post-ngd report-

[jd-drafter]

well i have yet to get decent pic's of the bargain basement rogue herring bone 12 string- been to busy playing it! 8^)

 

that is something else- those extra 6 strings really add a whole new layer of sound-

 

as for the guitar- it's a great git- for the money- i mean for $80-$100 you almost can't go wrong-

 

it took a couple hour's with my dad to get it dialed it close to where it needs to be- we sanded about 60-70 thousandths off the saddle (actually intonated pretty well) and deepened the string slot's at the peg's on the octave strings-

 

my dad wants to take another 30 thou. off, recut the peg slot's for the normal strings, and level out the fret's-

 

i think it will need a truss rod adjustment as well- it seem like i can watch the action rise as i tune it up-

 

after leaving it over night i normally find it flat by 1/2 note- is that 1/2 cent?

 

after a tune up - the sound is really nice-

 

the finish is glossy- and maybe a bit thick- but over all no glaring errors-

 

the herring bone purfling is actual wood- my dad got out the jewlers loupe to verify-

 

i'll try and get some pic's asap-

 

back to work-

 

jjd

[Stackabones]

Cool update!

[jd-drafter]

thanks-

 

it feels like i am missing something in my explanation-

 

but i have played it alot in the few days i have had it- played the whole family to sleep friday night- first the wife- then the oldest daughter- then the youngest-

 

i call my self assumed style "trance-acoustic" 8^) sort of reminds me of robbie basho esque' tone- very rythmic- simple melody etc..

 

i need to get a clip on youtube- i have actually considered doing the local open mike night- just play a couple self styled compositions- we'll see-

 

jjd

[Broadus]

Thanks for the update. Looks like it's working out well. Amazing what can be done with an inexpensive git.

 

Bill

[jd-drafter]

it really is- and i tried to go into it knowing that is was a MIC low end unit-

 

realistically we'll be putting another $100 dollars in time into the setup- i will owe my dad i am sure- or we'll call it even for all the filming i have done-

 

so if i bought one that was $100 more- would i be in the same place at the end of the day? i don't thing so- i'll take this el-cheapo' with my dad's setup over a much higher priced unit any day-

 

he is forcasting that it will need a neck reset within 6 months- when or if it does- he has a method for that that can integrate a strap button into the heal with a through bolt- to tie it all together- so we shall see-

 

jjd

[Broadus]

Sounds like your dad is quite the tech to have around.

 

Bill

[jd-drafter]

aside from my obvious bias as a son- the things i have seen him do just amaze me.

 

he sprayed an amazing sunburst finish on an old archtop a few weeks ago- he then used a razor blade to remove the paint from the edge of the guitar body and the "f" holes- it transformed from a plain old archtop with a sunburst finish- into one that looked fully bound...

 

every time i go visit him there is another guitar brought back from the dead- acoustic, electric, mandolin, fiddle, anything with a string i say-

 

he loves to do setup's on new instruments- just to see how bad they are from the factory- he get's out his straight edge and checks the fret's, and the neck angle.. etc.. i can't say enough about him and his abilities- i am very lucky- and i hope to learn more of that from him as time goes by-

[Simon76]

Did you share here a woodworking web site that your dad has?

[jd-drafter]

actually it's not wood working so much- but he does have a web page

 

www.eddowling.com it's "under construction" but it explain a bit about him- and has some of his song's on it-

 

also my signature has a youtube link to clips of my dad and our guitars- as well as 2 other links to photo's of some guitar's

 

he has more of a mechanical engineering background- as well as a silversmith, leather worker, musician, hippie and luthier... 8^)

[DeepEnd]

 

. . . after leaving it over night i normally find it flat by 1/2 note- is that 1/2 cent? . . .

 

No. As an example, the G string is fairly close to 200 Hz at concert pitch (roughly 196 Hz). 1/2 "cent" or percent would be about 1 Hz or--if the guitar were flat by that much--about 195 Hz. If by 1/2 note you mean a half tone, that's about 6% so if the G were 1/2 tone flat it would be about 185 Hz.

[jd-drafter]

 

No. As an example, the G string is fairly close to 200 Hz at concert pitch (roughly 196 Hz). 1/2 "cent" or per cent would be about 1 Hz or--if the guitar were flat by that much--about 195 Hz. If by 1/2 note you mean a half tone , that's about 6% so if the G were 1/2 tone flat it would be about 185 Hz.

 

 

let's see- i have it tuned to open d (DADF#AD) (to reduce the tension on the neck and i like open tunings) and when i pick it up to tune the strings would be at the low end of the scale on my tuner- so the needle points to -50 cent - as i tune it up the needle will point straight up- the other end of the tuner show's +50 cent

 

so i think we mean the same thing- i am hoping the strings and tuner's eventually take a set and not fall out so much-

[OldGuitarPlayer]

let's see- i have it tuned to open d (DADF#AD) (to reduce the tension on the neck and i like open tunings) and when i pick it up to tune the strings would be at the low end of the scale on my tuner- so the needle points to -50 cent - as i tune it up the needle will point straight up- the other end of the tuner show's +50 cent so i think we mean the same thing- i am hoping the strings and tuner's eventually take a set and not fall out so much-

 

Congrats on your new 12 string.

 

Also...welcome to the world of tuning a 12 string and keeping it in tune. For some reason every person I know who has one seems to complain about keeping them in tune. I guess that is the trade off for the big soung they have. Every time I am at the music store I try out the 12 strings and the only one that I ever found to be in tune right off the rack and had excellent intonation was the Martin DX12.

 

Thanks again for the update and enjoy your new 12 string...now I want one

[jd-drafter]

for the mere sum of $100 you can get one that is setup for slide right out of the box 8^)

 

spend a bit more for a setup and it works fine for normal play-

 

really the tuning is not that bad- i may just need to tighten up the tuner's?

 

fun to play for sure-