more 12 string gab

[BobsterMan]

Here's my 12 string story...

I was 12 years old when I found a guitar, a Stewart 6-string arch top, in the closet under the stairs of the old house... my mother said someone had left it with Dad for safekeeping and didn't ever call for it back. Petty soon I had put a couple of new strings on it, and it was mine. I learned a few songs from Dad's books... Pistol Packin' Mama, Souix City Sue, and such , but soon looked around, and discovered Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, and that bunch on an old recording tape. But I just couldn't get the sound. So here's me, 13 years old, living on a farm North of North Dakota in 1964, and I can't play Leadbelly. Damn!!

Fast forward to age 16, and I was in a garage band playing a Japanese double cut, offset semi acoustic 12 string guitar, because for some reason it was my sound. Not the Byrds... it was the sound that I needed. Soon I was in university and I had a Eko full acoustic 12-er, and playing Bob Dylan. For some reason the 12 had to stay. Didn't really know why. Promptly as soon as I had a little cash (about 400 bucks) i got me my F212XL.

I was finally happy.

Then, in my early 50's, I was reading a bit on Leadbelly, and discovered he played the 12-string. That was a relief. Now I understood why I had to have 12-strings.

 

[6L6]

Yep, Leadbelly played a 12. He also tuned it WAY low and used VERY heavy duty strings.

6

 

[Guildmark]

I had a 12-string epiphany, too. I had always liked the way they sounded (Green Green; Walk Right In, etc.) but they seemed like a novelty. Then I heard Leo Kottke in April 1971, my freshman year in college. He opened with Vaseline Machine Gun. When he ended, and I had retrieved my jaw from the floor, I said to myself, "So that's what a 12-string is for!"

 

[kydog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tew_fIhz3eY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Rfslc_kN8

try this

 

[Guildmark]

Kool, kydog!! That first vid might have been within a month or two of the performance I saw! A few weeks after I saw him at college I went up to the Twin Cities to see him again at the Guthrie Theater - just to confirm what I had heard!
Since then I've seen him about every other year.

Man what a memory rush!!
Thanks!

 

[Metalman]

In the mid '80s I had been playing my '82 D-50 for some time, and had a hankering for a Guild 12-string.

I finally bought one - a beautiful F-412 - and had it for about a year. The thing was just too big for me, and my fingers were raw after a half hour of playing, and I wasn't happy with the lack of bass on this guitar.

I ended up selling it to the guy who loaned me the money to buy it in the first place. He has it now to this day and is happy with it.

Now, I have the F-212, converted it to a 10-string, and love the instrument.

So here's my 12-string story, or rather, 10-string . . .

Even though there is a pickup in the sound hole of the guitar, I am not using it; what you're hearing is the guitar itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Sm0N--UOY

My next quest is for a '60s or '70s F-112, in excellent condition, doing the conversion, but installing medium strings on it and tuning it down to "D". The reports I get back about this puppy, is that it sounds great, is jangly, but lacks some bottom end. That makes sense, because of the smaller body. Well, I'll just take care of that situation . . .

 

[BobsterMan]

Yep, Leadbelly played a 12. He also tuned it WAY low and used VERY heavy duty strings.

6

as baritone 12-ver... no wonder my arch top-6 couldn't do it!

 

[Mikeoso]

my first run-in with a 12 string was on a Brothers Four album, Sing Of Our Times. Song called the Springhill Mine Disaster. Partway into the second verse, a 12 string kicks in and sounds like a harmonically tuned rockslide....always wanted that sound. Been hunting it ever since.

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

First time that I laid my eyes on a Gibson 12 string at a local music instrument store (late 60's), I knew that I had to own at least one 12'er. She was a beautiful Gibson Hummingbird (or that color scheme), and back then, I think the price was like 5 or 6 hundred dollars.

Never did buy a Gibson, but a few years later I did buy a Crestwood Dred 12 string.
A good friend was fond of my 12, so He bought a used Guild 12......smallish (OM?) body, and all mahogany if I recall correctly.

I do remember how much easier it was to play that Guild vs My Crestwood, though the later is a tone monster. My son still owns My first 12 string, as I gave it to him along with chord lessons, and a music book. He became a pretty decent bass player, but still does play guitar too.

Anyhoo, I have a Washburn 12, a Guild 12, and a Taylor 12, and they are all frequently played, though I've been playing six strings more frequently. Ye old arthritis has become a problem for the last couple decades, but I'm still pickin' and grinin'!

 

[FreeSpirit]

Well, for me it happened 1970 at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.
I had by chance gone to a Gordon Lightfoot concert with my friends.
At that time I was playing only a 6, but after that night I knew a 12 was in my future.
Shortly after I also got to see JD at the Raven Gallery in Southfield MI., he dropped in to play with some of the local talent.
This kind of up front and personal access to the real sound of a 12 string is usually what really gets you.

 

[Scratch]

Gotta love them 12ers. 'Zeke' is the latest to enter the corral; should arrive next week. Selling the Taylor 355-12 to make room and keep the peace...

 

[Guildmark]

Even though there is a pickup in the sound hole of the guitar, I am not using it; what you're hearing is the guitar itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Sm0N--UOY

Nice tune, Dennis! More! :!:

 

[Jeff]

Even though there is a pickup in the sound hole of the guitar, I am not using it; what you're hearing is the guitar itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Sm0N--UOY

Nice tune, Dennis! More! :!:

Mark,

Dennis has loads on Youtube. Very nice stuff. Horizon Samba's pretty sweet.

Always something good happening here, thanks for posting your tunes Dennis.


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=544w71&view=videos

 

[Metalman]

Even though there is a pickup in the sound hole of the guitar, I am not using it; what you're hearing is the guitar itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Sm0N--UOY

Nice tune, Dennis! More! :!:

Mark,

Dennis has loads on Youtube. Very nice stuff. Horizon Samba's pretty sweet.

Always something good happening here, thanks for posting your tunes Dennis.


http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=544w71&view=videos

Finally learned how to do it . . .post vids, that is.

Yeah, I'll get some more.

 

[capnjuan]

... Then I heard Leo Kottke in April 1971, my freshman year in college. He opened with Vaseline Machine Gun ...

1973; University Hall, UVA, Charlottesville; 200 of us sat on the old gym floor, he came in, introduced himself ... and played, uninterrupted by applause for nearly 2 hours ... intimate, charming, ethereal .. when he was done, the place erupted ... I was hooked on 12s.