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  #16  
Old 01-14-2017, 01:50 PM
Steadfastly Steadfastly is offline
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I have had two twelve string guitars in the past. One was a hollow body electric (Dean Boca) and the other was an Art & Lutherie with maple top, back and sides. I modded both of them to a 6 string. Now I am looking for another 12 string acoustic to keep and keep as a 12 string.

Last edited by Steadfastly; 01-14-2017 at 01:58 PM.
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  #17  
Old 01-14-2017, 01:52 PM
ridethewind ridethewind is offline
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I got turned on to 12-strings after seeing Fred Neil play (on a triple bill with the Youngbloods and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band). I loved the chiming, shimmering quality Neil got out of his instrument and thought they'd be fun to try, but I had my Gibson 6-string and didn't see guitar as my best instrument, so the thought languished.

Many years later, after reviving my guitar interest and taking it more seriously and shortly after trading the Gibson in for the Martin I have now, I saw a Norman (Godin) 12 used in our local guitar shop. The price was low and it sounded good so I bought it to see if I'd really like playing one. It turned out that I did. I'm not used to dreads, however, and the size was too much so I looked for a smaller body. I tried out a Taylor auditorium sized that sang and was way above my price range. I test-drove a Breedlove Pursuit 12 at another guitar store. It felt like the Taylor to play and I liked the sound well enough. On a chance, I bought a lightly used Studio-12 on eBay and lucked out. The sound shimmers, just as I'd wanted it to. My wife loves it and likens the sound to a waterfall.

I use light, round-core low-tension strings on it, which allows me to bar chords. It's a beautiful guitar for my use.

Mostly I play my 6 strings, but I pull out that 12 a few times a week. It takes about 20 minutes of playing for my hands to adjust to the different string placement but it's worth it, I still love the sound, it's unlike anything else. I'd say I play it about 20-25% of the time.


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  #18  
Old 01-14-2017, 02:06 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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I got imprinted on 12 strings during the folk scare years when they seemed (relatively) more common. I could, and did, hear the instrument used in various ways more easily in those days.

One of my acoustic guitar idols is Leo Kottke, but I never could play in his mature style. On the other hand, I would try to write and play somewhat in the style of his first two local records.

A couple of early singer-songwriters Fred Neill and Tim Buckley made good use of 12 string. I can't sing like either of them, but their guitar textures stick with me.

I liked Leadbelly and Koerner Ray and Glover too. Strange that we've largely forgotten that once the 12 string was used to play blues and Afro-American songster stuff.

And then Jim/Roger McGuinn too. I love that squashed, slightly overdriven electric 12 string sound.

I bought my first 12 string in 1977 or so, a Cortez (the firm later shortened it's name to Cort) Asian-made all-laminated dreadnaught. Put a DeArmond soundhole pickup in it and gigged with it in the early 80s.

I currently have two acoustic 12 strings from around the last turn of the century, a Guild maple/spruce jumbo and a Seagull cherry/cedar dread. I wish I played them more. Part of the reduction in playing is from arthritis and lack of woodshed time, but also my current context is mostly recording, and getting an acoustic 12 string to sit well in a band recording is tough for me.
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  #19  
Old 01-14-2017, 02:09 PM
guitararmy guitararmy is offline
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I love the sound of a 12!

I only have one acoustic 12, and older Taylor 855 with the old 2-knob Fishman preamp and a sharp cutaway.
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  #20  
Old 01-14-2017, 02:31 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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A young kid, I knew about 4 chords, someone had a Yamaha 12-string ... I was hooked.
Those 4 chords never sounded better.
Left school, started work, bought a new Italian made 'Gonzalez' 12-string guitar.
Weighed a ton, zero fret, adjustable saddle.
Sounded absolutely thin, no bass whatsoever.
Back then in the 1970's the 12-string to have was a locally made Maton, USA guitars were scarce and expensive.
About 15 years ago I sold the Gonzalez and bought a Maton 12-string.
It was a decent step up but I felt there should be more so I ordered a 12-string version Country Jumbo from Maton.
While I was waiting for that Maton to be built I bought a used Taylor 355 from the USA.
The Taylor confirmed the jumbo was definitely the right direction for what I was looking for.
The new Maton was delivered - huge disappointment, sounded thin and weak.
Found a used Guild F-412 in the USA and bought it.
Oh boy, I thought the Taylor was good until the F-412 arrived.
Big, heavy, loud but beautifully balanced tone.
If a Maple Guild sounds this good I just have to get me a Rosewood jumbo 12!
Was a mouse click away from buying a new Guild F-512 when I found a new Martin Grand J12-40E Special for sale here in Australia for a whopping $2799.00 under normal retail price.
Did my research, only 231 ever built so I bought it.
Wow .. there's no trebly jangle on this guitar, warm and lush, incredible tone from light strings.
Found a rare Japan-only model Morris 12-string for sale in Sydney and bought it, nicely made but very bright .
Here's a picture taken before I sold the Maton jumbo and traded the Taylor.

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  #21  
Old 01-14-2017, 02:53 PM
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nedray nedray is offline
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I picked up a 1979 Guild F-112 last year for a good price, and that scratches my infrequent itch to play a 12-string.
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  #22  
Old 01-14-2017, 03:11 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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I honestly can't remember when or why I got into 12 strings - pretty sure it wasn't until after '93 when I started to learn to play again after a ten year illness stopped my music.
I has a succession of Yamaha FG 12 strings - the ones with slotheads, and play them until the necks came up, then sell 'em and buy another.

Then I discovered a German made Lakewood OM which was probably the finest 12 I've ever had. I had a Martin J-12-40 at the same time which could not compare.

I decided to be a "bluesman" so got this :



A modern version of the custom Stella that Leadbelly played - 2" nut, 25.5" scale tuned to B or C. (Toby played it when he gigged in my city).


Then I got a very battered old D12-35 which went with my 12 fret dread(s).

This is my only 12 string now :




12s are a pain,but they are single box orchestras - big sound - east to play,but tuning? a pain.
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  #23  
Old 01-14-2017, 03:28 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Brucebobs: I thought I had too many 12 strings. What a group!
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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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  #24  
Old 01-14-2017, 03:44 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankHudson View Post
Brucebobs: I thought I had too many 12 strings. What a group!
Thanks FrankHudson.
I'm down to just 3 now.

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1972 - Takamine D-70
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  #25  
Old 01-14-2017, 03:52 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Default 12 String Guitars - Your Thoughts, Experiences, & the Stories Behind Them

The 12-strings I've known and (mostly) loved:
  • Guild F212XL: one of the first ones made, bought new by the young seminary grad who led the folk group at my local church; the first 12-string I ever played, and an absolute tone monster
  • Aria spruce/hog dread (model unknown): first flat-top guitar I ever owned, bought this one the summer I graduated from HS; had a Fender-feeling thin 14-fret neck and a disturbing tendency to break octave-G strings, found its way to the NYCDS when the tailpiece developed stress cracks and the neck went south
  • Gibson B45-12: the "Sundown" model, in a not-quite-cherry/not-quite-teaburst finish I've never seen on any other Gibson, that I bought for $180 brand-new w/HSC as an "IMPERFECT - BGN" (stamped on the back of the headstock); had Matt Umanov reglue the bridge and played the crap out of it for the next six years - this one put the lie to everything you've ever heard about the Norlin-era acoustics, and I never should have gotten rid of it
  • Ovation Custom Balladeer 12 sunburst: bought as a match for my 6-string (which I still have), used it a few years later when my wife (she borrowed the 6) and I sang/played "Perhaps Love" at our wedding ceremony; traded it on the following entry
  • Guild (USA) JF30-12: bought as a "his-&-hers" to go with my wife's blonde F-20, I was told that this was a custom order (built on an F-412 platform with premium woods but JF-30 trim) that was never picked up; my go-to 12 for many years (this baby can handle 12's at concert pitch without flinching and rock the walls doing it), I can't negotiate the huge neck any more - probably sell it as a matched set with the F-20 somewhere down the line
  • Ovation (USA) Elite 12 sunburst non-cut: think very early Melissa Etheridge; this one's actually my wife's - saw her playing it a few times at MandoBros (one of the rare occasions she took down an instrument to play without my urging), knew there was an attraction, surprised her with it that Christmas
  • Rainsong JM3000: bought with a JM1000 as a matched h-&-h pair; Guild depth and volume, Ovation clarity and playability, and a couple pounds less weight on the strap than either have made this our CCM/P&W go-to since 2004
  • Martin J12-15: bought as a companion to my D-15S (this one belongs to Daddy ), one of the finest guitars CFM IV & Co. ever discontinued ; this little 16" all-hog beauty eats my Guild for breakfast - all the volume and fullness of the Rainsong, with a woody warmth and maturity that's only gotten better over the years and a funky Willie McTell visual vibe
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  #26  
Old 01-14-2017, 03:57 PM
alien alien is offline
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I bought a No name 12 string from a friend of mine while in high school. That was sometime around 1972. I kept it for a few years but sold it around '77, when I bought my first nice 6 string. My goal was to own a Guild 12 string. Eventually I bought a used 1974 G212 in 1982. I have owned a 12 string ever since then. The G212 ended up with my nephew. I have owned a Martin J12-15, Guild F312 and currently have an 0000 custom Martin 12 string. I would dearly love to have a Guild F412 if I could find a used one for the right price. The 12 string probably gets about 30% of my playing time.
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  #27  
Old 01-14-2017, 04:00 PM
The Bard Rocks The Bard Rocks is offline
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My first came well into my years as a player. it was a '67 D12-20. Love dit and played all sort of things on it. But over the years, the action raised and I got it out less and less, until I finally realized over a year had passed since I'd' played it. It wasn't enjoyable any longer. So I spent some money on it, new frets, setup, lowering the action, about $500 as I recall.

When I got it back, it was still not enjoyable. In the duration I hadn't played it, I acquired my first really, really good guitars, so it could be that I was spoiled and it was as good as ever. Others that heard it said it was fine. But it didn't sound that way to me.

So I sold it and looked for something different. The problem was I didn't want to spend a sum comparable to my latest 6 strings, since I was only going to use it for special occasions. I didn't find anything until one day I found a real possibility on eBay, a luthier-made one. I contacted him and he told me I wouldn't want the one he was selling (too wide a nut for me). That was honest and decent of him to be so upfront to me and it led to a commission, at a price that was cheaper than the Taylors, Martins, Guilds and Gibsons, I'd been studying. And when it arrived, it did not disappoint! Not one bit. The builder was someone who few of you have ever heard of, yet he has built over 1000 instruments including ones for Gordon Bok, Judy Collins and Noel Paul Stookey of PP&M - Nick Appollonio.
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  #28  
Old 01-14-2017, 04:55 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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In high school it was a Washburn, then later I had a Yamaha - a few years ago I tried a couple of Larrivees, and still miss the OM-12-12 all mahogany one. My brother-in-law tried to sell me his D-12-20, but it didn't really ring any bells for me -

Recently found this beautiful SC F 12 string, and think it'll stay with me a long, long, time -
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  #29  
Old 01-14-2017, 05:09 PM
CASD57 CASD57 is offline
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After reading another thread here about 12 stringers...I gassed for one..Found a Cort Earth 100 12 stringer.... After playing it..for the life of me I can't figure out why I wanted one..lol
It doesn't fit my style of playing or songs I do.. easy enough to play...capo'd ok
Just isn't my thing..

I thought the Cort might of been a little over built= quiet but I heard the guy buying it from me play it....and it was loud standing in front of the sound hole...Sounded good too...

But it won;t be missed
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  #30  
Old 01-14-2017, 05:10 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tadol View Post

Recently found this beautiful SC F 12 string, and think it'll stay with me a long, long, time -
Now that's one truly beautiful guitar.
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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
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