Official Luthiers Forum!

I am in the final works of finishing my 10th guitar, and am in the process of planning my next one. Taylor recently unveiled thier 9 string guitar, which intrigued me greatly as I have considered a 12 string for quite some time.

My only questions about doing a 9 or 12 string are:

How much space should I allow between the double strings? It doesn't appear to be more than a millimeter or so in the pictures.

How much heavier should I brace the top?

I would really appreciate any other advice y'all could offer, as the 12/9 string idea is not new, but unfamiliar, as it is hard to find books on building a 12 string.

_________________
Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

How much space - its about 2-2.5mm at the nut, a bit more at the saddle .. go to a local store and measure one !!!

Bracing .. well, for a 9 string, you will need about 1.5 times the strength - check the total tension you will need at Daddarios site, then assuming 150 lbs for lights, and 180 for meds in a 6 string, do the math on the brace sizes (approx every one percent in height adds 3% in strength/stiffness). For a 12 string, you will need about twice the stiffness. You could make the top a bit heavier as well, but I wouldnt add too much there, make most of the changes in the bracing.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Jake the thickness of the top and the heaviness of the bracing really depend largely on the guage strings you use. While you may get away with tops around .1 with light strings, real cables are going to need a LOT more thickness. My string guages run .070-.014" so my tops are really thick and the sound is fat and strong. If you are looking for a 'harpy' 12 stay on the light side...if you are looking for Leadbelly...

Tony has given good advise so I reall don't have much to add there.

I did want to say something about 9 stings. I have not seen the new Taylor so I am not sure which string they are double coursing. In the 70s Alvarez and Alvarez-Yairi made a 9 string with the G, b, and e double coursed. I owned the Yairi version and loved it. I much preferred to play the 9 string Gg, bb, ee over any 12 string. I have built 1 SJ as a 9 string I used .0625" 1.6mm at the nut (1 15/16" nut width) and 3/32 at the bridge pin but used a six pin configuration with the last three pins holes being oversized pins with double slotted for the double course strings. E-D pins were standard spacing as on a 2 1/8" Martin pin spacing but shifted towards the bass side by 3/64" and the G-e pins were wider spacing but I dot remember exactly what right off the top of my head but I calculated there spacing at center between course stings

The Taylor is doubled DGB .... headstock is 4 and 5 tuners per side ....

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks guys,

I'll measure a few (I don't know why I didn't think of that ) and see what ones I like. I'm planning to use light-gauge strings on this one, just for the record.


One thing I thought of as I was reading the other responses, should I not scallop as deeply as normal, or is it still ok to do standard scallops on taller bracing?

You guys are great, and I appreciate the time you take to help out rookies like me!

_________________
Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~