Modified 12 string for lap slide?

[Brushwood]

Hey all, for under $100 I have a chance to buy a damaged/modified Seagull S12 Cedar which has been converted to a 6 string because the top half of the headstock is missing/broken off. I haven't seen it in person yet except for a couple of photos (it looks like it's been around the block a couple of times, but I don't mind the played in look). The seller says everything else's great with the guitar and a top crack has been professionally repaired by either East Tennessee's John Arnold or John Rushing (he can't remember which one). He said he traded for it to get the LR Baggs pickup. Anyway, what thoughts are there about using this as a beginning lap acoustic slide guitar. The nut width is 1.9 and the scale length is 24.84. Thanks for any advice.

[Ben M.]

12 strings are built to withstand the tension of 12 strings. I'm afraid it wouldn't sound very good strung with 6.

I've never had much luck getting a good slide sound out of dreadnought sized guitars either.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

12 strings are built to withstand the tension of 12 strings. I'm afraid it wouldn't sound very good strung with 6.

I've never had much luck getting a good slide sound out of dreadnought sized guitars either.

This is a standard answer for can I string my 12 string with 6 strings. I've done it a few times years ago (the only steel string guitar I owned was a 12 string at the time) and it worked. Was it the guitar's optimum sound? Probably not.

However this use case is different. Many slide guitars are strung with heavier gauge strings and while many common slide tunings are dropped tunings, some (open E for example) are raised tunings. I'm also guessing that the OP is looking at a good deal price on this damaged guitar.

[tdq]

I tried that a while back. It didnt really work, the 12 body is pretty big to sit on your lap and it didnt really sound great. It was a bit of a shocker to start with though and my "conversion" was a bit sloppy - so YMMV.