B-Bender on a 12 string

[John Beland]

Now I've seen everything. Very very neat!!
JB
www.johnbeland.com

[hotraman]

This is great...
does G & L offer that guitar for sale, or custom order?

[helle_man]

Originally Posted by hotraman

This is great...
does G & L offer that guitar for sale, or custom order?

.

No, it's not a standard G&L that you can order. Maybe down the road. It's an experimental model that my guitar tech/builder Mac Whiteside in Austin made for me.

It currently is back in his shop for modification (had intonation/tuning problems). When I get it back I'll try and do a sound sample for you guys.

12 strings are hard beasts to tame. The B-Bender part is easy.

.

[City Sirens]

How hard would it be to assemble a guitar like that with off the shelf parts?

[helle_man]

Originally Posted by City Sirens

How hard would it be to assemble a guitar like that with off the shelf parts?

.

Oddly enough, this 12 string is done with some off the shelf parts that Mac Whiteside in Austin helped round up. The body & pickups are G&L, but the neck is actually a Peavey (G&L didn't have one that could accommodate tuners on both sides of the headstock) that's been fashioned by Mac to look like a G&L.

The bridge is from a G&L Tribute, but the saddles are Gotoh, as well as the tuners (3+3X2). The pickguard is a Chandler, and of course a Hipshot rounds it out.

So it's pretty close to being off the shelf. It's a work in progress, and we're still working out little bugs. For instance, the Peavey neck requires an odd wrench for adjusting the neck which I did not possess, and it's hard to get it just right. The saddles are also tricky to adjust for perfect intonation. 12 strings are funny animals.

So I encourage you to try building one yourself with whatever you can scrounge up. Be prepared for challenges though.

I actually also have a '65 Fender 12 string with a Hipshot that I used on a few Hellecaster albums. It works great. I had Mac do this one because I wanted Z coils which are dead quiet. I'll post pix soon.


.

[hotraman]

I owned a Carvin Acoustic/electric 12 string a few years ago.
Great electronics and tone.
But I sold it and haven't looked back.
For me, my left hand got sore.
I switched to a mandolin and enjoy that more.

[City Sirens]

Originally Posted by helle_man

.

Oddly enough, this 12 string is done with some off the shelf parts that Mac Whiteside in Austin helped round up. The body & pickups are G&L, but the neck is actually a Peavey (G&L didn't have one that could accommodate tuners on both sides of the headstock) that's been fashioned by Mac to look like a G&L.

The bridge is from a G&L Tribute, but the saddles are Gotoh, as well as the tuners (3+3X2). The pickguard is a Chandler, and of course a Hipshot rounds it out.

So it's pretty close to being off the shelf. It's a work in progress, and we're still working out little bugs. For instance, the Peavey neck requires an odd wrench for adjusting the neck which I did not possess, and it's hard to get it just right. The saddles are also tricky to adjust for perfect intonation. 12 strings are funny animals.

So I encourage you to try building one yourself with whatever you can scrounge up. Be prepared for challenges though.

I actually also have a '65 Fender 12 string with a Hipshot that I used on a few Hellecaster albums. It works great. I had Mac do this one because I wanted Z coils which are dead quiet. I'll post pix soon.


.

The big "if" for me before starting a project like that would be b string itself. Does it attach to the mechanism without further modifications to the mechanism itself?

[City Sirens]

Originally Posted by helle_man

.

Oddly enough, this 12 string is done with some off the shelf parts that Mac Whiteside in Austin helped round up. The body & pickups are G&L, but the neck is actually a Peavey (G&L didn't have one that could accommodate tuners on both sides of the headstock) that's been fashioned by Mac to look like a G&L.

The bridge is from a G&L Tribute, but the saddles are Gotoh, as well as the tuners (3+3X2). The pickguard is a Chandler, and of course a Hipshot rounds it out.

So it's pretty close to being off the shelf. It's a work in progress, and we're still working out little bugs. For instance, the Peavey neck requires an odd wrench for adjusting the neck which I did not possess, and it's hard to get it just right. The saddles are also tricky to adjust for perfect intonation. 12 strings are funny animals.

So I encourage you to try building one yourself with whatever you can scrounge up. Be prepared for challenges though.

I actually also have a '65 Fender 12 string with a Hipshot that I used on a few Hellecaster albums. It works great. I had Mac do this one because I wanted Z coils which are dead quiet. I'll post pix soon.


.

Also, exactly what Hipshot bender is installed in this guitar?

[helle_man]

Originally Posted by City Sirens

Also, exactly what Hipshot bender is installed in this guitar?

.

It's just a the simplest B Bender Hipshot makes, no detuners or bells or whistles. It just bends the B string, although you could configure it to bend any string.


.

[City Sirens]

This guitar will not let me sleep until I make one for myself...

[FirstBassman]

Still waiting for clips . . .

[varakeef]

Hmmm... I do have an old Hagström 12-stringer (H12) and I have a hipshot bender in my tele. Please someone stop me to take a step into this lunacy.

[play_loud]

+1 on wanting to hear clips! Oh man.. I wont be able to sleep at night until I do hear it!

[City Sirens]

I keep coming back to this thread.

What does it mean?

[Birdmankustomz]

Off topic just for a second, are Z coils like the P-bass pickups (where theres 2 small pickups together to hum cancel)? I don't know how they work and I'm curious, lol

[jefrs]

Why bend two strings when you can bend all 12

The knock-off licensed B7 has longer pins than usual and can accommodate a pair, the spring doesn't seem to have any problems. Unfortunately the neck is far too narrow...

[Helle-Man]

Originally Posted by Birdmankustomz

Off topic just for a second, are Z coils like the P-bass pickups (where theres 2 small pickups together to hum cancel)? I don't know how they work and I'm curious, lol

They are like 2 pickups wired to cancel hum. But unlike, say, a Gibson Humbucker with 2 coils side by side, these coils, because of the way the 2 coils are arranged have a wider frequency response than the Gibson type. The Z's are like having a powerful, quiet single coil.

Hope that clarifies things.
WR

[jefrs]

Originally Posted by Helle-Man

They are like 2 pickups wired to cancel hum. But unlike, say, a Gibson Humbucker with 2 coils side by side, these coils, because of the way the 2 coils are arranged have a wider frequency response than the Gibson type. The Z's are like having a powerful, quiet single coil.

Hope that clarifies things.
WR

So it is like a P-Bass.

Still off-topic - you can cheat a full-size humbucker into doing this by removing six of the pole screws, so it looks like a WRHB but the missing pole screws do not sense the strings, it is still humbucking, and reduced output. Novelty value.

[Retropicker]

This is an awesome thread.

[PapaLion]

I hesitate to add this here? For 12 strings that are too tough to play because of string tension, Try a modified Drop D tuning beginning with "C" as the #11 an 12> F for the next two etc... This requires experimenting with heavier strings to improve the intonation and the buzzing but eventually it will work. The sound is not quite Baritone but it can be very rich. This is probably well known on the site, I just haven't read a great deal here yet. A bonus, U can read C sheet music and play right along
The Bender info is inspiring, got a '68 stashed away and an old ? maybe early Glaser model I robbed from a '64 Tele.