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delboy - Posted - 07/05/2013: 00:36:55
Just bought my first ever 12 string! Any others here? No idea what to do on it yet - so any hints and tips are welcome. The intention is to use it for for fingerstyle but I might have some fun trying to play some flatpicking on it - I'll post the results if they've any merit!
pizmo - Posted - 07/05/2013: 03:53:51
I just did the same thing after 50 years on my wish list (picked up at this years Merle fest). It's a fun experience playing it having that reverb sound without the amp. I'd say just try your repertoire of songs, and you'll find that there are some songs that really stand out. Found that the flatpicking songs with the Celtic lilt are enjoyable to do with the 12 string. My son really enjoyed picking it as well.
Jonno1 - Posted - 07/05/2013: 04:20:13
I've been in and out of playing 12 string for years and have had a number of inexpensive used ones just to try. Early on before I learned flatpicking I mainly played chords and strummed along on many of the 60's and 70's folk and rock songs and thought that was about all you could play on it. If you listen to a number of the early country blues guitar players in the 1920's and 30's you can hear they played and recorded on 12 string guitar as well.
Stefan Grossman has audio tapings of this on his site. Fun to listen to them and a good learning experience. I picked up another 12 string and now mainly flatpick with it. One thing I would suggest is to use a good stiff pick like a 1.0. I found that works better like playing a mandolin you need a stiff pick to drive down through the double strings and don't be afraid to attack it. Another thing I have my 12 string tuned down 1/2 step to ease up on the neck stress and if I want to play in standard key I just capo to first fret. I like playing it from time to time to flatpick and there are a number of tunes I play that it sound quite unique.
UsuallyPickin - Posted - 07/05/2013: 05:34:31
I've had one for years. A lawsuit model Takamine dread. I do keep it tuned to "D" rather than concert "E" just because of the stress on the bridge. I like the lesser downward pressure it takes to note it cleanly. Yes it can be flatpicked . Dan Crary plays a nice version of Under the Double Eagle on a twelve. Mostly I play folk ballads on it and strum those ringing first position chords ala Lightfoot. R/
Jonno1 - Posted - 07/05/2013: 07:37:27
Just a few more tips, not that I'm an expert but I have been fooling around with my 12 string for a while now. I just have a Samick Greg Bennett 12-string acoustic, who ever that is. but it's a B-stock and actually is a nice guitar for the price, made in Indonesa but pretty good quality for the dime and has nice acoustics even next to my Martin D-28. The neck is just a little bit narrower which I like. Also the neck on mine is straight and and true, I like the strings as close to the fretboard as possible but not so they buzz.
Anyway, I would work on both the left hand damping on the neck and plam damping by the bridge, especially if you work some cross picking on in. That helps control the ringing where the tune can get a little muddy and confusing. Also rest stops on single notes help as well. It's taken some practive for me and am still working on it.
delboy - Posted - 07/05/2013: 12:41:46
Here we go... my first effort. It's fingerpicking but there are a couple of flatpicking runs in there. I look forward to this journey.
youtu.be/hprePVl8_ts
Kind regards
Derek
Jim Yates - Posted - 07/05/2013: 19:47:34
I had always had a craving for a 12 string and 8or10 years back my wife bought me a cheap, but very playable Epiphone. I tuned it one step low and placed a capo on the second fret. The capo stayed there for years without moving, except to change strings.
I started out playing the old Gus Cannon song, Walk Right In, since it was the first song I ever recall hearing on a 12 string.
I flat-picked Beaumont Rag, since I'd heard Doc do it on a 12.
I learned a bunch of Lead Belly tunes: When I Was A Cowboy, Alabamy Bound, Midnight On The Sea(Titanic), Goodnight Irene.
I finger-picked Pink Anderson's Bring It On Home, learned from a Paul Geremia record and soon realised that it was the same as John Hartford's Boogie. I did these tunes as a medley at the Give A Hoot Folk Club and A singer told me that she was singing They're Red Hot while I was playing. I soon found that Alice's Restaurant is also the same progression and almost the same tune. I was picking it one day when my wife started singing an old pop tune called Jada. The bridge didn't work, but the rest did.
I liked to finger pick tunes like St. James Infirmary and Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out.
I had a lot of fun with this guitar and even recorded a version of Midnight On The Sea(Titanic), but eventually found I wasn't using it enough, so I sold it to my brother. I still get a chance to play it when I visit him.
coelhoe - Posted - 07/09/2013: 08:45:34
Jeez, Jim, there is so much overlap in our repertoires, we must have gone to separate schools together ( !). Just before I went int he Army in '62 I played several times on a big Gibson 12, B-12-45, and I loved it. Later, when I played folk clubs in Europe I used the smaller Gibson 12 to great effect. In '86, I bought a '62 Gibson biggie, red sunburst, and I still have it. Great for Guthrie stuff and sing-alongs. For vocals, the 12 supports the voice almost like a piano.
When I bought the '62, the top had "dished" a bit from the string tension even with the trapeze tailpiece, but I've used lights ever since and never had anymore trouble. I get it out about twice a year.
One irony: in the mid 60's I wrote to Martin and suggested that they consider developing a 12-string line, which they did not have at the time. I got a nice personal letter back from old C.F. himself to say that the Martin staff had determined that the heavy bracing necessary in a 12-string would not be possible with the traditional Martic sound, and so they had decided to not make them. Of course, about 18 months later they changed their minds. But they were essentially correct and they had a lot of repair problems with the early ones. I stil think that the early Guild 12's were probably the best.
Jim Yates - Posted - 07/09/2013: 17:39:49
Although the picyure caption says, "5 or 6 years old," I posted the photo in 2008, so you figure it out.
I have another brother who owns a 12-string as well. These guys both live a couple of hours away, so I get to play their 12-strings about 4 or 5 times a year.
My friend Wayne has a small bodied Gibson in his shop that I play every time I go in.
Dennis, Does your current 12 string have a trapeze or a pin bridge?
Edited by - Jim Yates on 07/09/2013 17:41:39
coelhoe - Posted - 07/09/2013: 19:41:31
It has the trapeze, which was thought to be less stressful but the top did "dish" a bit anyway. I think the those with the pin bridges have much heavier bracing.
Terry Allan Hall - Posted - 07/24/2013: 07:44:59
Have played 12-string since I got my 1st in 1971...currently use this Taylor 355 in standard tuning and a couple Guild F-212XLs for Open G and Open D/DADGAD tunings, all tuned up to Concert (most modern 12ers are fine tuned standard, but older ones are best tuned down a step or two).
About 1/2 of a typical acoustic gig involves 12-string...looking for a decent electric 12 for The Other gigs, too.
Edited by - Terry Allan Hall on 07/24/2013 07:50:45
twayneking - Posted - 12/10/2013: 02:04:13
I really miss my old 12 string. I've had two. I killed one (at least a loved one of mine killed it) and the other, my son carried off and probably hocked it.
Edited by - twayneking on 12/10/2013 02:04:35
Guitarelic - Posted - 02/19/2014: 11:41:18
For inspiration/ elucidation you can't do better (I.M.H.O.) than mssr.'s Kottke & Basho (and Robbies son, Stephen) and 'Daddy Stove-Pipe' and Mr. Crosby......a GOOD electronic tuner & proper 12str. capo are mandatory and I found that a slide ( HEAVY GLASS) w/concave surface to work well with the wider finger-board on my GUILD JF 30 12 that is always tuned down a full step and I love them open tunings........a whole new universe to explore!
Jim Yates - Posted - 04/20/2014: 20:32:23
I went to my brother Bob's for Easter and had a chance to play the 12-string. Lots of fun.
Harrysong - Posted - 06/09/2015: 17:23:19
I've been playing 12 string since I was 13. Absolutely love them.
Studebaker Hawk - Posted - 11/01/2015: 20:39:22
I never liked 12-strings... playing them, that is; the necks were like fence posts, too thick and clunky and hard to navigate for my left hand. Unfortunately, most of the 12-strings I played were cheaply made with no finesse applied whatsoever in the manufacturing process. All that changed, however, when I broke down and purchased a RainSong 12-string graphite guitar. Man, what a sweetie that thing is! Nice, slim neck; full, resonant sound; and an absolute dream to play. And best thing of all, RainSongs are nearly indestructible... they can be turned to standard pitch with NO adverse affect on neck or body, and temp extremes, high humidity or lack thereof pose no threat whatsoever. Yep, RainSongs rock!
Jim Yates - Posted - 11/23/2015: 16:19:02
While I no longer own a 12-string, I do have my wife's old Yamaha strung up as a high-strung or Nashville-tuned guitar. That is a lot of fun when there are a bunch of guitar players in the room.
I'd like to sometime try a seven string guitar; the kind with the octave G string added o the third string, I remember Spider John Koerner payed one of these on the Blues, Rags & Hollers and Lots More Blues, Rags & Hollers records in the early sixties. Spider John used a banjo peg in the centre of the peghead for the extra string.
I've been told that Martin is building a Spider John model seven string at the request of Roger McGuinn, but haven't actually seen or played one yet.
Jim Yates - Posted - 11/24/2015: 21:25:12
That one sounds like she's tuned 10 frets higher. She's playing Angeline in C using D fingerings.
Ry Cooder has an electric octave 12-string.
youtube.com/watch?v=uOEFNZJDXGM
Sneak-Peak - Posted - 12/26/2016: 19:01:36
I haven't actually played one. I think, its not common. According to what other guitar players said, they are more used for only selected songs. Some don't recommend it to beginners.
crookvile - Posted - 05/03/2017: 06:44:10
I never thought there is a 12-string guitar. Good thing my daughter is into guitar now.
Paul R - Posted - 01/15/2018: 12:53:23
Just joined this site.
I had a Yamaki twelve-string through much of the Seventies. It was stolen from my classroom sometime during Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, 1981. It cost very little, but was pretty decent, with fair string spacing and good enough tone, although a little on the weak side compared to a six-string - a problem I found common to a lot of twelves.
In '75 I acquired a 1968 Gibson ES-335 electric twelve. Lots of fun to play, although I haven't used it that much.
The one that got away was a Grit Laskin twelve that was for sale at the Toronto Folklore Centre in the latter half of the Seventies. I had the money in my pocket, and told the manager that I'd like to hear it against a six-string. He said he was busy. He was busy reading the newspaper. I walked out. Every so often I feel like licking myself, but it could have been the Laskin in my classroom that weekend instead of the Yamaki.
A while back I tried a Sigma twelve at a local shop. It was very playable and sounded great. If I were in the market for one, that's what I'd get.
