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Old 07-30-2013, 07:19 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottishrogue View Post
You might be able to find a used Art & Lutherie 12-string dread in that price range, although they don't come up for sale very often...
...but the Seagull S6 Coastline does; made by the same company, same woods, same tone and playability, and it's available new for under $500 - about as good as it gets in this price range. If you're looking for something different (more on which later) the all-mahogany Guild D-125-12 is well worth a look at $629, and if you can stretch your budget and/or fight off the GAS a bit longer the $1200 Guild F-1512 spruce/rosewood jumbo may be all the 12-string you'll ever need...

Speaking as a 12-string player since 1970, if you're looking at the used market I'd recommend seeking out a Martin J12-15, an all-solid/all-mahogany 16" mini-jumbo that IMO is the best-sounding 12-string they ever produced: big, full, rich, smooth, and mature-sounding from the get-go, with surprising volume for a hog-top, and it only got better with time - completely displaced my Guild JF30-12 as my grab-&-go 12-string. It's also probably one of the finest guitars CFM IV & Co. ever discontinued in the name of the almighty dollar - stomped the snot out of a D12-28 and J12-40 when I A/B'd them at time of purchase, and the J12-16GT isn't even worth mentioning; small wonder, in the words of one well-known dealer, they "flatly refused" to produce any more, even on a custom-order basis, for nearly a decade. I understand they've done at least one dealer-exclusive limited run in the last couple years (at $1500-1600 as I recall - well out of your stated range) and, with the recent introduction of Taylor's hog-tops, I have a feeling there may be a corporate rethink in the (fossil) ivory towers of Nazareth; until that time, however, you can pick up a good used one for ~$1K - well worth every penny. Absent that, if you want to cop some hog-top mojo the aforementioned Guild D-125-12 runs a close second; although it lacks some of the characteristic Martin mid-bass "whomp", I suspect a slightly heavier string gauge (11-50) and a Gordon Lightfoot marathon jam will open things up...
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