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Nylon 12-string guitar?


nellsalot

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Does anyone know if there are any nylon string 12s in existence? I did a quick search on the web and there seems to have been a couple made by obscure luthiers. It seems like an interesting idea, sort of like a cross between a guitar and a lute.

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Originally posted by nellsalot

Does anyone know if there are any nylon string 12s in existence? I did a quick search on the web and there seems to have been a couple made by obscure luthiers. It seems like an interesting idea, sort of like a cross between a guitar and a lute.

 

 

The guitar eveloved from the lute, and all guitars were origionally gut strung, later nylon, before steel strung came along. It only in recent history that classical strings gained wound treble strings in terms of the history of the guitar.

 

The lute was basically a 12 string short scale guitar, I have a great illustrated history of the guitar which describes this evolution in some detail.

 

You will probably find it possible to order a 12 string Nylon from most smaller manufacturers, though I cannot recall ever having seen one, other than in books of course, but that doesn't really count.

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I've seen two in my life...one, that was made in the Phillipines, about 20 years ago (made by a local builder and I think they're not uncommon there) and the other was made from a very nice Yamaha classical...it had been in a car-wreck and the neck was broken, so a friend's son, who is a very good luthier-in-training, built a neck for it, just to see how it would work...I'm trying to talk him into selling it to me! :D

 

Both are set up as "double fundamental", not octave strung, btw.

 

I've read that Leo Kottke has a custom-built one, too...maybe a Kohno.

 

Also, I've seen 12-string folklauts (guitar-strung lutes from Germany).

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  • 12 years later...
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Oh cool - welcome to the forum! If you were wondering why you haven't had any replies to your photo it looks like you've posted it as a visitor message to your own user so nobody will have seen it I don't think.

 

Cool looking guitar! I can't imagine what it's like to get/keep in tune based on my experience with nylon strings.

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How's the intonation with that plan?
.

 

 

Pretty good - within a few cents on all strings at the 12th fret - certainly as good as any other 12 string I've played. I suspect you might have problems if you used a monofilament G string but the wound G works fine and its narrower width fits in better with the set.

 

For anyone interested, the main set strings are La Bellla 850W (E and B strings are gold monofilament nylon, G to E strings are bronze wound on multifilament nylon). The octaves are nickel-steel (electric guitar) strings of gauges: 09, 11, 08, 12, 16, 24

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Is it hard to keep it in tune?

 

 

No. Not at all. Contrary to expectations the nylon strings seem to keep their tuning better than the steel octaves - which are always slightly sharp when the guitar is left for a while. But once I've tuned up they stay in tune as well as any 6 string.

 

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  • 7 months later...
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I have a very old unmarked 12 string thats a classic style .Its very cheap and cheerful and I got it for a fiver on Gumtree.It does have a convex back and sound reasonable .It has a truss rod of all things so action is OK and almost redeems the whole thing .it works as twelve string but my hands dont .its just too wide and too much pressure so I have just put 6 steel strings on .I may set it up for nylon 6 string or even 12 string nylon .It has a ply photoflame top and even that is covered by some epoxy resin in places so cosmetically horrible .I will try to post a photo or two .

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