Woodinblack Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 I got an 'interesting' bass recently, a 12 string which I assume is of chinese origin. The previous owner had replaced some of the machineheads with better wilkinson ones, and as the thing was £50, that seemed pretty good for at the worse case, 12 machineheads, 2 pickups and a 12 string bridge! The nut (posted on here elsewhere) was useless so I threw that away. Trouble is, I went to move the machineheads around as they are in the wrong order, but the holes are also in the wrong order. 12 strings are just 4 courses of 3 strings, which go small small big, small small big, small small big, small small big. As can be seen from the picture, that is fine on the left where from bottom to top they go small small big, but when you get round the other side, that is a mirror image of the first, so it goes big, small, small. Is making the hole for the current big ones smaller just a case of throwing a dowel in there, and then drilling it out when the glue has dried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 20 hours ago, Woodinblack said: I got an 'interesting' bass recently, a 12 string which I assume is of chinese origin. The previous owner had replaced some of the machineheads with better wilkinson ones, and as the thing was £50, that seemed pretty good for at the worse case, 12 machineheads, 2 pickups and a 12 string bridge! The nut (posted on here elsewhere) was useless so I threw that away. Trouble is, I went to move the machineheads around as they are in the wrong order, but the holes are also in the wrong order. 12 strings are just 4 courses of 3 strings, which go small small big, small small big, small small big, small small big. As can be seen from the picture, that is fine on the left where from bottom to top they go small small big, but when you get round the other side, that is a mirror image of the first, so it goes big, small, small. Is making the hole for the current big ones smaller just a case of throwing a dowel in there, and then drilling it out when the glue has dried? Pretty much....and from the look of it, that will be the least of your problems You certainly like a challenge... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) Dowel the holes, drill out the screw holes on the reverse of the headstock and dowel these too, then start over. Find someone with a drillpress to accurately make the holes. The shape of the headstock lends itself to being able to take twelve strings (in that it looks as if it narrows), but maybe consider using some kind of string retainer to put less strain on the nut. Edited June 30, 2018 by NancyJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 Yes, it certainly looks like the previous nut had some problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said: Dowel the holes, drill out the screw holes on the reverse of the headstock and dowel these too, then start over. Find someone with a drillpress to accurately make the holes. The shape of the headstock lends itself to being able to take twelve strings (in that it looks as if it narrows), but maybe consider using some kind of string retainer to put less strain on the nut. Pretty much this its also a good idea to cover the area you're drilling into with masking tape as it minimises the finish from splintering and splitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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