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Old 02-23-2008, 10:35 AM
poorbs poorbs is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: East Texas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smurf42 View Post
"12-string guitars are braced for much more tension; using just 6 strings will likely cause neck problems and give you a dead sound."

I never thought of that....has anyone confirmed this? Grabbing a 12 and converting it to a 6 looks like my only choice at the moment, so I would be interested in this comment.....
Don't sweat it - I had a 12 string I bought back in 1980, and after deciding that 12 strings weren't for me, changed it over to a 6 string and it sounded fine. If you want, you can always add tension by increasing the gauge of the strings you put on it. Regarding the neck, if it has a truss rod, a simple tweak there will correct any backward bow, but I doubt you'll need to do that - the tension difference isn't that great.

If you're thinking about buying a 12 string and then converting it, take a look down the neck with all the strings tuned up to pitch, then tune just the strings you would remove down to slack and look down the neck again. If the difference looks like it might be a problem, check to see if there's a truss rod.
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