12 string guitars?
Moderated By: mods
12 string guitars?
Need the opinions of 12 string owners - which model / make do you have, would you recommend it, and how often do you play it / how useful is it?... any SS demos?
XY
This is mine:
No demos I'm afraid but I really like it. Comfortable to play (playing rhythm it's no more tricky than a 6 string tbh) and sounds great. Useful for adding something different to recordings etc. Can sound huge through dirt, lovely jangle when clean.
They do pop up on eBay in the UK every now and again but you might have to wait a while.
No demos I'm afraid but I really like it. Comfortable to play (playing rhythm it's no more tricky than a 6 string tbh) and sounds great. Useful for adding something different to recordings etc. Can sound huge through dirt, lovely jangle when clean.
They do pop up on eBay in the UK every now and again but you might have to wait a while.
Fran wrote:I love how this place is basic as fuck.
ekwatts wrote:I'm just going to smash it in with a hammer and hope it works. Tone is all in the fingers anyway.
I think, to an extent, they are a bit of a one trick pony but having said that I do use it a fair amount and wouldn't part with it.
They're not as versatile as a "normal" electric but as long as you appreciate that, and it sounds like you do, then you'll probably be happy with one.
Think George was looking at 12 strings recently (think he bought a strat in the end) so he might have some useful suggestions.
What sort of price range are you looking at?
They're not as versatile as a "normal" electric but as long as you appreciate that, and it sounds like you do, then you'll probably be happy with one.
Think George was looking at 12 strings recently (think he bought a strat in the end) so he might have some useful suggestions.
What sort of price range are you looking at?
Fran wrote:I love how this place is basic as fuck.
ekwatts wrote:I'm just going to smash it in with a hammer and hope it works. Tone is all in the fingers anyway.
Oh, and I'd put money on Fender/Squier re-issuing the XII before too long. Hopefully a Squier VM rather than some weirdo PS one with hambackers.
Fran wrote:I love how this place is basic as fuck.
ekwatts wrote:I'm just going to smash it in with a hammer and hope it works. Tone is all in the fingers anyway.
I couldn't be happier with my Schecter Stargazer 12. Sounds great, feels great. The tuners are also great, people say that tuning a 12 string is a nightmare, but these ones hold up very well. I haven't done a specific demo for it, but I use it in some pedal demos. Not too expensive, as far as guitars go.
High quality, low popularity Ecstatic Fury
i've had a jay turser SG12, a dano dc12, a rickenbacker 620/12 and now own a strat 12, and fancy myself a bit of a fan of 12s these days.
jay turser SG 12 - fine build quality but woefully neck heavy and dark sounding due to humbuckers
dano dc12 - should be everyones first port of call due to the price and cos it nails the sound and is easy to play. buy used of coourse, ideally a 90s reissue (plain headstock)
rickenbacker 620/12- overpriced, agony to play with a very narrow neck. very overrated and very expensive
strat 12 - hard to come by as out of production. i bought mine for about £500. these are all MIJ and have the same pedigree. neck is not as wide as a DC12 or as thin as a rick. i love mine. basically a 12 string strat with all the nice sounds you'd expect.
there are a few others on the market like the italias (garbage) and schecters and what-have-you but i haven't really spent a lot of time with them. all said and done i'd get a DC12 if you're a fairly intermittent player because it's not worth the price to get anything else.
i play a 12 string all the time now (actually not so much while i have a bad finger because i don't have the dexterity so only play 6). they do require you to rethink things a little differently to find out what works and what doesn't but i love the sound. some people don't "get" 12 strings but if you take to them you'll be amazed at how fun they are
i'll say now that most people are terrible at playing 12 strings because they set them up all wrong. the first thing you should do is put a much lighter gauge string on them. i play 10s normally but on a 12 i put 8s. this is so you can play the thing properly. and this is why all youtube videos of rick purists sound terrible because they think flatwound 10s are "the right thing to do" LMAO. this is also generally why most people only use them for open chords at the 3rd fret and then sell them due to lack of interest because they can't do anything else.
another 12 string hack is to get rid of the extra b and high e strings and up the guage of them. this way you get the sweet octave drones without the strident chorusy b and e mush, and lead is much easier. the sound is more acute and direct because of it.
oh and lastly, consider a compressor if you want "the" 12 string sound. i have a MBM janglebox clone which is always on.
jay turser SG 12 - fine build quality but woefully neck heavy and dark sounding due to humbuckers
dano dc12 - should be everyones first port of call due to the price and cos it nails the sound and is easy to play. buy used of coourse, ideally a 90s reissue (plain headstock)
rickenbacker 620/12- overpriced, agony to play with a very narrow neck. very overrated and very expensive
strat 12 - hard to come by as out of production. i bought mine for about £500. these are all MIJ and have the same pedigree. neck is not as wide as a DC12 or as thin as a rick. i love mine. basically a 12 string strat with all the nice sounds you'd expect.
there are a few others on the market like the italias (garbage) and schecters and what-have-you but i haven't really spent a lot of time with them. all said and done i'd get a DC12 if you're a fairly intermittent player because it's not worth the price to get anything else.
i play a 12 string all the time now (actually not so much while i have a bad finger because i don't have the dexterity so only play 6). they do require you to rethink things a little differently to find out what works and what doesn't but i love the sound. some people don't "get" 12 strings but if you take to them you'll be amazed at how fun they are
i'll say now that most people are terrible at playing 12 strings because they set them up all wrong. the first thing you should do is put a much lighter gauge string on them. i play 10s normally but on a 12 i put 8s. this is so you can play the thing properly. and this is why all youtube videos of rick purists sound terrible because they think flatwound 10s are "the right thing to do" LMAO. this is also generally why most people only use them for open chords at the 3rd fret and then sell them due to lack of interest because they can't do anything else.
another 12 string hack is to get rid of the extra b and high e strings and up the guage of them. this way you get the sweet octave drones without the strident chorusy b and e mush, and lead is much easier. the sound is more acute and direct because of it.
oh and lastly, consider a compressor if you want "the" 12 string sound. i have a MBM janglebox clone which is always on.
Last edited by George on Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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westtexasred
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I had a dano dc12 that I sold to George. As he already said it nails the sound.
I sold it because I had bought a vintage Vox Tempest xii, which I must have thought would give me superpowers or something. The sound is amazing; bright and clear; however it's a bit of a beast to play. Heavier than the dano and the fretboard is more narrow and the neck chunky. I almost sold it for a Coronado xii, but my lazy ass never got around to putting it on eBay.
I sold it because I had bought a vintage Vox Tempest xii, which I must have thought would give me superpowers or something. The sound is amazing; bright and clear; however it's a bit of a beast to play. Heavier than the dano and the fretboard is more narrow and the neck chunky. I almost sold it for a Coronado xii, but my lazy ass never got around to putting it on eBay.
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Doug
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Many great sounds with a 12-string
George and others have given so many specific suggestions. All I want to add is encouragement for you to go after all the sounds...
1. Of course 12-string's a rich rhythm guitar sound;
2. Finger-pickin is an especially beautiful 12-string sound; check out Blind Willie McTell on YouTube (he wrote "Statesboro Blues" for The Allman Brothers...
);
3. The Byrds had the breakthrough rock sound (link below) and Roger McGuin played killer leads on his 12-string.
1. Of course 12-string's a rich rhythm guitar sound;
2. Finger-pickin is an especially beautiful 12-string sound; check out Blind Willie McTell on YouTube (he wrote "Statesboro Blues" for The Allman Brothers...
); 3. The Byrds had the breakthrough rock sound (link below) and Roger McGuin played killer leads on his 12-string.
Doug
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tenderstems
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ekwatts wrote:The double 6 body is just the Marquee body. It IS huge, and shows how simply slapping a 12 string neck on a regular 6 string doesn't always work... still a great, great guitar.
This leads nicely to my next question, I have an old telecaster body pickups the lot - warmoth and the like do 12 string necks and replacement bridges, how do you think would a conversion go. Would be a cheap road to a 12 string telecaster.
XY