German 12 string guitar info needed

[kkmm]

I was given a German 12 string guitar to setup, put on new strings.
The label inside is gone so no brand nor model is known.

It indeed look different than any other acoustic guitars I have seen (a few hundreds at local GC). It is interesting enough that I can't help sharing these photos:

The neck is attached to the body ala electric guitars:


The 4 long screws will literally go in all the way thru the neck and barely touch the fretboard.


The headblock has an interesting shape:


Pick guard:


By curiosity, I removed the 4 long screws and tune up the strings, the neck hold very well telling me that it is glued to the head block somehow. Without the glue, the neck would get separated from the body under string tension. There is no neck angle when I use the straight ruler test.

Any other useful info on this guitar is greatly appreciated.

[allenhopkins]

Need a "full frontal" pic of the instrument, plus a shot of the entire back, and a close-up rear of the headstock showing the tuners.

The pickguard resembles the on on this Framus six-string, so I'd consider Framus a good candidate for manufacturer. Hoyer also made 12-strings. I haven't seen one with the heel-less neck and reinforcing bolts yours has.

[Ray(T)]

That heelless neck and its fixing is very much like my old Eko Ranger 12 except that I bought that new over 50 years ago. The pickguard is also much the same shape except that mine is plastic and I’ve been meaning to glue it back on for nigh on 30!

If its an Eko, its Italian, not German.

[kkmm]

Here are more photos:



Although there is no neck angle problem, action at fret #12 is kind of high, almost 4mm for the low E string.
After hard examination, I finally realize the frets are extremely shallow, could be 1mm lower than frets on my other guitars.
So if the frets are 1mm taller, the action at fret #12 would be slightly less than 3mm (which is perfect)

How can the action at fret#12 be reduced except for replacing all frets with taller frets ? The saddle is already at its lowest height. Can't make it any lower. And the bridge itself is thinner than typical bridges, Planing it lower would make it too thin and the string angle at the saddle will be very shallow.

Quite a puzzle for me.

[Jeff Mando]

If you can "unglue" the neck from the body, then you can shim the neck pocket just like an electric guitar and dial in the action to where you like it.

I have done this before with Fender type guitars that the previous owner decided to glue together. It takes a little work, but if you are careful you can take a cheap putty knife and lay it on an iron to heat it and then work it into the joint under the neck. I usually "sharpen" the putty knife with a file, as well. The heat will go through the glue easily. The "trick" is being careful not to scratch up the joint or hurt yourself. You will need to shield the back of the neck with a thin piece of metal or another putty knife, so the heat won't mar the finish.

[kkmm]

Unglue the neck is certainly possible. Done that before and have the tools for this type of work, but this time I avoid it because the owner only want to pay for a simple setup (i.e cheap). Since the neck angle test shows no issue, the owner want to take it back and plan to do it himself.
I ask advise in this forum for my own learning.

[Ray(T)]

If it’s the same as my Eko, there’s no glue involved. The screws simply pass through the huge neck block and are the only thing holding the neck in place. Those tuners don’t look original and, although the headstock shape is the same, mine has an aluminium nut, a zero fret and a genuine plastic adjustable bridge.

From memory, there were several similar guitars around at the time, some under such brands as “Eros”. The six string versions were some of the quietest on the planet.

[kkmm]

I have removed those 4 long screws then tuned strings up to pitch. The neck joint holds really well. If it is not glued to the headblock, it would have been pulled of the body easily.
At least it got to move sone way.

[kkmm]

"mine has an aluminium nut, a zero fret and a genuine plastic adjustable bridge"
Could you post picture of the adjustable bridge ? I have one in my "accessories box" but it is a two pieces thing. One is a metallic rail with screws at both end to adjust the heigth. The other piece is the saddle with the top being metallic. The saddle sit on the rail which in turn slides in the saddle slot of the bridge.

[Ray(T)]

It’s difficult to post a picture - the guitar is buried somewhere in the outer reaches of the first floor! Your description sounds correct except that the saddle is plastic and flat on the top (uncompensated).