12 (Twelve) String Thunderbird

[bassbenj]

That's just sick man! Looks awesome

I absolutely agree...and I'm about the least T-bird fanboy out there, But your project actually has me considering one of those neck-divey things! By the way it looks like there is enough wood on the headstock to sort of move the last three tuners closer to the edge to sort of fix the string overlap problem (next time).
Killer project!

 

[themarshall]

Nicely done, sir! I salute your vision and execution in the face of those that said it couldn't be done.

 

[Shovel]

This is seriously the best thing I've seen in a while. I have no experience with twelve string basses (only guitars, and they're a real bitch to tune) but you proved the naysayers wrong and made one of the coolest looking basses I've ever seen.

 

[Larry V]

I absolutely agree...and I'm about the least T-bird fanboy out there,

Can't you pay your compliment without the shot at TBirds?

 

[TBird1958]

Well done Sir! Very well done.

Seems quite a few of your naysayers have disappeared

 

[Bassmanmike1]

Well done Sir! Very well done.

Seems quite a few of your naysayers have disappeared

That's what I thought too.
Great job! Can't wait to hear it.

 

[chromium]

Hey Chromium,

Thanks for the picutre! Wondering, do you have a photo of your Hamer at the nut? I'd love to see how tight the octaves are there. I was a little concerned about getting them too tight and causing interplay buzzing between strings...

I snapped one for you. The nut is 1.75" on this one... for reference.

Also, I forgot to mention, I'm using the SIT stainless steel 12 string set. They are really bright!

It's all subjective... but I tend to favor the nickel rounds. A little less ziiiing, and easier on the frets.

If it helps (and at the advice of another member here), I started building up my own sets using bass and guitar strings. I like D'Addarios, and so on my Hamer B8S I'm currently using a set of EXL220Ms for the roots (95s, but with a .045 G from an EXL170 set), and the bottom four strings from a pack of EXL110BT balanced tension 10s for the octaves. Working out pretty good so far. If I restring my B12s, I'll probably do the same thing - just adding a second octave of the same gauge.

Not sure if/how the guitar strings would fit a long scale, though. Gotta redo my 4003s/8 at some point, and so I'll find out soon enough.

 

[Nocturnal]

This project turned out fantastic!!!! Between this project and living so near Chromium's sphere of bad influence, I am feeling the urge to buy a 12er myself!!!

 

[Yools]

Nice work! That is truly stunning.

I just found this thread. I thought it was kinda funny reading all the replies that said it was it was impossible, especially since this...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

... is already several years old.

- Y

 

[bassbenj]

Can't you pay your compliment without the shot at TBirds?

What kind of "shot" at T-birds is it when I say I'm no fanboy, but then say that I love this project so much I'm considering building one myself? By the way, my 8 string (Carlo Robelli) had serious neck dive as well and I had to install a strap button extension to fix it. A 12 string T-bird would be a nice step up and the dive-fix extender would probably work as well there too.

 

[L. L. Elwood]

I snapped one for you. The nut is 1.75" on this one... for reference.

It's all subjective... but I tend to favor the nickel rounds. A little less ziiiing, and easier on the frets.

If it helps (and at the advice of another member here), I started building up my own sets using bass and guitar strings. I like D'Addarios, and so on my Hamer B8S I'm currently using a set of EXL220Ms for the roots (95s, but with a .045 G from an EXL170 set), and the bottom four strings from a pack of EXL110BT balanced tension 10s for the octaves. Working out pretty good so far. If I restring my B12s, I'll probably do the same thing - just adding a second octave of the same gauge.

Not sure if/how the guitar strings would fit a long scale, though. Gotta redo my 4003s/8 at some point, and so I'll find out soon enough.

Cool. Thanks for the photo. Yeah, they're a lot tighter than my 12. I think i'm going to try bringing the octaves in closer. Thanks for the suggestion on the strings too. I really like D'addarios and use Prosteels on my Jazz pretty much exclusively.

 

[L. L. Elwood]

What kind of "shot" at T-birds is it when I say I'm no fanboy, but then say that I love this project so much I'm considering building one myself? By the way, my 8 string (Carlo Robelli) had serious neck dive as well and I had to install a strap button extension to fix it. A 12 string T-bird would be a nice step up and the dive-fix extender would probably work as well there too.

If the wide leather strap doesn't do the job, i'll check that out. THanks!

 

[car_man65]

That is absolutely KILLER. I'm not a huge fan of T birds but... This is making me want one

 

[bassvi]

I love it,beautiful job!

 

[Ric5]

Nice conversion job!

 

[themarshall]

^ High praise from the conversion guru.

 

[tbz]

As a former nay sayer, I must eat my words, and instead now say, yay!

Great job, it honestly looks amazing.

 

[aquamentus]

I love how this turned out and how you proved the naysayers wrong.

 

[L. L. Elwood]

Cool. Thanks for the photo. Yeah, they're a lot tighter than my 12. I think i'm going to try bringing the octaves in closer. Thanks for the suggestion on the strings too. I really like D'addarios and use Prosteels on my Jazz pretty much exclusively.

I went ahead and copied your Hamer spacing. MUCH better and superior playability. Also i brought the octaves together down at the bridge.. Much better as well.. One additional tweak I made was I notched the saddles deeper to even the playing plane... if that makes any sense.. big improvement!

 

[mapleglo]

This conversion, and the two 12 string builds over on the Luthier's Corner are contributing to my ever increasing gas. Very nicely done!