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As I progress in my guitar building, I've found that there are things about my earlier work that I just can't stand. Recently I decided to fix some of those things on a couple of my early ones.

My first steel string (viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=25610), which I later converted to a 12 string (viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=27640), needed a new neck. The one it had was maple, which just made it too heavy, and the fingerboard was osage, which just doesn't look great.

So I made a new neck out of mahogany, changed the fingerboard to ebony, made the nut 1-7/8" instead of 2", and used a different design for the headstock.

While I was at it, I improved the neck angle (still not perfect), and removed a lot of material from the bridge. The result is a much more sensitive (responsive?) instrument. It's also louder, and sounds better in general.

Some pics:











It's still kinda ugly, but sounds great.


I'll talk about the other one I reworked, but I need to take some pictures first.

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

Some elements look good but I have to comment on a couple of things. What's up with the knife edge saddle? Were there intonation issues? Expect some string breakage on that. Also, the third pair of strings is backwards. Was that on purpose?

Phillip: I had the same questions re the saddle and intonation as Barry.It should be set up for each individual string rather than each pair. Think you have the G strings ok but your D,A,and low E pairs are reversed. Think Barry was looking at the picture the wrong way.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Hi guys,
There is a method to my madness. Yes, when I first built the guitar, I neglected to add the compensation when I located the bridge. I was hoping to compensate each string like you're supposed to do with 12's especially, but there just wasn't room. I even expanded the saddle slot 1/8"....

As for the strings being backwards, I've tried it both ways, and found that I tended to pluck the octave strings more than the regular, so I'm going to try it this way for a while, hoping for a more balanced sound.

Thanks for your comments,

_________________
Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

Nice guitar. I too have gone back and revised some of my early work. One of my best guitars is an old parlor that was acoustically terrible. I put a new top on and it is a completely different guitar.

As far as 12 strings go, traditionally the octave string is above the standard string. Interesting that you are trying some the other way.

Also, do you have any buzzing??? The reason why I ask is you have very deep nut slots.
I try to have my wound strings sitting about 50-70% in the slot and 30-50% in the slot.
The non wound about 80-100% in the slot.

As far as string compensation goes, you can individually compensate with a bone saddle on a 12 string but it takes a bit of work. I use a 3/16th wide saddle to have more real estate for this.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Nice bridge pins. Where'd they come from?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Looks really nice for an early guitar. Doing a 12 string kinda scares me. I had a Harmony 12 I did a neck re set on and cut a new nut for. It sold on ebay a while back (can't even remember how much for). It looks to me like your paired strings are pretty far apart. Maybe this is correct I don't know.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Howard : LMI has pins like those.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

There is a little buzzing on the "b" strings. I just haven't got around to finishing the nut, but I intend to.

Yes, I was hoping to individually compensate, but since I neglected to compensate the bridge, there wasn't room. This saddle is 1/4" wide.

I forgot to mention, the saddle is carbon fiber, and the nut is G-10





Thanks! I'm working on another 12'er, which will certainly surpass this one.

I set this guitar up to play in c# standard tuning, like Leo Kottke tunes his a lot. Hence the strings further apart.





I got these from Grizzly, who no doubt got them from LMI.

_________________
Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com