Big fat 12 string - Too big for my little hands.

[MissionBrown]

Hi Guys,

I picked up my mother's Yamaha 12 string acoustic the other day.
Wow that thing had a huge neck!

It's almost square like a lap steel acoustic.

The guitar has a truss rod and there seems to be way more wood than needed.
Does anyone think it might be worth taking to a luthier to trim down a bit?

Mum doesn't play anymore and I have small hands.
It's a nice sounding guitar, but almost unplayable as is.

Any suggestions?

[Haole Jim]

Personal feeling is, as long as it isn't an old Gibson or Martin, you are likely not dealing with defacing a collectable; see what a luthier thinks of slimming the neck down.

Also, today there are more string choices; a slimmed down neck and "high E" strings based on .009s might be just the combo for you, to put that guitar into playing music, again.

[MissionBrown]

thanks Jim.

There's soo much wood there, I'm sure it's doable.
But it might not be worth it as the guitar isn't that great.

[MissionBrown]

There was a bow in the body behind the bridge, I loosened the strings for a couple of months and the braces pulled it back to flat.
Our home is quite humid, so I think that assisted the self repair.

Last week I took it to get a professional setup and the guitar came back with super low action and was playable all the way up the neck.
It cost me $75, but it's like playing a new instrument. Sounds great too!

[olrocknroller]

That's good news! I always hesitate to modify old guitars because I don't know what construction methods they used then... I was given an old Harmony with a collapsed bridge, did a basic setup, and replaced the bridge, and that old wood sounded fantastic! It too had a "chunky" neck, and I resisted slimming it down, in fear that the wood would change character and lose tone... As it turned out, with the setup, it was quite playable, and actually showed me that older hands don't mind fatter necks...

Anyway, I gave the guitar to another family member, where it is regularly enjoying music once again.

olrnr

[MissionBrown]

Pretty happy with it, I also received approval from my ladylove to buy a banjo last week.
I've not touched a guitar since.

[Veenture]

Pretty happy with it, I also received approval from my ladylove to buy a banjo last week.
I've not touched a guitar since.

...nor a banjo?!

[MissionBrown]

Pretty happy with it, I also received approval from my ladylove to buy a banjo last week.
I've not touched a guitar since.

...nor a banjo?!

I ran around the corner and bought one right away

Twang twang twang every morning with my breakfast.