Hi Guys and Gals,
I am digging my little '68 F-112. Here are my initial observations:
This guitar needed frets and a neck re-set, but it also wasn't played for a few years. I know it came out of someone's eststate. Also, it had a Big Honking Set of Schaller M6 tuners on it. It must have been a real struggle to play for any length of time without the heavy headstock nose-diving to the floor. It was way more than a chore to play it with Big Schallers in place.
My remedy? Change the tuners to mini6 Schallers and play it a little bit every day.
But, something still seemed wrong. When I received the guitar from my old friend 'Luthier A', the strings didn't sound good to me. I took the guitar to another Luthier (we've all been friends for 30 years; nobody is mad that a customer is dissappearing) and said,
"Luthier B' I don't like the way it sounds. Why don't you play it and tell me what you think is wrong?"
'Luthier B' played it and said,
"The strings feel real heavy and I think they are muffling the top."
We measured the strings and they were .13" thru .56" 'Luthier B' said that he liked using D'Addario EJ38 light strings. Their measurements were .10" thru .47"
We put the light strings on the F-112. There was a difference. They didn't make the guitar sound louder, but it sure felt better and was easier to play. You can also hear the complexity and articulation of the notes in a very pleasing way, the way 50 year old spruce and mahogany should sound.
So, what do you folks use for acoustic 12 string guitars?
I am digging my little '68 F-112. Here are my initial observations:
This guitar needed frets and a neck re-set, but it also wasn't played for a few years. I know it came out of someone's eststate. Also, it had a Big Honking Set of Schaller M6 tuners on it. It must have been a real struggle to play for any length of time without the heavy headstock nose-diving to the floor. It was way more than a chore to play it with Big Schallers in place.
My remedy? Change the tuners to mini6 Schallers and play it a little bit every day.
But, something still seemed wrong. When I received the guitar from my old friend 'Luthier A', the strings didn't sound good to me. I took the guitar to another Luthier (we've all been friends for 30 years; nobody is mad that a customer is dissappearing) and said,
"Luthier B' I don't like the way it sounds. Why don't you play it and tell me what you think is wrong?"
'Luthier B' played it and said,
"The strings feel real heavy and I think they are muffling the top."
We measured the strings and they were .13" thru .56" 'Luthier B' said that he liked using D'Addario EJ38 light strings. Their measurements were .10" thru .47"
We put the light strings on the F-112. There was a difference. They didn't make the guitar sound louder, but it sure felt better and was easier to play. You can also hear the complexity and articulation of the notes in a very pleasing way, the way 50 year old spruce and mahogany should sound.
So, what do you folks use for acoustic 12 string guitars?