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Joined:
July 2016
Posts: 5
| I've recently acquired a 1115-4. At the moment, it's my only 12-string. I'm an intermediate-level fingerpicker with fat fingers, so I've been looking at ways to make myself some room. In particular, I've been trying various string arrangements. At the moment, I'm using singles for courses 5 & 6 and normal stringing (octave or paired) for 1 through 4. This has given me a bit over 0.25" edge-to-edge between strings/courses. That's a worthwhile improvement. I'm going to try paired (non-octave) for courses 3 & 4 in a week or so -- not for space, but as an experiment in tone.
To make these "experiments" have any value, I need to have a nut that's properly spaced and cut. I have a decent caliper and bought some good nut files, but decided that I needed something more than a Stew-Mac ruler to get the kind of spacing precision that I wanted. So I wrote an Excel spreadsheet that allows a lot of flexibility in input and provides fence locations for the 0.010" saw I use to locate my initial cuts. (I use my caliper to act as the saw fence.)
I'm trying to attach a copy of the Excel file, but my abiliity to use these web tools is even more limited than my ability to play the guitar. If the file is accessible, great. I hope it's useful. If it's not, PM me with your e-mail address if you want a copy.
Edited by yellowesty 2016-07-14 6:20 PM
Attachments
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 12 String Nuts.xlsx (41KB - 5 downloads)
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Joined:
July 2016
Posts: 5
| I've been playing the string arrangement I described above (paired 1 & 2, octave 3 & 4, single 5 & 6) and continue to have the problem with fingerpicking that a fingernail occasionally hits only one of the double strings. When it's in course 1 or 2, that's not really a problem, but when it's in course 3 or 4, I usually hit only the octave string and that doesn't work. So I got out the nut files and some single strings and dispensed with the octave strings on courses 3 & 4. I now have paired strings on 1 - 4 and singles on 5 & 6.
It works. And surprisingly well. It's far easier for me to play and most of the "12-string sound" is still present. I was truly surprised by how much 12-string sound remained. I initially thought that might be the result of the paired strings striking each other, but I don't think that's it. Even when I play very softly, so that the string excursions are quite small, the characteristic sound is present. I believe it's the inevitable result of two strings that are never tuned exactly the same. In any case, I'm quite pleased with the arrangement and will be playing it going forward.
I encourage others to give it a try. Hey, a $5 nut blank and an hour of cutting and filing and you have a whole new guitar experience. And you may like it! |
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Joined:
July 2016
Posts: 5
| Thinking about this some more, it's not really that surprising that replacing the octave strings with paired strings retains the "12-string sound." If we normalize the frequencies to, say 1000 hz, in an octave situation, the primay string has a fundamental at 1000 and harmonics at 2000, 3000, 4000, etc. while the octave has a fundamental at 2000 and harmonics at 4000, 6000, 8000, etc. So if we use two fundamental strings, we haven't lost any frequencies, we've actually added more -- though certainly the spectral balance has changed somewhat. |
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Nut Calcuator -- esp. for 12-strings
