Amicus players
 

i've got 2 issues. one being, baselor joint arthritis that is affecting my playing. touching the back of the neck in certain positions cause intense pain spasms. I had my X20 set up by my Taylor authorized repair (from advice from my teacher) even though i don't think it was necessary. So it frets very easy now, I can play this guitar for 15 minutes until my hand hurts too bad to continue. I have played my Amicus about 3 hours at once, with some pain , but not enough to stop. I am really enjoying my
Amicus due to many reasons, but I wonder if it would benefit me any to lower the action. I am trying to learn open chords without my thumb touching the neck, which helps. barre chords are not necessarily what i am after, but more an easy player for old hands. I don't think i could barre a G# anyway because my fingers won't fit! any input on the setup would be welcomed. also, my Amicus 'rings' through my ribs FOREVER it seems. It's has much more 'feelings' than my top of the line Taylors, or even my x20. all the things i love about this little guitar are not mentioned anywhere. i guess it just 'fits' me.

I tune mine b to b. I find it easier to play and easier to match the most common singling keys (g or c).

When I got mine, it felt very 'tight' in the standard D tuning. I tried C, and then went down to B, each getting progressively easier to play, but I felt as if I was rather missing the point of the Amicus. B to B is much closer to guitar tension, but it seemed as if I was missing the sparkle, so I went back to D.

It was still a bit hard to play, though, so I did a little checking. I realized that the nut slots were a tad high, so I took it to St Paul Guitar Repair for adjustment. They did their magic, and it now plays so easily, I barely notice that it's a 12-string. I don't see any need to lower the action - that nut adjustment was all that was required.

I can see G being easy with B-B tuning - but C?

I have owned two amicus.. or is it amicusies :-). If it is any consolation I always found that open cords sound best on this little 12 string. This little baby likes to ring out!!!

Hope you enjoy!!!

Amicus is the singular masculine noun for friend. Plural would be amici...

I loved the scene in the movie Scarface where Al Pacino says, “Let me introduce you to my little Amicus.” Scarface, of course, was no amicus curiae. And @Fixedgear60 might have to amicuse himself.

Every once in a very long while I find and seize the opportunity to utilize six years of public school Latin classes. O tempera, o mores.....

I thought there would be more than one amicus owner here.

There are at least two :)

Plus one, if not two, former owners - and that’s just from this thread.

3!

I just got mine yesterday, and I also have about that many minutes on it thus far. I will be trying the suggested tunings myself.:)

Here is another - tuned in DADGAD which works well for open chords. And yes, it rings forever.

Dave

Splendid! How about a picture or two? :D

Mine arrived on Friday and I'm a full-time DADGAD player, Dave, so I've been toying with that and what string gauges I'll need to do what I think it's capable of being. I'd love to bring it down to GDGCGD (DADGAD version of A to A standard) which worked well on my 19.1" scale Papoose, but would be happy with AEADEA (from B to B standard).

On arrival I immediately tuned the "bass" D pair down to C and the two treble coursed down to G and C respectively (so CGCFGC). The 042 pair and the 011 and 085 courses are fine down a full step. They're also OK but a bit slack if it comes down to BF#BEF#B, another half step down from CGCFGC. but they're far too floppy down to AEADEA. The drop in tension for the inner 3 pairs of strings makes play a bit easier. They also do pretty well down another full step but could need slight up-gauging.

So, my next step, at the first string change, will be to up-gauge some strings, specifically the 2.5 step-down ones. I think I'll need a pair of 045 for the low A and 013 and 010 for the two high pairs. I'll likely also boost some of those inner strings (eg the 029 pair to 030, the 020 to 022 and the 015 to 016). Not a major gauge change in the grand scheme of things (but I may be happy I invested in those nut files!).

In the meantime, in between time, I'm enjoying playing it in B to B (DADGAD intervals, of course)...very intriguing sound with interesting possibilities!

Phil

I’ll be interested to hear what you end up with for strings, Phil. I’m happy with mine in D-d, but I haven’t started playing with open tunings yet. As I mentioned, I thought it lost its sparkle going down to C-c or B-b - but that’s with the stock strings. Having something a tad heavier to restore the tension should restore that brilliant voice.

For those who don’t know, the Amicus is an 18” scale instrument. That’s roughly equivalent to a 25.5” scale guitar capo’d at the 6th fret - but it’s tuned to the equivalent of the 10th fret, so you can imagine the extra tension. The stock strings are .042-.0085, so very light to start with by guitar standards - which mitigates the fact that they’re tuned 2 full tones higher.

I really like the Newtone strings for the Amicus:

https://newtonestrings.com/shop/emer...son-12-string/

Cheers,
Dave