12 string to 6 if use heavier gauges?

Ajoten

As someone who likes a wide neck but can't find them, I was wondering if restringing a 12er would work IF you put terrifyingly heavy strings on to increase the tension.( I guess a bit of nut notch faffing might be required too.)

crunchman

Ajoten said:

As someone who likes a wide neck but can't find them, I was wondering if restringing a 12er would work IF you put terrifyingly heavy strings on to increase the tension.( I guess a bit of nut notch faffing might be required too.)

Probably more a matter of adjusting the truss rod.  Slacken it off a bit and it should be ok without heavy strings.

Depends what style of guitar you are after.  Assuming you are talking electric as this isn't in the Acoustics section, for a Gibson style, the 2015 guitars had wider nuts, which is one of reasons most don't like them.  They aren't 12 string wide but might be worth a try, and are normally cheap second hand.  If that's not wide enough, it will get difficult.

If you are after Fender style bolt on, then Warmoth do some necks with a 1 7/8" width.

Ajoten

Electric, yes. Currently I have gypsy jazz guitar with a wobbly clip-in pickup and a 45mm nut (wouldn't want anything narrower).

I assume these Warmoth ones fit a standard Strat neck pocket but also that only official Fender brands will have that pocket. A Strat copy I had was completely different.

boogieman

I used a 12 string acoustic with only 6 strings for donkeys years, basically because I had it already but couldn’t afford another guitar. No need to worry about heavier strings, a truss rod adjustment will sort things out. 

steamabacus

Another player who likes a wide neck is John Etheridge - his signature Fret King guitar also has a 45mm nut width.

https://fret-king.com/artist-series/elise-je.html 

Sassafras

I've done that several times. Never needed more than a truss rod tweak.