Don't give up on your RICK 12's narrow neck width

[RonLovesRic12strings]

This is a recommendation to anyone who cannot enjoy playing their Rick 330, 360 or 620 12 strings because of crowded string pairs.

I encourage anyone having trouble fingering chords (especially on the first few frets) to take their guitar to a competent luthier and have a custom bone nut made to slightly increase the distance between string pairs. You'll be pleasantly surprised how just a scosh more spacing will improve playability. An added benefit of a bone nut is better note definition and better sustain (at least to my ears).

I just had a custom bone nut fabricated, TI flatwounds installed, and a setup on my 1997 360/12 V64, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

So, please, don't sell your Rick 12 because of that "damned narrow neck". IMHO, no other electric 12 string comes close to the jangle of a Rickenbacker.

[Folkie]

This is a recommendation to anyone who cannot enjoy playing their Rick 330, 360 or 620 12 strings because of crowded string pairs.

I encourage anyone having trouble fingering chords (especially on the first few frets) to take their guitar to a competent luthier and have a custom bone nut made to slightly increase the distance between string pairs. You'll be pleasantly surprised how just a scosh more spacing will improve playability. An added benefit of a bone nut is better note definition and better sustain (at least to my ears).

I just had a custom bone nut fabricated, TI flatwounds installed, and a setup on my 1997 360/12 V64, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

So, please, don't sell your Rick 12 because of that "damned narrow neck". IMHO, no other electric 12 string comes close to the jangle of a Rickenbacker.

One thing to keep in mind: in 2005 Rickenbacker began tightening up the string pairs on many of their 12-string models, in order to allow more space BETWEEN pairs, to accomodate folks with larger hands. John Hall chimed in on a thread some months back, saying that, because so many players were spending "obscene amounts of money" to do this mod, Rickenbacker had decided to do it themselves. When I got my 2010 360/12, I couldn't believe how close the strings in each pair were, so tight that I could barely fit my paper-thin pick in between courses during a tune up. Since then I've had my luthier WIDEN the space between each low course and octave string, in order to make things easier for my playing style. (I have medium-small hands and have never had any problem playing standard chords on a Rick 12-string, not even my 1991 330/12, which has super-wide spacing within each pair.)

Another option, which won't require any major work, is to follow Roger McGuinn's suggestions for modified chord fingerings on his DVD "The 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn." Many players have found these helpful.

So, although I would caution those with larger hands to check out the current run of Rick models with the tighter string pairs before buying an older model and making any major mods, I absolutely agree with Ron that you shouldn't part with you Rick over something as trivial as string-spacing, and of course I agree that a Rick 12 sounds like nothing else.

Robert

[jimk]

I've been gently teased about my girly-man hands; I have rather slim, long fingers. So most chord positions on my 2009 360/12 have never been a problem. There is one exception however: and that is the good ol' cowboy C major chord. The good news is it often seems like there's a work around, such as using a C7 or a C9, or possibly even a Csus2. I'm happy that the situation has never seriously gotten in my way.
JimK

[RonLovesRic12strings]

For those interested, my luthier charged me $200 for a custom fabricated bone nut (a labor intensive process) and an excellent set-up (truss rod adjustment and intonation tweaking). I think this is a very fair price and an excellent investment for your beloved Rick 12's.

Incidently, I supplied to my luthier the most recent Rickenbacker 12 string nut (with the slightly better string spacing). He then used this stock nut as a rough template to approximate the required string spacing for the bone nut blank. He then tweaked the spacing as much as possible, being careful that the outside strings weren't too close to the fret ends. The end result is superb !!!

[JakeK]

I've been gently teased about my girly-man hands; I have rather slim, long fingers. So most chord positions on my 2009 360/12 have never been a problem. There is one exception however: and that is the good ol' cowboy C major chord. The good news is it often seems like there's a work around, such as using a C7 or a C9, or possibly even a Csus2. I'm happy that the situation has never seriously gotten in my way.
JimK

Same goes for me on my '87 V64 12-string. There are some girls I've met who's hands are the same size as mine or bigger! Ever since Steve Staples did some setup work on the guitar back in June, the guitar is an absolute dream to play the way it is. The only way I'd change the string spacing is if I got a nut for a newer 330/12, but the guitar plays fine as is.

The Ric 12-string that has the best string spacing that I've played is none other than Steve Forsgren's 2009 360/12C63.

[teb]

Or.....if you need more space still. You can have the neck re-fretted with the frets over the binding and all the way to the edges and even wider nut spacing. It's not cheap to have done, but for those of us who do have big hands, it makes a very substantial difference in playability. In my case, it was either fix it or sell it, and was worth every penny.

Before on the left, after on the right. Mark Arnquist did the work.

[frickengruvin]

The neck on my '96 360-12v64 is actually wide comparably speaking. I also had Mark Arnquist perform his magic on my instrument, and it has been a joy to play ever since...

[ken_j]

...The Ric 12-string that has the best string spacing that I've played is none other than Steve Forsgren's 2009 360/12C63.

The 7.25" crown radius of the fret board makes a big difference on these IMO. Well worth the extra bucks.

[stsang]

Another option, which won't require any major work, is to follow Roger McGuinn's suggestions for modified chord fingerings on his DVD "The 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn." Many players have found these helpful.

+1 Using these chord fingerings, I've not had any problems with either my 2002 360/12 or 2010 360/12c63 but I agree the open C chord is one of the most challenging to play cleanly. I may be imagining it, but I prefer the sound of Rics with the wider spacing between courses which seem to produce more of a "chorus" effect from the courses.

[Folkie]

Another option, which won't require any major work, is to follow Roger McGuinn's suggestions for modified chord fingerings on his DVD "The 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn." Many players have found these helpful.

+1 Using these chord fingerings, I've not had any problems with either my 2002 360/12 or 2010 360/12c63 but I agree the open C chord is one of the most challenging to play cleanly. I may be imagining it, but I prefer the sound of Rics with the wider spacing between courses which seem to produce more of a "chorus" effect from the courses.

Right on, Simon! You've articulated that better than I could. No, you're not imagining the difference. My 360/12 sounds substantially better with the wider spacing between courses than it did with the tighter spacing. It's harder to get both strings to sound equally with the strings too close together. So there are advantages and drawbacks to both the tightly-spaced pairs and the wider ones.

[psychomatthias]

I played on a 360/12 in a Guitar Center a year ago and I rather liked the narrow string spacing. Then again, I have relatively tiny hands. I'm convinced that people like me are the target market for Rickenbacker guitars and basses: People with tiny hands who want something different from the norm that's still made in Murika.

[david/wales/u.k]

Another option, which won't require any major work, is to follow Roger McGuinn's suggestions for modified chord fingerings on his DVD "The 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn." Many players have found these helpful.

+1 Using these chord fingerings, I've not had any problems with either my 2002 360/12 or 2010 360/12c63 but I agree the open C chord is one of the most challenging to play cleanly. I may be imagining it, but I prefer the sound of Rics with the wider spacing between courses which seem to produce more of a "chorus" effect from the courses.

It seems it a bit bizarre to pay so much for a guitar to not be able to play or at least with a struggle, basic chords such as C and A7 e.t.c

[teb]

I certainly haven't noticed any audible difference in the sound of either of my twelves since tightening up the pairs - and I'd stack either one up against any RIC twelve I've ever heard. If there is any difference, it's that now I'm not damping strings just trying to play them. In comparison to other things like the pickup selection, amp and tone settings, effects, the bridge, or even the particular hunk of wood it's carved from, I think you'll find that string pair tightness (or not) is a very minor factor, if at all.

[stsang]

It seems it a bit bizarre to pay so much for a guitar to not be able to play or at least with a struggle, basic chords such as C and A7 e.t.c

It's all part of the love thing with Rickenbacker 12-strings! Nothing else sounds like 'em. You love, learn and adapt.

[teb]

Yep. My only complaint is that after a while that wonderful sound sounds "normal" to you. It would be neat to be able to step way back in time and hear it for the first time again, or pick one up and play it for the first time again. At least in my case, those were truly magical moments in my personal musical development.
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