Anyone out there play an 11-string?

[wileypickett]

How often strings break is, for me, down to how much retuning I do. I play in dozens of open tunings and probably spend more time returning than I do playing.

An interesting thing I've noticed (OK, maybe not THAT interesting!): When a string breaks it's almost always when I'm tuning down, not up.

 

[wileypickett]

Spider John Koerner played a 7 string with an octive? G. Maybe you should try a different brand of strings. I have three twelves and rarely break the G octive.

Huge Spider John fan here! I've seen him dozens of times (and shared a stage with him once) and I only recall him ever playing a 12-string.

 

[steve488]

I played my old Yamaha with 11 strings for a while back in 1973....... primarily because that octave string broke and embedded itself in the back of my right hand. We were on stage and had to keep going.....

 

[dwasifar]

24 posts in, and nobody has mentioned Nigel Tufnel yet.

 

[walrus]

Did Nigel play with 11 strings? I know his amp went to 11!



walrus

 

[chazmo]

Time for a re-watch of Spinal Tap!!!

 

[tommym]

In a recent post, I talked about the joys of owning a 12-string again. A big, beautiful, blonde Guild jumbo 12-string, to be precise.

I play with a heavy hand and a fat (2.0 to 3.0) pick, and have broken three of the upper-octave G strings in the process of getting to know this guitar. Two were on sets of 10-47's, and the latest a beefier set of 12-52's.

Being lazy and cheap, I decided to give the guitar a try without that G string. And I like it a lot. It loses a little of the zing on the upper trebles, which I think tones down a bit of brightness in the guitar generally, and gives that big bottom end more room to come through.

Has anyone else ditched the skinny G?

11 strings? I think Joe (killdeer) holds the record at only using 6 strings on his 12-string guitar.

Guild's Doyle Dykes 12-string signature model inverted the octave strings on the upper two sets of bass strings to give a cleaner bass when needed.



Tommy

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Before I gave up on playing 12 string guitars, I tried a few things.
Once in a while, I would replace the octave G string with a second wound G string.
This gave the guitar a very different yet pleasing sound.
I also would go with a heavier gauge octave G string, which helped stop the string from breaking.

Next, I tried using only the wound Bass E string but went up a gauge on the string size.
This gave a better bottom end to the guitar.
This worked very well but my OCD struggled with the one empty tuner and bridge pin.

As many of you know, my final answer was to sell the 12 string and move to the new 8 string baritone Guild.
Tuned C# to C#, I really enjoy this guitar.

 

[Tom O]

Huge Spider John fan here! I've seen him dozens of times (and shared a stage with him once) and I only recall him ever playing a 12-string

It must be my age, When he played with Dave "Snaker" Ray, he used a seven string since Dave played a twelve. He plays 7 string on the Koerner Ray and Glover albums in the 60s. I see he is playing 12s by himself on his Youtube videos.

 

[dwasifar]

Huge Spider John fan here!

If you like Huge Spider John, how about Big Spider Beck?

 

[wileypickett]

You couldn't have known this, but your question has a connection with a real-life experience of mine, which is why I got the joke immediately:

I worked at a Sam Goody's record store in the '70s (the biggest one in the chain at the time, in Paramus, NJ) where we had one large main section for contemporary jazz and another smaller one for early jazz and Dixieland. A customer walked in one day and, not finding what he was looking for in the contemporary jazz section, pointed at the "B" section of the record bins and asked our manager, "Is Bix Beiderbeck here?," who heard the question as, "There's a big spider back here."

At which point my manager quickly stepped back a few feet and, standing on his tiptoes and craning his neck, VERY cautiously peered into the bin.

I was standing nearby and heard the customer's question the same way my manager did at first, but I knew some of Bix's music (I especially like his piano pieces, "In a Mist," etc.,) and quickly realized what he'd really said.

Later on, we all had a good laugh at our manager's expense -- his expression as he looked into the bins, imagining some eight-legged horror lurking there.

 

[teleharmonium]

At one point I was considering have a guitar built as an 8 string, EADG in octaves with a plenty wide neck. I think it's the unisons that break up the illusion of some sort of harpsichord being played. I have an Eko 12 string electric, but find it hard not to play the upper courses since they are there.

 

[Neal]

"There's a big spider back here". Now, that's funny.

Now for an update on the skinny G saga.

I put two regular wound .025 G strings on, tuned down to D, capo'ed back up to E (which has the added benefit of urging that fat G not to slip out of the skinny G nut slot), and then put on a Drop D capo to rehearse the song I wrote for our local songwriter night here in Charlottesville.

It sounds just huge. Absolutely massive. Which is exactly what the song needs.

Let's see if that fat G stays in that skinny nut slot. Murphy's law says it won't, and the exact moment I will realize that will not be in the ten times I run through the song this evening, but when it pops off on stage, one verse into my song, throwing the whole guitar way out of tune!.

 

[merlin6666]

What is a drop D capo? I like double drop D occasionally and with the 12 string is a bit too much effort to tune down. I actually kept one of my 12s in double drop D for a while but once I tuned that back to normal again I just didn't get around to it again. So a partial capo may be a cool alternative.

 

[wileypickett]

C8B Shubb Drop -D Partial Capo - Brass | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for C8B Shubb Drop -D Partial Capo - Brass at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[wileypickett]

Shubb also makes another partial capo:

Shubb C7B Brass Partial Guitar Capo, Covers 3 Strings | eBay

The Shubb C7B Partial Capo is designed to skip the 6th string and cover strings 2, 3, and 4 or 5, 4, and 3. In 1995 we introduced our C7B partial capo, and it has been growing in popularity ever since.

www.ebay.com

 

[chazmo]

Wiley is the master of partial capos.

Good stuff, Glenn!

 

[merlin6666]

Very intriguing but which of these will cover strings 2 to 5 for double drop D? And do they work on 12 strings with fat neck?

 

[dwasifar]

Wiley is the master of partial capos.

I guess you could say they're capo-ish. Capisce?

 

[Neal]

My drop D capo is a Kyser that has a notch just for the sixth string. It is designed to be placed on the second fret, so you can play Drop D but with a regular G chord. I love to use it, especially during shows, because I do not have to retune. Essentially you are playing in E, with a huge bottom end.