My 330/12 has not gotten any play time in years due to the bands I've been playing in. I decided to remove 6 tuners and string it up as a 6. The strings are offset a little bit towards the bass side of the fretboard, but it's not severe. So far, no neck adjustment needed. It's like NGD without the expense.
Have any of you guys done the same? Experiences would be appreciated.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:47 am
by jdogric12
How long's it been? this is typically not recommended (as you seem to know) so even if you're ok now, or for a while, you may experience problems later, or when you try to go back to 12.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:53 am
by jps
I would think that as long as the truss rods are adjusted to compensate for the lower tension of having only 6 strings on the guitar there should be no ill effects.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:13 pm
by sliberty
Its only been 3-4 days.
I called Rickenbacker after seeing these responses, and asked them about any concerns that they had with playing the 330/12 as a 6 string. The guy I spoke with said that I might have to have the guitar set up to handle the reduced tension, but other than that, it shouldn't cause any issues.
What are the concerns that you have with doing this?
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 8:19 am
by jdogric12
Oh, well yeah, if you don't mind setting the neck properly for it, and don't mind the string placement being shifted, it should be fine. (Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? LOL)
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:36 pm
by collin
I've done this many times, often for months at at time before restringing as a 12-string.
Didn't need to adjust the truss rods once for any of these instances, but YMMV. Enjoy!
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:42 am
by jdogric12
collin wrote:I've done this many times, often for months at at time before restringing as a 12-string.
Didn't need to adjust the truss rods once for any of these instances, but YMMV. Enjoy!
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 7:59 am
by opticnerve
I had a Ric 12 strung with 8 strings (only A & D doubled up) and never had any neck issues.
Pretty cool this way...you can do single string solos & still get some jangle.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:57 am
by jdogric12
opticnerve wrote:I had a Ric 12 strung with 8 strings (only A & D doubled up) and never had any neck issues.
Pretty cool this way...you can do single string solos & still get some jangle.
Neat! I recently bought a cheap 6-string Epi acoustic of CL and added a 7th tuner and G octave a la McGuinn/Martin. It actually works!
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 6:16 pm
by collin
opticnerve wrote:I had a Ric 12 strung with 8 strings (only A & D doubled up) and never had any neck issues.
Pretty cool this way...you can do single string solos & still get some jangle.
That's a great idea Tony, never thought of it. I love 12-strings as a rhythm "chord machine" but they are limited for a lot of songs if you do leads. I'll give this a try on one of my 12s.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:13 am
by opticnerve
Huh Jason! I haven't heard about the McGuinn/Martin guitar. I just found a vid on YouTube...pretty cool!
Yes Collin try it! I love 12 strings, but at the risk of being perceived a heretic, they're pretty much a one trick pony. DON'T HATE ME!!! lol
Besides having the advantage of being able to play single string solo's, I liked the sound of only two strings doubled up.
You get much less of a "in your face" 12 string sound.
I'll have to resurrect that idea myself. The rest of the band quite liked it too.
Re: 330/12 strung as a 6 string
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:21 pm
by collin
I remember that Vox at one point offered a 9-string guitar, but that doubled-up all the treble strings and bass strings remained single. Kind of backwards, IMO.. but they probably wanted the "jangle"
