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#1
08-10-2019, 06:58 AM
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12-string Question #1: Anyone start their journey on 12-string?
I've always loved the sound of a 12-string. Maybe it's my growing up in the 60s/70s - I dunno. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone here actually started their guitar journey with a 12-string over a 6?
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2022 Yamaha Red Label FGX3 2022 Guild Westerly Collection OM-120 2016 Taylor 416ce-R 2010 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster 1974 Rickenbacker 4001 Bass 
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#2
08-10-2019, 08:10 AM
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Sorta kinda. I had a nylon-string acoustic and two very low-end electric guitars when I bought my first steel-string acoustic it was a 12-string.
As I mentioned in another thread, it was Minneapolis in the 70s, and 12-string acoustic was prominent in the local scene. If I ever was to reduce myself to one acoustic it would be a 6 string, but if the cut was to just two, the other would be a 12 I think. Think of the title of the Leo Kottke "Armadillo" album, that's pretty much my acoustic guitar credo: "6 and 12-string guitar."
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----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses....
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#3
08-10-2019, 08:40 AM
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way back when
50+ years ago I decided I ought to learn to play guitar, and went out and bought a shiny new Framus 12-string and some songbooks. Figured out how to tune the thing (in the days before electronic tuners), and commenced to try to self-teach myself. Sold it two years later after I graduated from college Never did more than learn a few chords.
Fast forward. Taking weekly lessons with a working guitarist. On six-strings of my own making. Opinion: Learning to play is hard enough without getting tangled up in a 12-string. But a 12-string is next up on my project list.
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#5
08-10-2019, 08:58 AM
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I did. My first guitar purchase was a Sigma 12-String. That's what I learned on. It took me two years before I purchased a 6 string. I found the lighter gauged strings easy to play, plus I've always been a big fan of 12-strings.
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Liam F. 👽🖖🏼👑 🎶 Last edited by Andromeda; 08-10-2019 at 09:45 AM.
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#6
08-10-2019, 09:41 AM
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Yes.. I did.. and it worked! That is all I am saying since typing out a full explanation 2 times and losing them both because I wasn't still logged in...
Anyway...yes it can be done. I would suggest buying the best you can afford to avoid all the pitfalls of a cheap 12 string... that's all. 
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Joe 6 string... Taylor GS7 Custom / GO 818e 1st Edition 12 string... Taylor GO 358e / Guild F512 (79) Baritone…. Guild 258e (8 string)
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#7
08-10-2019, 11:58 AM
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Quote:
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#8
08-10-2019, 01:49 PM
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Quote:
2 - It was most definitely a mistake. YMMV of course.
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Larrivee OM-03RE; O-01 Martin D-35; Guild F-212; Tacoma Roadking Breedlove American Series C20/SR Rainsong SFTA-FLE; WS3000; CH-PA Taylor GA3-12, Guild F-212 https://markhorning.bandcamp.com/music
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#9
08-10-2019, 02:17 PM
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Sure it can be done, after borrowing a friend's Stella for a couple of months in 1967, I purchased a Conrad 12-string. Within a year I was giving guitar lessons at the local music store, bought an Ovation Balladeer and playing in a band (bass - not the 12er). Turn out the 12er was my gateway drug to many good times that continue to this day!
 I probably wouldn't recommend a 12-string to begin learning on...but you'll end up with strong fingers!
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#10
08-10-2019, 02:18 PM
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Kinda sorta here too. Started by buying a Taylor 562ce on AGF (after trying a Taylor 555 - just a bit too big). Sounds heavenly, but I'm still just noodling with it vs making a concerted effort to learn a serious song.
My ambition is to learn "I've Seen All Good People" … knowing it won't sound like Steve Howe's Portuguese 12-string, but hopefully I can get it close! Last edited by Carmel Cedar; 08-10-2019 at 07:25 PM.
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#11
08-10-2019, 05:15 PM
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Close.
Started on 6 string back in the 60's. Had a 12 string within a couple of years. Have owned at least one 12 string since. Currently own 2 Taylor 12 string guitars. Don .
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*The Heard: 85 Gibson J-200 sitka/rosewood Jumbo 99 Taylor 355 sitka/sapele 12 string Jmbo 06 Alvarez AJ60S englmn/mpl lam med Jmbo 14 Taylor 818e sitka/rosewood Grand Orchestra 05 Taylor 512ce L10 all mahogany Grand Concert 09 Taylor all walnut Jmbo 16 Taylor 412e-R sitka/rw GC 16 Taylor 458e-R s/rw 12 string GO 21 Epiphone IBG J-200 sitka/maple Jmbo 22 Guild F-1512 s/rw 12 string Jmbo
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#12
08-10-2019, 05:22 PM
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Quote:
This shot of me was taken at my wife's 21st birthday party ... she's now 62.  Guitar was a 'Gonzalez' brand made by the Eko company in Italy. Adjustable height saddle Zero fret 6 on-a-plate tuners Weighed a ton and sounded terrible. I remember buying a 12-string set of Nashville Straights guitar strings - uncurled in a long box .... and they were good!
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Brucebubs 1972 - Takamine D-70 2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone 2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo 2012 - Dan Dubowski#61 2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo 2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird
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#13
08-10-2019, 09:29 PM
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Yes I started on an Alvarez 12 string which I bought because my neighbor bought one and I liked the sound. Played it all through high school, and you have to watch the volume because it is loud! I now have a Martin 12 string it’s great on certain songs.
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#14
08-10-2019, 09:30 PM
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Bought my first acoustic 12 string (Martin D12-20) from a friend in 1972. He bought new in 1970. That's all I played for many yrs till I put it away in hibernation. After retiring 7 yrs ago, out it came. I took it to a luthier and had him change the oil and lube the suspension.
 It's good for another 10.000 miles!Seriously, I played it for a short time then I just had to have a 6 string. Then I had to have an electric. Then I had to have another electric. Well, you know the story. Good news. I've stopped buying new guitars and now concentrate on playing!!!!
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#15
08-10-2019, 10:49 PM
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I'm a "kinda sorta" first guitar 12 string guy...
Dad bought a cheap Silvertone acoustic ($11, new!) for my older brother, older sister and I to play... back in 1958. I wanted to play tenor sax (!), my sis' wanted to play piano and my brother wanted to play drums... Even as a music lover, Pop knew this wouldn't work for the household! So, I began plunking on that Silvertone - action about 3/4" at the octave... didn't get far, but I liked it. Folks got a divorce and Mom remarried, and somehow I got signed up for "6 Lessons and get a Free Guitar!"... went, picked up a cheap Marco Polo nylon-string and never went back for the second lesson... played that for a few years, until my good friend sat on the face in the middle of some late-night teen-age frenzy outdoors; I DID get to "El Kabong" him, which is a sweet memory, all these years later... So, in 1965, I decided I'd hie my butt down to Mexico and get a guitar at a great price - and I ended up with a gorgeous 12 string guitar for $35... brought it home and had fun for a few weeks and it began imploding... soon I had it down to only 6 strings, but even that was a lost cause... So the very first guitar that I BOUGHT was that Mexican 12 string... And I LOVE 12 string guitar, in all the ways they are played! I am very fortunate to own the only (to date) 12 string guitar that Mark Angus (The Guitar Shoppe, Laguna Beach, Ca.) has built. #58, built in 1983 and acquired by me shortly thereafter... now THIS is a 12 string! Long before Taylor was so famous for building sweet 12 string necks, Mark really did something fine with this one. It has always played so effortlessly (well, for a 12 string) that I don't even think about it unless it doesn't feel right. Mark did over-build this one, in comparison to my 6 string (#35, 1979), and I'm sure he did so to avoid any structural damage from all the extra ft/lbs. of torque and pull on the top/neck. One of my MOST stable guitars, in that I've traveled 1,000 miles through +/- 40 degree temp shifts, not touched it for a week and pull it out of her case and she's in PERFECT tune! Indian Rosewood, German Black Forest spruce top, maple binding on the neck; built from a template of a Guild F series, one of my favorite shapes (my 6 string Angus is an F-40-esque). Currently, I have an Anthem SL pickup in it...    I don't play it all the time, even during shows - depends on my relative hand strength that night, but I can't imagine NOT having that option... Always surprises me that guys will have a boatload of guitars, and not have one good 12 string. You DO want to find a good one, though... might not cost you the price of a Custom job, but make SURE it's a good one. A lot of over-built 12 strings out there floating around, and any sound very thin, brittle and jangly - without anything else going on. Jangly IS a big part the 12 string experience, but all those treble strings need some good mid and bottom to round them out... my 2 cents.
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"Home is where I hang my hat, but home is so much more than that. Home is where the ones and the things I hold dear are near... And I always find my way back home." "Home" (working title) J.S, Sherman Last edited by jseth; 08-11-2019 at 09:25 AM.
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