Ladder Braced 12 String, Long Scale

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks Waddy, sure enuff something addictive about building guitars! And have you noticed, each guitar has new songs and riffs to teach you?

Joe

[Dennis Leahy]

Joe,

That's a cool axe! Between you and Hesh, I'm really warming up to the idea of black tops.

So, how long is the "long scale" on this?

Dennis

[Michael Boyle]

Joe:
I gotta talk to you about this. I'll do it in a PM though.
Michael

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks Dennis, scale on this is 26 1/2", tuned down to C,

Michael, I'm all ears.

Joe

[Michael Boyle]

Looks like all nose to me!!

[Joe Sustaire]

And here I thought you weren't going to embarrass me in public, you were going to send me a PM.

Joe

[Edward Powell]

Hey guys this is an update.

I've been aware for some time that the trebles seemed weak on this, and I just ran into this on my Ditson ladder brace where I tried a bridge doctor because of bellying and found that it really weakened the sound, especially the trebles. So I just went and pulled the BD out of this one and it really opened the sound back up. Now this one has an extra brace in front of the bridge so I think it will be all right.

Scale on this is 26 1/2" and it's tuned down two full steps to a C, giving you that old time 12 string sound. Sounds much more open. As I found on the Ditson, the BD certainly will save a guitar and level the top, but it leaves the sound kind of compressed, dampens the sparkle.

Least that's what I found,
Joe

What's a Bridge Doctor???

(beautiful 12-string Joe!)

[Joe Sustaire]

Hey Ed, it's the JLD Bridge Doctor, Stewart-MacDonald carries them, you can check out their catalog on line. It's a pretty cool device that attaches under the bridge plate and transfers the torque on the bridge to the tailblock. It will level out the soundboard if you have a bellying problem from too thin a top or inadequate bracing. They can restore playability to a guitar whose action is too high due to soundboard deformation. So they do work, I just found that it did affect the sound. Kind of a trade-off to me, sometimes worth it, but not in this case for me.

Joe