Ladder Braced 12 String, Long Scale

[Joe Sustaire]

This is a Stella type, grand concert size 12 string that has been hanging around over a year waiting for a finish. It was my second build, first from scratch, after doing a stew-mac 000 that started me down this mad path.

In hindsight I realize trying a 12 string for your first from scratch build with no plan probably isn't the smartest way to go. But I learned a lot, and it didn't turn out too bad. Sounds pretty good, and I think it's finally time to sand off the sweat stains and get it sealed up!



Here is the ladder bracing pattern I used. I basically copied a picture of the Stella 6 string bracing shown in the Stella book by Neil Harpe. I added the brace between the soundhole and the bridge-plate thinking that a 12 might need more support there, and I added the bracing on each side of the soundhole because I had repaired old ladder braced six strings that had buckled there because of a lack of bracing. You can see I'm proud, I signed the top twice. Later I figured out that I had overbuilt the top bracing, so went in with a little plane and carved down the added brace between the bridge-plate and the soundhole to about 1/4" tall. That seemed to open it up a lot.




Here are the sides, ribbon striped sapelle.




The top on and ready for the back.





The braced back







And on the neck I used a stew-mac hot rod truss and two carbon fiber rods, to handle the stress.





And there it is on the left, in the white but sounding good, next to the stew-mac 000.

So, for a finish I wanted a black top with natural back and sides. I had first seen this on a Huss and Dalton guitar ad in acoustic guitar, and then later saw Hesh use that finish superbly and was sold. I used a spray-can nitro lacquer black with a satin nitro spray-can clear over it. My surface prep wasn't perfect on this one and the year spent playing in the white told me I didn't want to try for a perfect glossy black finish on this one.



But I think it's gonna look pretty good.




Tung oil finish for the neck and back and sides.




Gluing on the bridge.

Can't wait to get it back together and finished. Stringing one up to see if it's going to work is not a bad idea, but it sure makes it hard take it back apart and finish it then. As I've done a few more builds I'm trying to get a handle on impatience!

Thanks for watching,
Joe

[MrZ]

Hey Joe i think looks fantastic, what you will use for top finish

Z

[Eben]

That sure is a pretty axe, Joe - Classic lines, nice color scheme - She's a keeper!

E

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks Eben and Z, it's got several coats of clear lacquer, satin sheen over the black. The satin finish makes it a little more forgiving of surface imperfections and future playing wear. At least that's my theory! I need to let it cure a bit more but I'm getting antsy to string it up.

Joe

[Joe Sustaire]

Okay, to catch up here.
After giving the finish several days to cure, I started stringing it up. As I got all the strings on and started tuning it up, the bridge let go with a big pop. After pulling out what's left of my hair I consulted our esteemed community with my problem. Eben asked for details and I explained. Since this guitar had been knocking around a little over a year in the white, it had a few dings and blemishes on the top which I filled with 5 minute epoxy, and spread with a squeegee. After it hardened I sanded it back as much as I could with a reciprocating sander, trying to get back to wood with just the dings filled, but couldn't ever quite get there. Kind of like pore filling with epoxy, you could still see a difference between the epoxy areas and unfilled areas. I then masked off the bridge area and finished top, back and sides.

I glued on the bridge with LMI white glue after fit sanding the bridge. Now I had fresh glue but had been keeping it in the fridge. I didn't let it warm to room temperature before using.

So the consensus seems to be that the glued failed because of the epoxy contaminated top not giving a wood to wood surface for the wood glue to bond to, with possible additional complications contributed by the cold glue. Thank you Grant and Eben for coming to my assistance on this.

The good news is that it is back together and playing and sounding good!
Here's how it looks,







Now notice here the pearl dots on each side of the bridge. When I glued again I went with HHG, my first time, and it went well. I also made sure to scrape the hell out of the bridge area and re-sand the back of the bridge. But since I was working with an epoxy contaminated top and had glue failure once, I decided to add a little insurance with a couple of bolts, adding a little mechanical connection as well.






And on the recommendation of Holy Ghost, Mike, I also added a bridge doctor under the bridge. It already had a little bellying from being strung up over a year, this has a 26 1/2" scale by the way with extra heavy strings. This took care of that and really improved the action and sound. Before it had too much resonance or ringing, this seemed to really tighten up the sound. Before it was like I had to slow down and simplify my notes or the sound would all just seem to run together, too much. Now it's doesn't do that and is a pleasure too play.




This just shows the visual contrast between this and the last parlor I built. Kind of funny.

Thanks for watching,
Joe

[D_H_G GUITARS]

Joe she is done and she looks very nice, you are building very nice stuff brother and you should be very proud of your achievements.
How does she sound, and I love the striping from the wood grin, I have not had a problem as of yet with the bridges, but yes old glue or area not preped right will cause failure.

Thxs
Hugh

[Hodges]

I love the black top!!

Well done my friend, well done indeed!

[gilmoreguitars]

Hey Joe
Love that 12 string! Nice work my friend!
david