Topic: 12 string string guages

[Mike Brosnan]

New strings arrived just before work yesterday...  I nearly clocked in late after stubbornly using every available second to get those strings on so they'd be that much more stretched out and ready to play after work.  Spent a good chunk of the morning playing slide in vastapol @ G with a ginormous smile on my face.  I have fallen in love with this guitar all over again.  Feels like a different instrument tuned this low with octaves everywhere except the first course.  I included a sloppy clip of me stumblin' through some ideas for the Pig N' Whistle Red recording of "Good Little Thing".  Still trying to tame this beast, but oh what fun in the meantime... 
For some reason my octave string in the fourth course sounds dead and buzzy no matter what I do, but otherwise I'm lovin' this set up!
This is what I ended up with:
.014 .014
.018 .011
.028 .014
.040 .020 wound
.050 .025 wound
.070 .015 unwound double octave

[Johnm]

Good for you, Mike!  Going for all of those octave strings, you're pursuing the "dropped sack of marbles" sound with a vengeance.  I'll bet you're going to have a lot of fun with it.
All best,
Johnm

[Mike Brosnan]

I have this overwhelming desire to laugh out loud while playing this thing!  And (obviously from the clip) the longer I play it, the less I care how out of tune I am.    I think the octaves are going to drive me a little insane after a while, but this is loads of fun for now! 
Years ago at PT, I remember Steve James saying that he always plays banjo to clear out unwanted company...  I'll bet this set-up would work just as well if not better!

[uncle bud]

The axe sounds great! Congrats.

Re. the buzzy octave 4th string. It could be the nut slot is too wide? I have had this problem before with a beater 6-string guitar, both with an ordinary string on the 4th, and when putting on an octave G-string on for Pruitt Twin funny business. What I ended up doing was sticking a piece of paper under the string at the nut on a buzzy fourth string, and then at the saddle for a buzzy octave 3rd string (that's where the buzz seemed to be located). This was a different kind of buzzing than fret buzz and the paper really worked. A properly organized person would next get a luthier to deal with the slots, or at least fill them oneself with some glue and sawdust or something. But the paper has stayed there so far.

[Mike Brosnan]

Thanks for the tip, UB.  I'm definitely gonna turn this thing over to a luthier for professional help.    Not that I'm properly organized or anything... Just too lazy and clumsy to deal with any of this myself. 
I just saw Waxwing at Lauren Sheehan's Regatta recently and he reminded me that the strings in each course on my 12 are spaced much too far apart (as compared to his holy grail, that is).  I'd like to get some pics of his nut and saddle and try to get my luthier to match the string spacing as best as possible.  He (Kerry Char, my luthier of choice) just built a new bridge for it and I decided to go with a six pin bridge this time around.  I think the grooves he dug into the bridge for the strings to rest in could be the source of the buzzing.  Wax also mentioned that his bridge (also a 6 pin) does not have such grooves.  Blah, blah... 
Now my fingers hurt.  This is a whole lotta guitar.

[Mike Brosnan]

Second day with the new strings (and the 2nd guitarist)...

[sustaireblues]

Great sound Mike!
Plenty of jangle to liven it up, but still under control.

[Rivers]

Nice one Mike. The bassist needs to get themselves a doghouse bass though. The 12 sounds real good, and very solid time as always. The chuckle at the end says it all.