I've been fiddling off and on with another twelve string. I had the nut recut to take the appropriate string sizes. I don't have the gauges right in front of me, but they are close to those given above.

I've tried tuning to C and to B. B sounds more like it. In an e-mail from Harry Lewman, he suggested that a cuitar with ladder-back bracing would be likely to give more of the Lead Belly sound.

Lead Belly did occasionally play with Sonny Terry. If you are going to refrain from capo use, B is a better tuning.

An E chord formation yields B. A G chord yields D. A D chord yields A. An A chord formation yields an E.

The sound is more like Lead Belly in B and more harmonica compatible.

Unfortunately, these become bad "pitches" for me if I play Lead Belly's songs as Lead Belly played them, so singing along is a problem.

I will find a way.

Roger in Baltimore