question about 12 fret guitars

[billgennaro]

i often wonder about 12 fret guitars. do most of them have shorter scale lengths? is the body longer than usual to meet up at the 12th fret of the neck? or is the body the same size as a 14 fret in the same model but the bridge is placed further back on the top of the guitar? or are there endless combinations of all of these parameters?

i own an SCGC H13 (13 frets to the body) which is somewhere in the middle. their regular H model has 14 frets to the body, the same scale length, and the same body length of the H13. i guess that means the bridge is placed lower on the top on the H13 than the H. its a lot to digest sometimes.

bill

[Rick Homan]

Number of frets to the body really has nothing to do with scale length. 12-fretters can be short, long, in-between -- whatever the builder/buyer wants.

The really interesting stuff is the interplay of body shape and bridge placement. On my Trinity College 12-fret guitar, the body is the same as the 14-fret model; but it is as if the neck is pushed further into the body, and the bridge is placed further south to accommodate the scale-length which is the same as the 14-fret version. I really like this.

On Martins, there is definitely a 12-fret body (round shoulders) vs. a 14-fret body (flat shoulders) to clear a couple extra frets, though I think the bridge also moves slightly. One exception is the Norman Blake model which deliberately put a 12-fret neck on a body typically used for 14-fret design.

[sayheyjeff]

I like 12 fret guitars for a few reasons with comfort of reach my favorite reason. As I mentioned in a thread on 12 frets a while back,

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...2+fret+guitars

I have 12 fret guitars in a parlor, a 000, and a slope dred with a cutaway. Love to tell you I have had numerous opportunities to compare them A-B to similar 14 fret models, and that my ear is so sensitive, but I can't make either of those claims. Can tell you I really like the way each sounds and I like the way they sound when I play with others too. What I can and do play at this point has not made it necessary to have a 14 fret guitar so I haven't considered adding one. Do have the little LG1 and I enjoy playing it too. Another comfortable little guitar.

jeff

[Glennwillow]

My experience with 12-fret guitars is that they are all over the place. I have a Martin 000-28VS with a standard scale (not short) and with elongated body to meet the neck at the 12th fret. Here in the classifieds http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=195514 is a similar Martin, except with Adi top and cutaway, both nice improvements over my standard 000-28VS (mine has Sitka top, no cutaway). Martins HD-28VS is similar in design to my guitar except that it's a dreadnought. This is a very warm, big sounding dread.

Taylor's new 12-frets do not have elongated bodies, but plenty of others by Huss & Dalton, Froggy Bottom, Collings, Santa Cruz, do. I've been surprised at all the variations on 12-fret designs. Many of the small shop luthiers are building all kinds of designs. It's mind boggling...

Regards, Glenn

[mercy]

Traditionally 12 fret guitars were long bodies with long scale. When Martin went to 14 they cut off part of the upper bout and also moved the neck out some. Any variation is possible to the builder though as far as body shape, neck length, number of frets, placement of the bridge.