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I'm currently planning my 17th build, the first 16 have been dreads 6 and 12 string.
This one will be a O Martin. i have the bending form and outside mold from John Hall.
I'd like to keep a longer scale (25.34 or 24.9)
Laying it out as a 12 fret it looks like the bridge will be way down on the lower bout.
If I lay it out as a 14 fret I like where the bridge ends up.
My question is it way out of line to make a 14 fret O?

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I think it can look terrific.

http://acousticletter.com/shop/martin-0 ... rettyPhoto

cheers,SteveG

Should work fine. Remember, the bridge and nut both move, so it shouldn't be by much. For an O type, It would be nice to see how the short scale works out on a 14 fret.

Brent

I built a couple of 14 fret parlours, based roughly on the antes plans, have been well received. Used the martin short scale.

24.9 is the short scale, which Martin used on most 0-size guitars. But there is nothing wrong with using the long scale.....provided you put the X-braces and soundhole in the right places.

That guitar is the 14-fret 0 body shape. John Hall sells the 12-fret 0 body mold, which is a longer body.

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John

Dave, the 14 fret 0 is one of my favorite size guitars. Here is a picture of one I finished a few weeks ago. 24.9" scale.

Chuck

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In contrast heres a 12 fret . We had a 1908 matin 042 i think it was ,we took a pattern off it .Really nice little guitars This one is headin back east this week.

I love the 14fret O I made a few years ago. I used a 25.4 scale and 1-3/4 nut. Like a small body OM. The bridge position had to shift 1/4" for the longer scale but it's not really noticeable
Do have the long body 12fret or short body 14fret mold?

The 12 and 14 fret body shapes and dimensions are a bit different. In case anyone's interested, here are measurements. Older Martins have slightly varying dimensions so these are not necessarily descriptive of all Martin 0's. Some sources say the 14 fret model has a slightly deeper body but this is not the case with my 0-17.

12 fret measurement from: 1910 Martin 0-28 Serial #11039
According to http://www.guitarbench.com/2009/03/28/1 ... -database/

14 Fret measurements from: 1933 Martin 0-17 Serial # 53358
According to my own measurements

All measurements in inches. The columns do not line up to due formatting limitations of the forum software.

Model: .........12 fret ...... 14 fret
Body length: 19 1/8 ..... 18 1/4
Upper bout: ......... 9 ½ ..... 10
Lower bout .. 13 1/2 ..... 13 1/2
Depth upper: 3 3/8 ..... 3 3/8
Depth lower: 4 3/16 ... 4 3/16
Nut width: ..1 7/8 ..... 1 11/16
12th fret width: 2 5/16 .. 2 1/4

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[quote="Quine" Do have the long body 12fret or short body 14fret mold?[/quote]
I should have said that I do have a 12 fret body mold.
Thanks to everyone this is helping me.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.