Guilderland21
Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2021
- Messages
- 148
- Reaction score
- 132
- Guild Total
- 2
Hi there! Posting for the first time after lurking a bit in the past year or two.
Background: I'd played guitar here and there in the past but never really gotten into it until I got a D-140 in January 2020. I think it's a fantastic guitar, I play it all the time (haven't gotten serious about taking lessons or anything, though), and it's on the short list of things that got me through 2020 mostly in one piece.
At some point in there I got the notion that I'd like to have a 12-string, too, and from all that I've read and seen it seems like getting another Guild is probably the way to go. But my experience playing 12-strings is pretty limited and has left me, if anything, less sure of what I want - I've been to a couple stores recently and tried an F-2512 (the only Guild 12 they had), a Takamine, and some others not worth mentioning, and none of them really felt or sounded like what I had in mind.
As for what I have in mind, it's ideally a big resonant sound with a full low-end, more than the "jangly" sound that I also associate with some 12-strings (and which can be nice too at times), and a guitar that feels and sounds good for fingerstyle as well as strumming. I've really liked the recordings I've heard of the rosewood F-512, but I'm trying not to spend more than $1000 - I'd feel bad about breaking the bank on what would probably be my third- to fifth-most played instrument after my dread, my viola, and possibly my electric guitar or violin.
So, questions:
1. How essential do you think it is, in my situation, to try out any model I'm thinking about buying first? I get the sense that a lot of people here buy guitars online without having played them, but many of you are much more knowledgeable about what you want and what's out there. And if you think this is something I should make sure to do - any suggestions of where to try some good 12-strings in the Boston area?
2. What guitars seem most likely to fit what I'm looking for? Am I right to think the F-1512 is promising? I've thought about some others too, but I'll refrain from writing out a long list and just see if anyone has suggestions
Thanks!
Background: I'd played guitar here and there in the past but never really gotten into it until I got a D-140 in January 2020. I think it's a fantastic guitar, I play it all the time (haven't gotten serious about taking lessons or anything, though), and it's on the short list of things that got me through 2020 mostly in one piece.
At some point in there I got the notion that I'd like to have a 12-string, too, and from all that I've read and seen it seems like getting another Guild is probably the way to go. But my experience playing 12-strings is pretty limited and has left me, if anything, less sure of what I want - I've been to a couple stores recently and tried an F-2512 (the only Guild 12 they had), a Takamine, and some others not worth mentioning, and none of them really felt or sounded like what I had in mind.
As for what I have in mind, it's ideally a big resonant sound with a full low-end, more than the "jangly" sound that I also associate with some 12-strings (and which can be nice too at times), and a guitar that feels and sounds good for fingerstyle as well as strumming. I've really liked the recordings I've heard of the rosewood F-512, but I'm trying not to spend more than $1000 - I'd feel bad about breaking the bank on what would probably be my third- to fifth-most played instrument after my dread, my viola, and possibly my electric guitar or violin.
So, questions:
1. How essential do you think it is, in my situation, to try out any model I'm thinking about buying first? I get the sense that a lot of people here buy guitars online without having played them, but many of you are much more knowledgeable about what you want and what's out there. And if you think this is something I should make sure to do - any suggestions of where to try some good 12-strings in the Boston area?
2. What guitars seem most likely to fit what I'm looking for? Am I right to think the F-1512 is promising? I've thought about some others too, but I'll refrain from writing out a long list and just see if anyone has suggestions
Thanks!