FrankenHornet XII

[Carcass]

I always wanted a 12-string Fly, but they are too dear to ‘destroy’. And that project Fly 12 I saw online was awful.
One morning I woke up with this concept for my PM20. After finding that Ernie Ball 12-string Slinkys would exert
about 159 pounds of tension at E std. tuning, I decided to proceed. Coil split with the GFS lipstick pups was not
useful, so I rewired with CTS 500K vintage taper pots, 0.022mF tone cap and 200pF treble bleed. Took about a 1/8 turn
tightening guess on the truss rod to prevent excess relief when strung up. This was perfect. Guitar intonates great
with the 12-saddle bridge; and it plays and sounds pretty good. Yeah, it’s slightly cramped for me, as I usually play my
pre-refined Supreme or Deluxe, but I adapted pretty quickly. From what I’ve read, it’s similar to a Ric 360/12 or
Fender Electric XII fingerboard width. I don’t see any evidence of the extra strain after a couple weeks, and it holds
tune just fine. Thanks for checking it out !

[mmmguitar]

And that project Fly 12 I saw online was awful.

Speaking as someone whose only options for scratching that 12 string Parker itch are with the digital fascimiles of my Variax or GR-55, I love what you've done, here - Hopefully the lipstick pickups are giving you the right amount of jangle; being as they aesthetically tie this beautiful concept together. I'm happy to read that there were no relief issues under that added tension. How are the ferrules holding up? Any issues swapping strings in and out?

[Carcass]

Howdy mmmguitar !

Thanks for your interest and comments. The lipsticks sound pretty good; they have to be set as close to the strings
as possible because there’s a large dead space above the windings inside. I like the tones they yield, but testing ain’t
complete yet. My pedal board with its Monte Allum modded CS-3 will really let me see what’s possible in attempting
Ricky tones, but my main amp’s at our drummer’s house. And the band’s on hiatus. And it’s a long drive. So time will
tell. I’ve been using a Godin A12, which is nice, but it lacks definition and is somewhat boomy regardless of settings.
I wanted a Parker ELECTRIC 12-string guitar - long scale, set neck, magnetic pups, and I just couldn't let the idea go.

About the ball-end situation: I bought ferrules and grommets for the top, because stacking the strings 2 per hole would
be cumbersome in a live performance setting should a string break. But when I was very carefully enlarging the cavity
bores for the 3/8” dia. threaded pots, I found that the factory finish on the body is so brittle as to be almost glasslike.
Chip city. So, I decided that possibly mangling the finish to add 6 more ferrules was not worth the risk. The existing setup doesn’t seem to cause any additional distortion in the surface around the exit grommets on top. This Bubinga is pretty
darn tough, man.

So, the ball-ends slip in and don’t interfere in a bad way. Before I determined the cause, I broke about 5 of the 0.008”
high G strings in a row ( I buy ‘em bulk by the dozen ! ) All broke turning the corner around the low G string post; turned
out that I needed to do about 6 - 8 wraps down that pin to keep the tiny string off the sharp chamfer on the low G pin’s
cross-drilling. No problem after that. I’ll post up a tone review after I test this dude in a live band scenario.

[mmmguitar]

Looking forward to those sound samples, and thanks again for the detailed response. I also want to emphasize that I keep coming back to just stare at that headstock: That tuner layout is a terrific example of outside-the-box ingenuity.

[Barry]

As a PM20 owner (also with a Bubinga top) I am more than impressed by what you've accomplished here!

To say that the real estate you had to work with is small is an understatement.
I was particularly concerned with the head stock.

Theoretically there ain't enough room there to do what you did without turning it into Swiss cheese, or toothpicks.
Yet there it is and I'm amazed it's holding strong. That's a testament to both the quality of the guitar and your engineering skills.

That's also a very creative stringing solution which I'm sure acts as a truss support system.

Hey, I would not wish a broken string replacement during a live show on you, but well done you!

[Carcass]

Howdy Barry, thanks for the interest. I was really reticent about posting this project because of potential backlash from
Parker purists. But, I guess it’s okay after all. Re: “Swiss cheese … ” — After finding that the tensions for ‘medium’ gage
jazz strings (0.013” - 0.056”) summed at 175#, I was pretty confident that the Parker was up to the 159# task. This thing
is really stout and is too much fun, I tell ya.

A great guitarist friend of mine was really against the concept for many good reasons; but, he was the one that insisted
on the 12 saddle bridge and ditching the Stingers. He was right, too. Now I’m waiting on some nice chromed screws I
found to replace the black oxide ones securing the pups. That’ll pretty much complete the ‘chrome everything’ theme.
BTW, the entire transformation ran less than $200 US.
——
WOWEE ! I just checked out your rogue’s gallery; cool as hell. You, sir, have an advanced case of G.A.S.

[Barry]

. . .
WOWEE ! I just checked out your rogue’s gallery; cool as hell. You, sir, have an advanced case of G.A.S.

Thanks (I think).
The devil made me do it!