anyone know about 12 strings?

[danglybanger]

just found an old Yamaha 12 string acoustic (FG-260) in the closet. Apparently my dad bought it mail order in 1976, didn't have strong enough fingers to play it, and hasn't been touched for 30 years.

Beautiful guitar, mint looking, but it does have ridiculously high action (about 1/4 inch at the 14th fret in standard tuning). I replaced the strings with ultra lites, and tune the guitar down 2 steps to C, and the action is still slightly less than 1/4 inch on both the highest and lowest strings, which is much higher than anything I'm used to.

The neck relief is about average however, and I'm afraid to mess with the truss rod anyways (seems to be stuck). I asked my dad about it and he said the action was just as high 30 years ago, when he bought it (the guitar was stored with the strings all tuned).

So, for anyone who's more familiar with them than I am, what is the normal string height for a 12 string acoustic? If this is normal, I'd be limited to about the seventh fret, and even that would be a lot of work. Is it worth it to get the truss rod fixed? any other ways I can lower the action? (the guitar does sound great if I can manage to get the strings to the frets)
thanks,
Dan

[Norman_T]

Re: anyone know about 12 strings?

For something like this you are looking at probably having the nut and a new bridge saddle cut and put in. I doubt very much that you will be able to adjust the truss rod. FWIW most 12 string guitars would have a slightly higher action but don't expect to play much above the 7th fret. Their primary roile is to give a fuller sound mostly with open chords - G, C, A etc. Try and get someone who is experienced with acoustic guitars to do the work for you.

[ArtieToo]

Re: anyone know about 12 strings?

I've got the same problem with an old Yamaha 6-string. You can read about it, (complete with pics), over at Duncans sister forum D-Tar:

Adjusting the action on an old Yamaha

Mine is probably beyond economical, or practical repair. Compare your neck with my photos.

[danglybanger]

Re: anyone know about 12 strings?

thanks for the quick response to my stupid questions, as usual on this board. Anyways, just from eyeballing it my neck appears not to be warped... the relief is fine, and the fretboard is straight as... well, a board. The really odd thing is that the top of the guitar seems to be concave the more I look at it, confirmed by placing a straight edge over it, so the neck leaves the guitar at the wrong angle... in other words, if this was my schecter, I'd shim the neck. Sounds expensive to me. Anyways, as long as I leave it in C tuning it's just about playable enough for anything I'd ever do with it,
thanks,
Dan