rwinking Posted Monday at 08:45 PM Posted Monday at 08:45 PM I have one of the rare Heritage Prospect 12 strings (eat your hearts out!) I am wondering if ayone might know the fretboard radius. I have a Thalia 12 string fret pad on the capo but the E and A string are a little muted. I might be able to use a different radius fret pad but not sure what it would be. Did Heritage use the same radius on all of the guitars as a rule?
rwinking Posted Tuesday at 01:48 AM Author Posted Tuesday at 01:48 AM The Thalia people seem to think that most 12 strings have a 16" radius. True for Heritage or not?
chico Posted Tuesday at 02:52 AM Posted Tuesday at 02:52 AM Eating my heart out, watching for responses.
ElChoad Posted Tuesday at 03:11 AM Posted Tuesday at 03:11 AM I have a set of radius gauges. If you swing it by, I will help you figure it out.
rwinking Posted Tuesday at 03:55 AM Author Posted Tuesday at 03:55 AM Cool! Iowa City is just right down the road from me in Montana! 1
bolero Posted Tuesday at 05:54 PM Posted Tuesday at 05:54 PM You could contact the factory, they could probably get you a definitive answer on that. I'd be surprised if it's different but you never know
rwinking Posted Tuesday at 06:07 PM Author Posted Tuesday at 06:07 PM 12 minutes ago, bolero said: I'd be surprised if it's different but you never know Different from what?
rwinking Posted Tuesday at 07:24 PM Author Posted Tuesday at 07:24 PM And what is heritage's usual radius?
nuke Posted Tuesday at 07:25 PM Posted Tuesday at 07:25 PM You'll need to measure it. The Heritage "specification" is very frequently not what is actually there. I know this from experience... However, a radius gauge is cheap and easy to get from Amazon or other online vendor of stuff, or you can just make one. Less than $10 for a whole set of them from Amazon. 1
skydog52 Posted Tuesday at 07:56 PM Posted Tuesday at 07:56 PM 29 minutes ago, rwinking said: And what is heritage's usual radius? I always thought it was 12" 1
rockabilly69 Posted Wednesday at 01:42 AM Posted Wednesday at 01:42 AM They're 12 I I've measure all 4 Heritages that I've owned and they were all 12's 1
rockabilly69 Posted Wednesday at 01:44 AM Posted Wednesday at 01:44 AM A guy that I recorded bought me a beautiful personalized Thalia Capo as gift for the work I did for him, and frankly I find it clunky, and my girl bought me one for Christmas this year and same with that one. I prefer simple Kysers.
bolero Posted Wednesday at 06:27 AM Posted Wednesday at 06:27 AM Yeah the Keyser Söze's are complicated
DetroitBlues Posted Wednesday at 02:14 PM Posted Wednesday at 02:14 PM Considering the majority of Heritages use a Nashville Style bridge, it would be suggestive they are always a 12" radius as that is the radius of the bridge. Its doubtful they commissioned anyone to make that type of bridge in anything but a 12" radius. I could be wrong, but that makes sense to me.
rwinking Posted Wednesday at 07:45 PM Author Posted Wednesday at 07:45 PM That makes sense. I have several Thalias and really like them. Sometimes you get a guitar (and especially 12 strings...) that just don't like capos. I have an Ibanez law suit 12 string that is incredible. I have tried every capo available and it just doesn't like capos. It is possible that my Prospect 12 is like that. As I am doing an album for someone and have needed an electric 12 string in an odd key I needed to capo it. I also own a jackson Surfcaster 12 and I forgot how cool it is. I can put any capo on it and it is completely in tune with no muted notes, Plus it looks cool as shit! I was just hoping to use the Prospect 12, but another day perhaps.
Spectrum13 Posted Wednesday at 08:39 PM Posted Wednesday at 08:39 PM 42 minutes ago, rwinking said: That makes sense. I have several Thalias and really like them. Sometimes you get a guitar (and especially 12 strings...) that just don't like capos. I have an Ibanez law suit 12 string that is incredible. I have tried every capo available and it just doesn't like capos. It is possible that my Prospect 12 is like that. As I am doing an album for someone and have needed an electric 12 string in an odd key I needed to capo it. I also own a jackson Surfcaster 12 and I forgot how cool it is. I can put any capo on it and it is completely in tune with no muted notes, Plus it looks cool as shit! I was just hoping to use the Prospect 12, but another day perhaps. Considering Heritage's old guard only made a few 12s they most likely did not consider having "capos friendly" added to the ingredients. When I ordered a Prospect with p90's it was obvious they modified the standard humbucker pickup cavity to "FIT" P90s but the lack of rings to adjust height was a compromise. Doubt it made sense to alter the neck set angle and the top curve as that would be considerable.
nuke Posted Wednesday at 09:34 PM Posted Wednesday at 09:34 PM On the subject of fretboard radius: Both Gibson and Heritage guitars are usually specified as "12" radius". However, it is not at all unusual to find upon measuring the actual instrument in your hand to be anywhere from 9.5" to 14" radius!!! My 2001 H535, with all the factory nibs in place (meaning it absolutely left the factory this way) had a 10.5" fretboard radius. I've seen plenty of Gibson guitars, going all the way back to the 1950's, which had fretboard radius well smaller than the spec-sheet number of 12". Usually, radius doesn't matter that much, but if does matter as in the OP's situation trying to fit a 12-string capo, it would be important to actually measure it than to go by the spec sheet. On the 12-string capo, I really like the G7th Capo with the 12-string option. It works really well on acoustic 12-strings and electrics with the normal order of octave strings. (octave above the root string). Many electrics, and some acoustics (like the Taylor 652CE 12-string) have the octave courses reversed. One of the reasons I quickly decided the Taylor was not for me. 1
bolero Posted Thursday at 06:25 AM Posted Thursday at 06:25 AM Like I said earlier, an email to the factory might give you an answer. Or get some fretboard radius gauges. Otherwise it's all just wild speculation?
bolero Posted Thursday at 06:30 AM Posted Thursday at 06:30 AM If you brought the gtr to a shop they would probably measure it for you?
rwinking Posted Thursday at 05:05 PM Author Posted Thursday at 05:05 PM Had it measured and it is a 12. However, the Thalia with a 12" fret pad still doesn't work. I found my G7 12 string capo and it doesn't work so I give up on it. I tried Kysers, Shubb's, pretty much every capo you can imagine. As I said earlier, some guitars just hate capos and I have two of them. 1
DetroitBlues Posted Thursday at 05:21 PM Posted Thursday at 05:21 PM Best guitar capos 2025: options for acoustic and electric guitar | Guitar World My preferred capo is the adjustable tension models. I think the neck thickness can cause the strings to be pulled so hard, they go out of tune. Might be what you're experiencing?
rwinking Posted Thursday at 06:14 PM Author Posted Thursday at 06:14 PM Hey, Thanks! I just discovered a 12 string capo I have not tried yet (the Paige Clik). Maybe all is not lost!
bolero Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago Aha, I was getting curious myself! Glad the mystery is solved I have a Kyser 12 string capo: it's a bit longer but otherwise the same as their 6 string I have. They work fine but I prefer those smaller cam design adjustable capos. At least on 6 strings.
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