devellis
Member
Well, my account became active, so I wanted to introduce myself to you fine folks. I recognize some of you from other forums, such as AGF.
By way of background, I played a bit of guitar back in the 60's then pretty much gave up on guitar until about 2 years ago. The first guitar I bought was a Wurlitzer 12-string dread that was my companion through college. It was under a hundred bucks new and kind of a strange beast. In some respects, it was a fairly decent guitar and, in others, a piece of junk. It spent decades, literally, under a bed until I gave it to the son of a friend who is a good guitar player and wanted a 12-string to experiment with.
After college, I was lured to other instruments. I've spent time messing with 5-string banjo, concertina and mandolin. While trying to learn a tune on mandolin from a recording done on tenor guitar, I decided to see what it would sound like on guitar. My mandolin playing consisted of flatpicking Irish traditional stuff. Playing this sort of music on guitar is fairly uncommon but I thought I'd give it a go and, to my pleasant surprise, it worked quite well. I was sufficiently inspired to acquire a couple of very nice guitars (a Goodall and a Bourgeois) and merrily went about flatpicking jigs and reels as best I could.
More recently, I've become interested in fingerpicking country-style blues. I swapped a mandolin for a National Style 0, which is set up for slide but also have been doing some fingerpicking on my other guitars. Another mandolin trade got me a really nice Adirondack-over-Macassar Zimnicki guitar. So, presently, I'm enjoying a wealth of guitar riches. But fingerpicking has created a longing for another 12-string. I'm not 100% sold on the idea by any means but it has a certain pull on me. Thinking 12-string, naturally meant thinking Guild. Over the years, I've played a few Guilds and have always admired them. As a native New Englander (born in Massachusetts, living in North Carolina for the past 30 or so years), I encountered them fairly often as a youngster and was always favorably impressed. So, I'm thinking that some time in the spring I might consider getting something like a Guild F-512.
Now the question: It seems very difficult to find places where you can actually try these things out. Although there are a few dealers in North Carolina, most are a pretty good distance and aren't places I've particularly heard of before. Sam Ash in Raleigh is the closest (I'm in Chapel Hill) and none of these places seem to have websites. So, I'm at something of a loss for how to go about informing any decision I make about a Guild 12-string.
I guess my specific questions are:
Where have you purchased new Guild 12s with success (good price and service)? I've seen reference in past threads to dealers in Montana, Worcester, MA, and Madison, WI. Are there other dealers you would recommend?
Are the 12-strings rarities even among Guild dealers? Internet searches seem to indicate a willingness to order one (if they're mentioned at all) far more often than one actually in stock.
Is anyone personally familiar with any dealers in my neck of the woods that is likely to stock Guild 12-strings? I'm guessing this is a long shot.
Are the New Hartford 12-strings sufficiently consistent (or is there enough collective experience to know this?) that a long-distance purchase, with no prior contact with the specific instrument, wouldn't be risky?
I'm giving myself plenty of lead time because this would be an expensive purchase and I'm still not 100% sold on the idea of returning to the 12-string fold. I'd really like to get my hands on something appropriate to help me decide. I've played other 12's, mostly Taylors, and wasn't wowed. I realize that I may be asking for the impossible here but thought I should tap into the extensive collective wisdom here at LTG before going too far or too quickly down this road.
All suggestions and insights will be welcomed.
Thanks,
Bob DeVellis
By way of background, I played a bit of guitar back in the 60's then pretty much gave up on guitar until about 2 years ago. The first guitar I bought was a Wurlitzer 12-string dread that was my companion through college. It was under a hundred bucks new and kind of a strange beast. In some respects, it was a fairly decent guitar and, in others, a piece of junk. It spent decades, literally, under a bed until I gave it to the son of a friend who is a good guitar player and wanted a 12-string to experiment with.
After college, I was lured to other instruments. I've spent time messing with 5-string banjo, concertina and mandolin. While trying to learn a tune on mandolin from a recording done on tenor guitar, I decided to see what it would sound like on guitar. My mandolin playing consisted of flatpicking Irish traditional stuff. Playing this sort of music on guitar is fairly uncommon but I thought I'd give it a go and, to my pleasant surprise, it worked quite well. I was sufficiently inspired to acquire a couple of very nice guitars (a Goodall and a Bourgeois) and merrily went about flatpicking jigs and reels as best I could.
More recently, I've become interested in fingerpicking country-style blues. I swapped a mandolin for a National Style 0, which is set up for slide but also have been doing some fingerpicking on my other guitars. Another mandolin trade got me a really nice Adirondack-over-Macassar Zimnicki guitar. So, presently, I'm enjoying a wealth of guitar riches. But fingerpicking has created a longing for another 12-string. I'm not 100% sold on the idea by any means but it has a certain pull on me. Thinking 12-string, naturally meant thinking Guild. Over the years, I've played a few Guilds and have always admired them. As a native New Englander (born in Massachusetts, living in North Carolina for the past 30 or so years), I encountered them fairly often as a youngster and was always favorably impressed. So, I'm thinking that some time in the spring I might consider getting something like a Guild F-512.
Now the question: It seems very difficult to find places where you can actually try these things out. Although there are a few dealers in North Carolina, most are a pretty good distance and aren't places I've particularly heard of before. Sam Ash in Raleigh is the closest (I'm in Chapel Hill) and none of these places seem to have websites. So, I'm at something of a loss for how to go about informing any decision I make about a Guild 12-string.
I guess my specific questions are:
Where have you purchased new Guild 12s with success (good price and service)? I've seen reference in past threads to dealers in Montana, Worcester, MA, and Madison, WI. Are there other dealers you would recommend?
Are the 12-strings rarities even among Guild dealers? Internet searches seem to indicate a willingness to order one (if they're mentioned at all) far more often than one actually in stock.
Is anyone personally familiar with any dealers in my neck of the woods that is likely to stock Guild 12-strings? I'm guessing this is a long shot.
Are the New Hartford 12-strings sufficiently consistent (or is there enough collective experience to know this?) that a long-distance purchase, with no prior contact with the specific instrument, wouldn't be risky?
I'm giving myself plenty of lead time because this would be an expensive purchase and I'm still not 100% sold on the idea of returning to the 12-string fold. I'd really like to get my hands on something appropriate to help me decide. I've played other 12's, mostly Taylors, and wasn't wowed. I realize that I may be asking for the impossible here but thought I should tap into the extensive collective wisdom here at LTG before going too far or too quickly down this road.
All suggestions and insights will be welcomed.
Thanks,
Bob DeVellis
:lol:
