Making string sets for any 12 string tuning

[Slight Return]

Got a Blueridge 12 string on eBay earlier this year for around 120 bucks because it had some easily repairable damage.

Been using this lately:


.012/.012, .016/.016, .022w/.011, .030w/.015, .040w/.020w, .056w/.028w

And tuning to C standard. From there I sometimes go to open G, open C, and open D to play Kottke songs.

Still don't have this figured out yet. I do like lighter gauge strings and tuning lower since my left hand has a disability (no muscle in the thumb area) which makes it very hard to fret, especially do bar chords, unless there's not a whole lot of string tension.

I based this on a "progressive tension" string theory I found on Jemsite.

I started out on electric, and still mostly play that, and on my Strat I use an .008, .011, .015, .022, .030, and .042. The light gauge makes playing a lot easier and I much prefer this to what I used to use, a standard .009 to .042 set.

Also throwing this out there:

The intonation is WAY off. 12 strings pose a unique problem. Somewhere I found a guy who made 3 individual saddles for the 12 string, and scalloped each of them. The octave strings intonate much farther forward than the lower strings and this is one way to do it.

There's simply no way that the wound and unwound strings can be on the same saddle and intonate perfectly. The differential is just too great.

And it's off by so much that I think correctly intonating the guitar would actually change the string tension, possibly to significant extent on the low E and A strings.

I've been using Juststrings.com for all my purchases, by the way. The brand name bulk strings they have are very good in my experience and dirt cheap. 12 .012 gauge strings will run you around 2.90. Can't beat that.

Anyway, lots more experimenting to go.

[12 string]

This helps with intonation:



' Strang