Mark Swanson's 12-string electric [pictures] - created 11-22-2007

Swanson, Mark - 11/22/2007.10:22:55
MIMForum Staff, Michigan

Ok, here's one that I just finished up, I figured that I would celebrate today by posting some photos.

This is a 12-string electric guitar. It was made for a customer and built to his specs. It's got a maple laminated neck with Cf bars inside and a walnut stripe. The body is quite chambered, just about as much as I could get it. The core of the body is ash, and the back and the top are figured maple.

It has a set neck, one volume knob and a selector switch, There is an on-board preamp (minibooster), there are times when this will be plugged directly into a mixing board and/or run down a snake so the preamp makes that possible. Here's a shot of the front...

And the back side.....By the way, I used the Stew-mac 12-string hardtail bridge and the holes in the bridge are un-even like that, they reflect the string compensation. I didn't drill them crooked.

Here's the peghead. The new owner is an artist and he designed the inlay himself. It's set in a walnut burl.

Here's a picture of the pickup and the bridge, this is a nice bridge and it's adjustable to set intonation for all 12 strings individually. Six strings load from the top side, and the other six come in from the back side.

I made these pickups. They use regular alnico magnets, and are single coil. We were after a "Ric" type of jingle-jangle, so I wanted to get the look of the toaster style pickup. I built these inside of mini-humbucker covers, and cut the top out of the pickup cover to make a chrome ring surrounding the pickup.

We got the jingly sound, big time.

The back of the neck, I used the lightest tuners I could find and the guitar is not neck heavy.

And here's the last one- sorry about the washed-out color on the top!

Rather tasteful, Mark. It's lack of robin's egg blue tint on the top was well considered and thoughtful.

Your work looks top notch as usual.

But I still think those sunken knobs look weird. And why would anybody not want to use drywall screws for neck attachment? Glued in necks are sooooo much of a commitment. And what's wrong with crooked ferrules?

Very nice! I like it a lot. It sure

looks

neck heavy, though.

I'm not keen on the sunken knob thing either and my string ferrels are always crooked... whether I like it or not. The bridge looks exactly like the bridge on my Dano 12 string.

MORE! -- tell me more about the pickups and the rings! Espcially the covers! What have you done to address the edge of the plating at the cut? Truely phenominal homebrew pickups and exactly what I'm looking for. With covers like that, there are so many options. You could make your own pickups, adapt strat pups to fit inside, use P90s and the ideas go on and on. Retro is what I need.

Elegant! That's the nicest 12-string headstock I've seen in a long time.

I don't have a problem with the sunken knob and switch, but I think the knob should be walnut, not black, and the switch should be chrome. The black is a harsh contrast with the brown and golden tones.

Lovely in every other way. It makes me want to bust out my 12-string.

Looks nice. I like the look of the sunken knobs.

You could always add a couple of drywall screw just for decoration if ran out of pearl, or if the client wanted some.

Thanks, friends!

The owner may well switch the knob out, but for now that one was all I had and I can't make a decent looking knob. (What- I can make a guitar but can't make a knob?) And a chrome switch knob is a great suggestion.

Mark, I used Gibson parts for the pickup rings, and the covers. Cutting the middle out of the cover wasn't easy, I kept wishing for a milling machine but I got it done. I just smoothed the edges with emery paper, there really wasn't anything I could do about them past that. So you can see the brass along the edge.

I wound them to 8K. The pickup has a brass plate on the bottom, and a regular forbon bobbin inside, it's quite a bit like a strat pickup as far as that goes, but it is shaped a bit flatter, like a P-90. I had wondered about using a ferrous metal plate for the bottom plate, which would make it more like a tele lead pickup, but I used brass instead. The minibooster really makes it rip! Lots of clean volume.

You have to be careful with an electric 12-string, because if you strum them agressively or play a lot of strings with any kind of attack it becomes very easy to turn the sound into mush. You need to have a clean sounding guitar that won't have a muddy low end and overwhelm the more delicate jingle that you want. You need to adjust your playing with that in mind, too.

For this type of tricky cutting, I've been considering building a table mounted spiral saw using a rotozip or a router with a 1/8" collet adapter. I often use the spiral bits to cut pickguard material. Comparatively speaking, the bits are cheap and they do a great job for pickguards. Doing this free-hand with a dremel can result in dangerous moments. I'm thinking a 12 X 12 kind of mini-router table with a highly rigid router mount with only a 1/4" hole and the entire assembly securely fastened to the the bench with the best lighting available. One of these bits should slice through thin brass and with the rigidity, you ought to be able to achieve fairly clean cuts.

For plastic and wood, that would be Ok, but you should not try and cut metal with a router. They run way too fast and indeed will make for some dangerous moments. I used an end mill, mounted in my drill press along with a makeshift jig for holding and sliding the pickup cover along the cut. I have a small drill press that is designed to work as a spindle sander also so it will take a little of the side thrust safely but you can run into trouble doing that with most drill presses because the chuck can come off.

I've got the large Rigid drill press that Home Depot was selling just a few years ago. I mounted an X/Y table to it and tried some milling on brass. Even going as slow as I could on the feed rate, the set up was just not a good idea and the noises my drill press was making told me that this was not a good idea. A properly constructed 30 year-old all cast iron drill press is on my shopping list. But for thin sheet brass, as in a pickup cover don't you think the high speed spiral bit would be okay? A holding fixture would probably save fingers from flying off. Rotozip recommends the tool for cutting aluminum sideing. The point here is the fiddly exercise of cutting the thin pickup covers and getting a clean cut without distortions. I recently fabricated a replacement shield fixture for a Les Paul and although certain precautions were needed to avoid one of those scary moments (I don't think they're funny anymore -- never did really), a carbide bit in my dremel worked very well for .015 brass. I'm not arguing at all and am very eager to hear what is said about this.

Well Mark, I consider my metalworking skills and knowledge pretty weak. So, I don't really know! It would be nice to learn more, there are those here who do know a lot more, Bill is a good metalworker and maybe he has some ideas. If we get into this, it would be best to start a new discussion.

Nicey-nice Mark. I can hear it jingle-jangle from here.

Really like the celtic inlay.

Clean and elegant. I really dig it. Way too slick on that cavity cover. I'm jealous of y'all that can get cuts that tight...

Is that Eastern maple on the top and back?

I'm sure it's maple from nearby, so yes it's eastern hard maple.

And if you look closely you can see a strip of binding around the edge of the cavity cover!

Wow! Nice work Mark. I love that body shape and the head stock is great. I think you have built that before right? Can we see the fret markers?

WOW! That is so nice. I can't find a fault, two thumbs up.

Far out Mark!

Very nice! Really clean and elegant. That's a pretty headstock!

I like it too. Nice and clean.

Great job Mark. Lotsa class

Yes, Excellent...

The sunken knobs seem to look better in contoured instruments. That's VERY nice though, and what a wood top!

Nicely done, Mark! I've always had a special place in my heart for 12-strings, and this one rocks.

The sunken knobs look so much more purposely placed than knobs that just seem to have been stuck onto a guitar as an afterthought, whether the instrument is contoured OR flat. You've even radiused the depressions, illustrating that you did indeed put some thought into every aspect of this guitar. The mad-as-a-hatter metal work on the pickups proves it, too. Very nice build, Mark.

Thanks you guys!

Swanky!

Beautiful Mark. I like the use of maple and walnut on your works. I am not a fan of the recessed knobs, either, but can't say what it is that stops my eye. I love the binding. Black against creamy maple sure is purty to me.

Thanks! That is actually a dark tortise binding.

That's beautiful Mark.

Wow, really beautiful. I've always liked the look of clear glossed maple. And that maple is very tasty looking. Did you cut the cavity cover with a dremel?

VERY nice, Mark!

I cut the back cover out of the back with a coping saw before I glued the back on the sides.

Beautiful! Tasteful! I love the look of the Maple. How do you like the sound?

I like it, but it's most important how the new owner likes it. I used the type of pickups that he wanted to get the jangly sound he was looking for.

Hi Mark, the guitar looks great, and I'm sure it sounds great on Beatles tunes. How did you cut the recesses for the knobs? I have used a large cove bit with the bearing removed, but I always get some tearout that is really tough to sand away. Yours look very nicely milled!

I used a round-nosed router bit, on an overhead pin router.