Mock up

[needsmorecowbel]

I'm starting a 12 string partscaster and the bridge has 6 intonated thru body holes. Just wanted some opinions as to whether I should find an alternative to having the ferrules on the back straight or keep them staggered on the back of the guitar. Or am I committing a cardinal sin by keeping them staggered?



Also seeing as there is so little play in the bridge as the saddles sit directly above their respective intonated thru body holes what is the best way to approach fitting the bridge?

I was thinking
1. - put the saddles as far forward as possible within a few mm of the front edge of the bridge
2 - position the bridge with a ruler so that the tops of the saddles are sitting flush with the scale length measurement
3 - test with old strings to see that the string spacing is the same across the neck
4 - string up and test the intonation and check the saddles are sitting over their respective intonated holes
5 - adjust the bridge back or forward

Any other tips?

Stu

[kiwigeo]

Does it really matter whether they're staggered or straight?? The only person who's going to see them is you

[needsmorecowbel]

probably just procrastinating to be honest haha

[kiwigeo]

probably just procrastinating to be honest haha

Of course I'm not saying that it wouldn't bother ME....but Im totally anal about such things. If staggered holes bugged me I'd be doing things like fitting a cover held on by magnets to cover the holes.

[blackalex1952]

My guess, whatever you do, is that the tone of this instrument won't be like a Stratocaster with the bridge in the floating whammy bar position, because the strings go through the body rather than into the end block and are connected to springs. It will have much more of a solid body sound. As to the thru holes, google images of builds using that kind of a bridge to see what others have done, and check the manufacturers website for installation info...perhaps even build a mock up on a block of wood and see where and how the holes really should sit, relative to the bridge.
Perhaps Fender have come out with a 12 string model of some sort that you could image search as well-Ross

[blackalex1952]

Just had a quick looksee...
http://www2.fender.com/experience/guita ... electrics/
https://reverb.com/item/805395-fender-e ... 6-sunburst
https://au.pinterest.com/mwmoriarty/fen ... ctric-xii/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Squier-T ... 0287239721
I even saw a Telecaster style 12 string DIY kit...

[needsmorecowbel]

Sorry Ross I wasn't clear enough in my original post. I'm building a 12 string tele thinline and a few standard teles as I'm way out of practice with my router. I've been looking all around the web doing research. To me 12 strings with tremolo just sounds like a tuning nightmare.

Some people buy the standard gotoh telecaster bridge and swap out the saddles for the 12 string saddles from the 12 string bridge and drill six additional holes in the tail of the bridge to allow for the extra strings.

Then you have people that re-tap the saddle to allow for a larger gauge screw and then run the string through a hole in the centre of the saddle adjustment screw - like so:


Hoping to maybe do a gold top or a mustard sparkle... not dissimilar to this:


My biggest gripe is how small the gotoh 12 string bridge is.

Stu

[blackalex1952]

What pickups are you thinking of using?

[needsmorecowbel]

Maybe just a Telecaster Neck pickup. Unsure at the moment

Stu

[blackalex1952]

I recently re jigged a Tele for a guy using a Seymor Duncan li 59 humbucker in the bridge position and a neck humbucker he supplied. Reverse control plate for volume swells, a double pole on/on/on switch for split, series, parallel on the bridge and 500k pots with a treble bleed mod on the vol pot to stop the tone from changing as the volume is rolled off. Seven sounds. The lil 59 SD Tele humbucker is a real screamer if used that way, or nice and fat but still has a lot of the Tele magic for clean sounds. Of course, its a matter of how the player wants to use the twelve string. Most people don't use 12 strings for solid lead lines, which the lil 59 is excellent for. But they are worth checking out, I was impressed. One would want to maintain some Tele mojo soundwise for a twelve if it looks like a Tele. With a four wire neck humbucker and 2 x three pos switches even more combinations available. Either that or one can use two pos switches for coil splits. There is a volume drop for parallel humbucker wiring, and only a subtle change, but it still made a difference under some amp settings and in the centre blade switch position with the neck tele as well it was quite a nice sound. I personally think it is important to use a parallel resistor and capacitor and get the values just right if you want to use the treble bleed circuit. That depends on the pickups and the volume pot value. You probably know, from what I see so far of your post. Cheers, Ross

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers for the reply Ross. Not at all I haven't done much reading up on wiring, circuitry etc. I know the pickups I like the sound of and I have a few random ones sitting around that I hate. I haven't found a dimarzio pickup that I like yet. I have a few Benedetto B6 series pickups I wouldn't mind trying at some point.

My current strat has a Seymour Duncan Tele® Chrome STK-T1n in it and I really like the mellow sound of that. Apparently the Bare Knuckle Tele Pickups are real good according to a few of the guys on the forum.

Do the Oil capacitors live up to the hype?

Stu

All I really plan on doing with the 12 string is just playing some chorusy delay soaked jazzy chords and try and melt my own face off

[old_picker]

just built a double neck and used the gotoh 12 string bridge. It is a very good bridge btw. The best way is to have the ferrule holes staggered. Attempting to line them up in a straight line on the back of the guitar and have them staggered on the front of the guitar will cause you a bad headache.

I use a pin to locate the holes in the front. The pin is lined up exactly with the drill bit. It is a failsafe way of lining up holes front and back and works perfectly wether the holes on top are staggered or in a straight line.

Easiest to measure to the theoretical witness point of the treble E string which is scale plus 2.5mm if I remember rightly. You'll need to line up the drone saddle in line with the main saddle and set it forward with a couple threads visible on the saddle adjuster screw. You'll need take off all the saddles except treble E. Center punch one screw hole through the bridge plate drill and screw on the bridge. Square it up, drill and put in another screw. string up on drone saddle and check your intonation. is right - if not you might have to fill the holes and redo. if you measure everything up real good though you should get it in one go.

Hope this makes some kind of sense
Ray

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers Ray I'm doing mock up in some scraps before hand so I can dial in the bridge. I'll use your tips to get there. It seems like one of those bridges that you really need to get 100% perfect due to the small amount of movement in the saddles. It's a well made bridge just a bit on the small side.

Stu