Why do 12-Fret guitars sound so good?
Why 12-fret guitars sound so good is the subject of almost as much myth as the myth about a mysterious varnish making the Stradivarius tone! The myth is that the 12-fret bridge placement is in the middle or a “sweet spot” on the top of the guitar. Many builders have set out to design a guitar around that “sweet spot” placement only to find that there just isn’t that added 12 fret magic. Hmmm…. The real story is that a 12-fret neck is shorter and thicker, relatively speaking. The short, fat neck is stiff enough to prevent energy loss. Another way to say it is that the raised frequency of the neck, only robs energy from partials our ears couldn’t be bothered with anyway. I can build you a 14-fret guitar that has all that 12-fret magic, it just needs to have a neck so big you wouldn’t be comfortable wrapping around it!
