Electric Guitars Twelve String Twaddle

MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Have a half-baked idea I'd like to have an electric 12 string in the stable. Not so much the Byrds as some Eagles and John Denver...maybe dabble in a Led-Zep-in-Folksy-Mode kind of thing. It'd probably spend most of the time tuned to open G. I have an Ibanez 12 string acoustic but feel drawn to the idea of a full-on electric.

For budgetary reasons I'm not considering a Rick.

My digging around thus far has uncovered a pair of possible candidates in the sub-US$500 range:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002GJUI...olid=3QDMF5C0P6TTA&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V12SBK--danelectro-vintage-12-string-black

For pure aesthetics and a gut-level preference for humbuckers I slightly favor the Dean, but could easily go either way. Does anyone have some insights or experiences to help add to my knowledge base, or perhaps have other models to suggest I haven't yet run across? My local shop doesn't stock anything like this so having some hands-on audition time isn't in the cards.

A little bird reminded me that @paparaptor, for one, has some Dano experiences.

Looking forward to hearing some sage advice! :Beer:
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
MarkDyson said:
A little bird reminded me that @paparaptor, for one, has some Dano experiences.
Click to expand...

I have a Dano DC-12, which is basically the one in your Sweetwater link. As far as I can tell, the only differences are the one from Sweetwater has a F-Hole cutout on one side (like a Tele thinline) and a Pau Ferro fingerboard. Mine is a pre-CITES version and has a rosewood board.
It sounds good. I bought mine when it was first re-released three or four years ago. It's an easy setup. I recall when I got mine, I did have to lower the action a little, but the intonation was spot on. The bridge allows for intonation of each string. 6 strings are through body and the other 6 are top loaded.
Dano lipstick pickups are especially well suited for 12 string. They tend to be bright and jangly, even on 6 string guitars.

All that said, I think it's a good guitar (and all Danelectros are fun to play). Mine really doesn't get much use, more because of the music I play than the guitar itself. I hate to give a bad review on what is essentially a very good guitar, especially for the price. I just haven't found much of a niche for playing it in my collection.

As long as you realize it's a Dano and you aren't expecting the fit and finish of an American Fender or a Memphis Gibson, it's an excellent value for the money.
 
MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
CaptainMoto said:
Want a 12 string electric tone?
Try this, then send me the $400 you where gonna spend.
Take one of you lesser used electrics and re-string it with Nashville High Tune strings.
I keep a Tele strung this way for the occasional need for something different in my mix.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea, thanks for the tip! :Beer:
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
CaptainMoto said:
Want a 12 string electric tone?
Try this, then send me the $400 you where gonna spend.
Take one of you lesser used electrics and re-string it with Nashville High Tune strings.
I keep a Tele strung this way for the occasional need for something different in my mix.

http://www.daddario.com/DADProductD...el_Wound__High_Strung_Nashville_Tuning__10_26

Click to expand...
This is an excellent alternative, and the cool thing is you can string up a spare six-string to play with it (my Captain Obvious moment) and see if you like it for just the cost of a set of strings.

I'll admit I skipped part of the video, so he may have mentioned this and if he did, I apologize for being redundant. If you decided to keep a guitar in that mode, you will probably want to have a complete setup done on the guitar, as this will likely require re-adjusting the truss rod since your string tension will be radically different. Intonation will need adjustment due to the smaller low 4 strings.
 
Cowboy Bob

Cowboy Bob

Horse Player/Guitar Wrangler
CaptainMoto said:
Nashville High Tune
Click to expand...
Good tip!

My late brother and I used to employ that technique when we played the Bluegrass festivals here in the Midwest years ago. We'd both play the same parts, but I was tuned high. We had a friend that was a session player in Gnashville that turned us on to the idea way back when.

It blew those traditional Bluegrass boys mind! But then we'd play Jim Croce and Bob Dylan and Kristopherson at these festivals, and they thought we were nuts anyway.
 
MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
CaptainMoto said:
OK,
Which one did you order?
:ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Heh. Nothing as yet, but I did spend a little time looking over this alternative:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_rb_612bk_classic_series_bundle.htm

Also, your suggestion reminded me that besides the 339 the only other all-electric I own is the Strat-alike I built from parts, and from there I remembered I have (bought used and currently boxed away) copies of these two pedals:

https://digitech.com/en/products/mosaic

https://www.ehx.com/products/pitch-fork

For my next trick I'm going to tune the "Strat" to open G and drag out those pedals and try each of them on a sample chord progression into my PA and assess.

spincaster all front.jpg
 
A

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
So with a 12 string you won't be doing any full scale bends :rolleyes:
Has your 12 string acoustic got a pickup in? If so I would try pushing that through one of your modellers (you have a helix don't you?). I bet you could make that baby sound like an electric and if you are just strumming most the tine I guess there won't be a great difference in sound.

I love my 12 string acoustic but have to agree with the feelings abouve that it is a niche product that doesn't get as much use as I thought it would.

cheers

Al.
 
Crossroads

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
So what is the appeal of the 12-string? Do you just want more strings to change? Because last time I checked I think you have enough digital equipment to replicate the sound of a 12-string without having to pick up the extra guitar and change all them extra strings? ;)
 
MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Al Holloway said:
..I would try pushing that through one of your modellers (you have a helix don't you?).
Click to expand...

Crossroads said:
...last time I checked I think you have enough digital equipment to replicate the sound of a 12-string...
Click to expand...

Niche instrument is right. When I'm being honest with myself, there's one song in particular that I'd like to get in shape to play live: "Help Me Through The Night" by Joe Walsh and frequently played with The Eagles. The "Hell Freezes Over" version haunts me, and the sound from that performance is mainly Walsh's 12 string guitar tuned to open G. I'd link it, but they're particularly aggressive about YT takedowns so the only ones I've found were older versions that don't have the 12 string sound I like so much.

Given that, there's also be some John Denver stuff I'd like to do as 12 string versions. There's a feel for them you just can't get in six.

Still, dragging out that honesty again, them's slim pickin's to justify getting a whole guitar just to play. Yeah, I do have the Ibanez acoustic 12, and it has a pickup in it. No, I don't have a Helix but I do have a Headrush Gigboard (the smaller 4-stomp version without a pedal) and it has a metric crap ton of amp and effects models I could experiment with.

I mostly wanted a grab-and-switch guitar I could use in addition to my main one at open mics so as not to be mucking with schlepping along a pedalboard (no matter how small and simple). Why do I think that more of a hassle than a second whole guitar? No effing idea. :confused:

I just finished messing around with the Strat in open G through those pedals I linked plus the Twiggy for some compression and reverb. Not bad at all, actually. Surprisingly, I preferred the PitchFork to the specialized Mosaic in terms of overall "shimmer" tone. I didn't play the PF in octave-up mode, either; I know that departs because in reality the two treble strings are in unison. What I did like, however, was the PF in Detune/Dual mode, where it wasn't true 12 string emulation but (with some tweaking of the blend knob) gave the shimmer sound I was after. No, not "true" 12 string, but captures the element of that I like—possibly better than a real 12 string! Weird. In terms of "my unique sound" that might be on to something. Have to mess with that further as time permits.

Hey, I named this thread "Twaddle," after all. o_O

Thanks for all the discussion thus far, I'm really enjoying it. :Beer:
 
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A

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
Can I point out the obvious...it's an acoustic. Try the Ibanez acoustic 12 through the twiggy. I bet with a bit of compression and a little drive it would get where you want.

cheers

Al.
 
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