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1960's Suzuki 12 String Converted to Baritone Acoustic
I found this guitar at a thrift shop for a few bucks. I really like these 60s MIJ guitars so I will usually snatch them up if I find them. This thing was pretty wrecked though. I wasn't sure that there was going to be any saving it as a guitar, but I figured it would be a good opportunity to try a few things out. I also wanted an excuse to build a 12 st/baritone conversion for myself either to keep or to sell.
These 12-string to baritone conversions can be found once in a while and I have been commissioned a few times now to build them for others. The thing is, 12 string guitars really aren't long lived instruments. With the huge amount of tension pulled by the strings, the neck angle will usually change significantly over the course of a a few decades to make the thing unplayable and unable to take a setup. This higher action is normal for a baritone though, and due to the wider strings also benefits from the wider neck. It is a fairly involved process doing the conversion though. You have to plug the pin holes in the bridge, drill new ones, sometimes modify the saddle slot and saddle and you will definitely be needing a new nut.
I still have more planned for this guitar, possibly including a weird 3 way switching involving an old alnico strat pickup I have laying around.
So, this is the story of this trashed old 12 string and how it was reborn.
Before: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....p;l=fa9cd6be05
After: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....p;l=d9fe7c8d97
For more info on my luthier work, please visit my website. http://www.drewsguitarshop.com/
These 12-string to baritone conversions can be found once in a while and I have been commissioned a few times now to build them for others. The thing is, 12 string guitars really aren't long lived instruments. With the huge amount of tension pulled by the strings, the neck angle will usually change significantly over the course of a a few decades to make the thing unplayable and unable to take a setup. This higher action is normal for a baritone though, and due to the wider strings also benefits from the wider neck. It is a fairly involved process doing the conversion though. You have to plug the pin holes in the bridge, drill new ones, sometimes modify the saddle slot and saddle and you will definitely be needing a new nut.
I still have more planned for this guitar, possibly including a weird 3 way switching involving an old alnico strat pickup I have laying around.
So, this is the story of this trashed old 12 string and how it was reborn.
Before: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....p;l=fa9cd6be05
After: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/.....p;l=d9fe7c8d97
For more info on my luthier work, please visit my website. http://www.drewsguitarshop.com/
Category Photography / 60s
Species Avian (Other)
Size 1280 x 853px
File Size 177.3 kB
I had a 12 string with a similar pick guard, once. Unfortunately, someone decided to play it without my permission, left it leaning against the wall, where it promptly slips down sideways and cracked. I could never play it again, after that.
I tried to salvage it using wood glue, and it would play for a bit, but not very well. And I had to tune it down a full step to keep the tension down. I eventually took it in to a guitar shop where it was pronounced dead.
Oh well...
I tried to salvage it using wood glue, and it would play for a bit, but not very well. And I had to tune it down a full step to keep the tension down. I eventually took it in to a guitar shop where it was pronounced dead.
Oh well...
Well, the original pick guard for this guitar was similar but bigger on these guitars so it could have very well been one if these suzukis. I think Lyle might have also had a 12 string version of their hummingbird knockoff too. There were a lot of these hummingbird copies made during the lawsuit era.
Way it the headstock that cracked?
Way it the headstock that cracked?
Ah ok. Yeah, it definitely was not one of these in that case. This guitar has laminate back and sides, which get holes not cracks. Damn shame though... The sides of a guitar are pretty important for stability and a large crack can eventually cause the instrument to pull itself apart.
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