shorter scale for twelve string?

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by Earl49

No problem, Jayne.

BTW, I have since contacted Sean and decided to go shorter still to 24.6" scale. To experiment, I played my Taylor tuned to Eb and capo'ed at the first fret, for an effective 24" scale length. After a couple of weeks, I like that.

24" scale... right at the stock X7 neck scale.

[merlin666]

My Guild Orpheum 12 string has a 24.75 scale. This works very well for 12th fret at the body and produces a lot of volume with the bridge moved back. I find the short scale comfortable to play but of course a bit tricky for notes that require access to 14th fret but not impossible. I find this guitar much less chimey than the bigger ones but that may also be due to other build characteristics. I haven't tried a lower tuning on it yet as it is set up with low action.

[s11141827]

The shorter scale length helps keep the tension of the High G String down so it's much less likely to break. I've come across these Santa Cruz Parabolic (aka Balanced) Tension 12 string Acoustic Guitar strings which are EQ'd to allow for an amazing balance between Tone & Playability.