^^^This. One of the tidbits I recall from having read Bud Scoppa's comprehensive biography of The Byrds way back when I was ~12 years old was that Jim McGuinn got the idea of playing 12-string guitar specifically from seeing & hearing George Harrison using a Ric. (I think George used a model 330-12, but Jim wound up getting a 360-12.)
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12-string guitars not as popular as they used to be?
- Thread starter pklima
- Start date
^^^This. One of the tidbits I recall from having read Bud Scoppa's comprehensive biography of The Byrds way back when I was ~12 years old was that Jim McGuinn got the idea of playing 12-string guitar specifically from seeing & hearing George Harrison using a Ric. (I think George used a model 330-12, but Jim wound up getting a 360-12.)
I dunno, I like the sound of them a lot more than playing one. But if my work needed that voice, I'd play one. Let's face it, with pedals and other modeling techniques, Is it really needed for electronic music? Acoustic work is another story, but for other than Tom Petty, the Byrds, and for those that are old enough, The Raspberries type use, really it's not needed. JMO.
I guess I should have saved the Raspberries for the "Let me know your old with out letting me know you are old" thread…
My Rickenbacker 360-12OS FG Ckbd will be with me until the day I die. Concerning tuning, I purchased from RIC blank saddles and filed offsets so the stock 6-saddle bridge actually intonates properly. I also installed trimmed stamped nickel mandolin bushings on the Kluson slot tuner posts so they are smooth, eliminate even more backlash, and stay stable. Always tune from below pitch up to pitch so there is no or minimal backlash and the guitar will stay in tune. 12-string guitars work best with a set of strings that has a wound 3rd unison G string so the octave G string intonates with it.
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Yeah! I messed up. McGuinn got the idea to play a 12 from The Beatles! Thanks for the correction!
My very first guitar of any kind ( unless you count my bass, from one year prior) was an Epiphone 12 string. I loved the sound of it. Played the snot out of it, all through high school.
Started a jug band!
Yes, it was hard to keep in tune. Yes it was difficult to re-string, and more expensive.
I quickly removed the double strings on the high B and E, to be able to bend strings without it sounding wonky on leads.
By the way, thats the historic Fox theater in Bakersfield in the video clip.
Went to movies there as a kid. Thats where I saw Hard days night, Help, AND Let it be.
After its restoration in the 80s it became a performance venue. Seen alot of great shows there, John Fogarty, George Thorogood, Allison Krause.
And I've played it...twice!
Started a jug band!
Yes, it was hard to keep in tune. Yes it was difficult to re-string, and more expensive.
I quickly removed the double strings on the high B and E, to be able to bend strings without it sounding wonky on leads.
By the way, thats the historic Fox theater in Bakersfield in the video clip.
Went to movies there as a kid. Thats where I saw Hard days night, Help, AND Let it be.
After its restoration in the 80s it became a performance venue. Seen alot of great shows there, John Fogarty, George Thorogood, Allison Krause.
And I've played it...twice!
I briefly owned a 12 string when Fender launched those recent reissues. I'm not a great guitar player on the best of days but doubling the strings was surprising unpleasant. Trying to intonate the thing was tricky, tuning was extended labor. Bar chords were out of reach for me. Sounded cool but general use cases were limited enough I quickly sold the instrument.
Bass guitar isn't needed for "electronic music" either. Yeah, you can use pedals, etc., and fake your way through, but it just ain't the same, it's artificial and the sparkle isn't there. And there's more to 12-string than the Byrds and Petty, I cited some examples earlier, and here's more…
…and this wouldn't have been the same without one…
I own a 12 string. It's a Jay Turser Hawk, but the early model that has the toaster pickups and is, while not a direct copy of anything, clearly highly influenced by the small body Rickenbacker electric guitars. It looks great… and it sounds very much like a Rick:
I just started doing solo shows, so I bought an acoustic guitar that had a K&K pure pickup system in it. It happened to be a Yamaha twelve string but I really just bought it because it was such a good deal - around $350 and it includes a $100 pickup in it? Turns out I love playing a twelve string and it's been my main squeeze ever since. And I do mean squeeze! My left hand would hurt after ten or fifteen minutes. Now it's more like an hour before my hand hurts.
A band I subbed in with last year has a lead singer who plays twelve string exclusively. I thought it sounded great in the band context.
For playing solo, I removed the upper octave strings on the low E and A. I never use a pick and this gets me clearer, better defined bass notes for fingerpicking.
Just last night I installed a K&K pure mini in my Taylor acoustic 6 string that came with no electronics in it. It took all evening, and it was pretty terrifying drilling a hole for the input jack. But it really sounds great. Much better than the piezo pickup in my Hofner 6 string I'd been using.
A band I subbed in with last year has a lead singer who plays twelve string exclusively. I thought it sounded great in the band context.
For playing solo, I removed the upper octave strings on the low E and A. I never use a pick and this gets me clearer, better defined bass notes for fingerpicking.
Just last night I installed a K&K pure mini in my Taylor acoustic 6 string that came with no electronics in it. It took all evening, and it was pretty terrifying drilling a hole for the input jack. But it really sounds great. Much better than the piezo pickup in my Hofner 6 string I'd been using.
Also interesting how the talk in this thread is about half electric, half acoustic. I remember first finding out about electric 12s because Miki Berenyi played them and they looked cool. Kinda surprised more of today's shoegaze revival bands don't use those, but there's a lot about that revival I don't get, haha.
Also never seen these guys use a 6-string... rather obscure but very ridiculous.
Also never seen these guys use a 6-string... rather obscure but very ridiculous.
I owned a Martin 12-string for a few years.
I wanted that sound for about five of the songs that we as a band regularly performed.
In the end, I sold it to a local friend who really coveted it.
Reason being, it took so much work to restring it and keep it in proper tune.
And my Digitech Mosaic guitar pedal does a passable job of emulating that 12-string sound.
I really can't speak to whether the 12-string is 'dead'.
It's certainly not as popular as just 30 years ago, surely.
Photo of me and my Martin back in 2014.
I wanted that sound for about five of the songs that we as a band regularly performed.
In the end, I sold it to a local friend who really coveted it.
Reason being, it took so much work to restring it and keep it in proper tune.
And my Digitech Mosaic guitar pedal does a passable job of emulating that 12-string sound.
I really can't speak to whether the 12-string is 'dead'.
It's certainly not as popular as just 30 years ago, surely.
Photo of me and my Martin back in 2014.
