[mot]

Earl,

I think you are at a cost per use question in regards to your 12 string quest. If you get a 12 string that you have to capo for comfort, then will you play it as much as a 12 string with the 24.6 inch scale? To make the math easy, let's say that the shorter scale cost 10% more and you would play it about an hour a day. Let's go further and assume you would play the longer scale with a capo about half as much. This means that your per use cost for the shorter scale guitar is 1.1/1 or 1.1 and your per use cost for the longer scale with the capo is 1.0/0.5 = 2.0. In other words you are actually saving money by getting the more expensive guitar (assuming the above playing assumptions are close to correct) because you are going to use it more.

The bottom line is that this is why I rarely look at price when I am figuring out what product I want. Cost per use considerations have served me well in the past, even though I occasionally guess poorly.

The other piece of the puzzle is that you can generally sell your guitar if you find it's not quite what you wanted and hope to do better on the next round. This is where I screwed up because I love both the X20 with the 25.5. inch scale and the Lucky 13 with the 24.75 inch scale. I have turned off my GAS until I figure out how to part with one of these else I would probably be talking to Sean about getting a 6 or 12 string with the shorter scale.