Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | I had a long conversation with Dave "Standing Ovation", just above me here, the other day... I was thinking of buying an older 12 string... I had taken the time to list every 12 string EVER made in production, with all the specs for each... that way when something came up for sale I would look at my chart and know in 5 seconds what the specs were for THAT guitar... We went over my list and Dave told me the older slot head guitars, were all 12 fret models:
1115 Pacemaker, 1118 Glen Cambell, 1158 Custom Legend, 1315 Ultra 12 (evidently one of the few made in Korea... The rest of the 12 frets are all US made), 1615 Pacemaker, 1618 Glen Cambell, 1658 Custom Legend...
1) The "12" is the number of frets "over" the neck , as apposed to the sound board or body. There are only 18 frets total... (Today’s "14 fret" guitars have 20 in the normal scale).
2) There is a minimum of metal in the neck (no Kaman Bar), less metal means MORE WOOD with traditional truss rod, all have 5 pc necks of that era, to help stabilize the neck, from twisting, etc... because they didn't use the Kaman Bar on those guitars to stabilize it...
3) I know from other instruments I have played and tweaked that the Slothead design, also LOWERS the angle of attack the strings have at the nut, coming off the tuners… This will max out the potential tone, all else being equal...
I noticed the angle of Today’s 12 string guitars, at least on the 6751 Std. Balladeer, is flatter than my C026 Celebrity !!! Looks like they chose to NOT laminate the head of this 12 string… (The neck is still 2 pc all, glued down the middle). This DECREASES the angle, making the Slothead even more advantageous and INCREASES the angle of the strings above the nut!!!
4) Also contributing to the 12 fret sound, was DEEP Bowls...ALL were Deep of that era...
IMOP (and others) it is for the above reasons that most believe the older 12 fret Guitars, had found a "sweeter spot" an delivered an acoustic "voice" that is unique, (superior ???) certainly "VINTAGE" in those 12 fret guitars... The same search is on for that “PRE WAR SOUND” in other types of stringed instruments… Especially in the… dare I say banjo world…
The same ANGLE rule applies at the other end, at the saddle, steeper angles, (to a point) define a better voice... I believe 13-14 degrees is optimum, coming off the saddle to the bridge. This rule is pretty universal on ALL stringed instruments...
The only ones with steeper angles are the viola family, they have a support under he bridge to allow a steeper angle, creating MORE force, hence the reason for the support.
Another trick for maxing tone is an ANGLED Saddle... This is currently at around 11 degrees, and helps the saddle push more directly and focused on the bridge and pickup...
AB |
Slotheads
