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12-String Mania
I’ve been immersed in 12-strings for the past few weeks, the main reason being an upcoming review of six such instruments in the August 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Following the format of our recent reviews of dreadnoughts and mid-size guitars, the article will feature six guitars ranging in price from $330 to $3,900. Frequent Acoustic Guitar contributor—and great 12-string fingerpicker—Pete Madsen and I had a lot of fun checking these guitars out. I’m not going to give away too much about the article yet, but it was very encouraging to see how far 12-strings at all price levels have come in terms of playability and tone—not a single guitar in our bunch resembled the hard-to-play and overly jangly 12-string instruments that many of us have experienced in the past. Besides facilitating the article itself, I was also roped in to shoot video of all six guitars, and I’ll be sure to post a reminder when that footage is live.
In a case of coincidental timing, Bay Area luthier Tony Yamamoto began coming to some of my local gigs with a succession of experimental 12-strings in tow. Yamamoto has built a reputation among Northern California pickers for his baritone guitars and has been trying to apply the concept of low tunings to his 12-strings. Up to now, these have included two 26.6-inch scale baritone 12’s and the very latest, a multi-scale 12-string that is designed to be strung with octave pairs or strings for all six courses. This may need some explaining: while 12-strings generally use octave strings for their E, A, D, and G strings (low to high), their two upper courses (B and high E strings) are usually doubled, similar to the unison strings on a mandolin. Interested in what would happen if all six courses of strings were arranged as octave pairs, Yamamoto set out on a research project, eventually discovering that guitarist Kevin Kastning had experimented with such arrangements on a custom instrument made by the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. However, depending on the tuning used, a regular 25.5-inch scale tends to result in too much tension for the octave treble strings. Realizing he’d have to tune the guitar down from standard pitch, Yamamoto settled on a short 22.7-inch scale on the treble side of the fretboard, while keeping a 25.5 inch scale for the bass, thereby reducing string tension enough to tune the guitar from A to A.
Although the prototype I’ve gotten to play is clearly still at the experimental stage, the sonic potential is quite fascinating. With thunderous lows and harmonically rich yet very high sounding trebles (due to the octave courses), Yamamoto’s guitar has an incredible range, and it really sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Granted, it’s a very specialized instrument, and many 12-stringers will be better off with “regular” guitars such as the ones we’ll be featuring in the August issue, but it’s cool to see curious luthiers taking guitar design to new places.
All this examining of 12-strings has made me get out my own guitar (a Taylor 355) for a bit of double-course fun. I tend to go through waves of interest in playing the 12, but I think I’m going to ride this one for a while longer!
In a case of coincidental timing, Bay Area luthier Tony Yamamoto began coming to some of my local gigs with a succession of experimental 12-strings in tow. Yamamoto has built a reputation among Northern California pickers for his baritone guitars and has been trying to apply the concept of low tunings to his 12-strings. Up to now, these have included two 26.6-inch scale baritone 12’s and the very latest, a multi-scale 12-string that is designed to be strung with octave pairs or strings for all six courses. This may need some explaining: while 12-strings generally use octave strings for their E, A, D, and G strings (low to high), their two upper courses (B and high E strings) are usually doubled, similar to the unison strings on a mandolin. Interested in what would happen if all six courses of strings were arranged as octave pairs, Yamamoto set out on a research project, eventually discovering that guitarist Kevin Kastning had experimented with such arrangements on a custom instrument made by the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. However, depending on the tuning used, a regular 25.5-inch scale tends to result in too much tension for the octave treble strings. Realizing he’d have to tune the guitar down from standard pitch, Yamamoto settled on a short 22.7-inch scale on the treble side of the fretboard, while keeping a 25.5 inch scale for the bass, thereby reducing string tension enough to tune the guitar from A to A.
Although the prototype I’ve gotten to play is clearly still at the experimental stage, the sonic potential is quite fascinating. With thunderous lows and harmonically rich yet very high sounding trebles (due to the octave courses), Yamamoto’s guitar has an incredible range, and it really sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Granted, it’s a very specialized instrument, and many 12-stringers will be better off with “regular” guitars such as the ones we’ll be featuring in the August issue, but it’s cool to see curious luthiers taking guitar design to new places.
All this examining of 12-strings has made me get out my own guitar (a Taylor 355) for a bit of double-course fun. I tend to go through waves of interest in playing the 12, but I think I’m going to ride this one for a while longer!
Comment
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Comment by Steve MacNeil on July 3, 2009 at 3:56pm -
When I bought my Alvarez Country Jumbo, I was on the fence over the six-string with amp hardware or the straight acoustic 12-string for about the same price. I went with the six-string, but rarely amp it, and often with that I'd gone with the 12-string instead.
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Comment by Richard Berryhill on June 9, 2009 at 12:47pm
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Steve, you asked "are all people my age so enlightened?" I have no idea of your age, but I'm 66 and "grew up" musically starting around 1965, and by the time the Byrds, Gordon Lightfoot, and Crosby Stills Nash came out, was totally hooked on the sounds they were producing. Such musicians and such a creative age will certainly not come around again, not in my lifetime, and I vividly recall many a stoned night and/or day completely entranced by the sounds they produced.
It was a long time before I learned that much of the sounds I loved so much were played on the 12 string, and I've just recently (since retirement) been able to purchase a beautiful Martin 12 string to indulge my playing love of the 12 string sound.
It is clear that the 12 string sound comes and goes in popular music, and that it was most popular during the height of the folk music period beginning in the '50s and ending far too soon for me, at least. It has been a wonderful pleasure to re-discover the 12 string sound and the music of that era now that the "old" music is so readily available in high quality digital format from so many sources.
I've put myself to sleep many a night now while listening to 12 string - and other - such music on my iPod, with a set of sound blocking Sennheiser earphones on and the sound cranked up just as loud as I want it! (And no more paranoid fears, either, that the "fuzz" is going to come pounding on my door because of the loud music, or the smell of pot - which I gave up many years ago!)
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Comment by Dave Sterenchock on June 6, 2009 at 9:45am -
I know it's not an acoustic but Steve Howe rocks this twelve string.
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Comment by Dave Sterenchock on June 6, 2009 at 9:42am
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Whenever I hear a twelve string or when I get to try a twelve string I think of the Byrds and the first song I want to play is Feel A Whole Lot Better. Is it just me or are all people my age so enlightened?
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Comment by Keith de Sousa on May 27, 2009 at 1:09pm -
I have always loved the acoustic 12 string guitar. My first back in the early ninties was an Ibanez and now I own a Seagull. My father had an album [back in the early sixties] by Glen Campbell, which was purely instrumental, with Glen featured on the 12 String. Maybe one of the songs on the album was 'Greenback dollar'. Anyone know of this album ?
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Comment by John Wilson on May 21, 2009 at 6:26am -
Incredible looking instrument.
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