Mexican twelve-string guitar

Type of guitar

The Mexican twelve-string guitar, also known as a requinto-style or Sierreño-style guitar, is a modified twelve-string guitar. It can approximate the sound of a bajo sexto or bajo quinto and play regional Mexican styles, such as norteño, Tejano (Tex-Mex), and conjunto. In a traditional 12-string setup, the lower four strings have octave pairs, while the top two have unison pairs. However, for Regional Mexican styles, all strings are set up with identical unison pairs instead of the traditional octave courses. This configuration yields a resonant timbre reminiscent of the venerable bajo sexto, but adds significantly more tension on the bridge and neck. Furthermore, it usually requires the nut to be modified, the neck compensated, and the bridge to be reinforced. It is unclear why this is claimed as online string tension calculators show that the higher pitch strings on a guitar are the ones at higher tension and therefore unison tuning should reduce the overall tension upon the neck and bridge. This may be a misconception equating the strings thickness with its tension, which is actually a factor of tension, pitch, length and string construction.

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