the second plate. Glue up the edges, use a strip of doubled newspaper above and below the plate join so I don't glue my plates down, and clamp the joint with a 2x2 with a long radius cut along one edge so that when clamped at each end it gives good pressure all the way down the length.
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And that's about where I am at this point, and no that's not the Engleman top in the plate joining pics, it's a Thermally Modified Lutz Spruce top that will be used for another 12 stringer.
Thanks for watching!

[Dennis Leahy]

Very cool, Joe! Thanks for showing the whole enchilada!

[burge guitar shop]

Good on ya Joe for showing us this build,
I hope to see it in person soon.
Jess

[Eben]

Amen, Brother

[coopman]

Joe looking good. Will be interesting to follow along.

So I have a few questions on your scale length of 26 1/2" ...

Background: I play in several open tunings ... going down to C or D. Pretty much all guitars work ok in D (dropped D or DADGAD). Now 'C' get trickier. Only a few of my 'regular' instruments work in C ... but otherwise go wonky especially on the lower strings ... even worse with a capo ... intonation issues, etc. So I've been contemplating longer scale ... 25.9 (called 'long scale'), 26 (660mm classical scale), 26 1/3 (banjo) ... and now you mention 26.5 ... I've also been contemplating fan fret (many variations but I see 25.5 - 26.5 mentioned often) ... Also a (shorter of several) Baritone scales: 27.5 ...

So without hijacking your thread way off track, I have one simple question for now. In your experience with the 26.5 scale, are you still able to tune up to standard pitch as well, or does the tension get too high? In the interest of an "all purpose instrument" I'm leaning towards the shorter long scales ... ie long or classical scales as noted above. Your thoughts?

I really like the wood you have chosen!

John

[Dennis Leahy]

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This one will ... be ... Indian Rosewood b/s with a Thermally Modified Engleman Spruce top....

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Since this will be ... a Thermally Modified Lutz Spruce top that will be used for another 12 stringer.
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So, 2 guitars at once, huh? I need to stop you right here, Joe. DON'T DO IT! DON'T build 2 guitars at once! If you ask me, and Grant, and Jesse, the correct number is between 5 and 12. There's a possibility that you could stay sane and work on 2 guitars, quasi-simultaneously, but if you want to dive into the deep end of the pool holding a sack of bricks, you'll need to add at least 3 more.