The very best 12-string guitars are arguably unbeatable in relation to including an additional dimension to your enjoying. Sure they’re area of interest devices, however whether or not you favor acoustic guitars or electric guitars, a 12-string guitar’s doubling high quality lends your chords a choral sound that you just simply can’t fairly replicate with pedals or overdubs.
With the underside 4 strings doubled an octave increased, and the highest two doubled, the 12-string guitar has a wider frequency vary, including textures and overtones and a top-end that glistens in a mixture. It could actually additionally add an ethereal high quality to your solo efficiency.
Relying on the chord development and the fingering, the most effective 12-string guitars can sound medieval or pure folks jangle. Their rise to prominence in a pop-cultural sense arrived throughout the Nineteen Sixties, simply as The Beatles’ affect was shaping the Laurel Canyon scene. In fact, that affect then boomeranged again to Merseyside after the discharge of The Seaside Boys’ timeless Pet Sounds.
It was within the psychedelic fevers and massive concepts of the Nineteen Sixties that the 12-string guitar discovered a way of objective in in style music, or fairly a way of power, so it’s no shock that a few of the fashions in our information to the most effective 12-string guitars have designs conceived in that very period.
Hypothetically, you would see the brand new wave of technically adventurous acoustic gamers taking 12-string guitar additional, or perhaps, a brand new frontier in rock could be opened up by a participant with an ear for the electrical 12-string’s potential when performed by way of a fuzz pedal or the transformative atmosphere of a multi-‘verb unit. Solely time will inform. Earlier than we unveil our full checklist of the most effective 12-string guitars, let’s take a look at a few our favorites…
The very best 12-string guitars: Guitar World’s alternative
The Takamine P3DC is a glowing jewel within the model’s Professional Collection, and is a recent dreadnought cutaway that has luxurious playability. This beautiful 12-string guitar is designed for the stage and the studio, with a low finish authority providing a neat counterpoint within the EQ for that high finish chime. It’s a good value for an exceptionally constructed instrument, which is why it graces our greatest 12-string guitars information.
One other high decide of ours is the Rickenbacker 360/12. That is the George Harrison 12-string guitar that impressed The Byrds, The Seaside Boys, and all these prodigiously proficient West Coast musicians who bloomed totally within the mid-60s. Its mono/stereo outputs and blend management ought to set your creativeness alight! This Rickenbacker is uncommon for a 12-string guitar in that it’s strung with the low strings first, then its octave-up double.
Selecting the most effective 12-string guitar for you
Earlier than even contemplating any of the devices featured in our greatest 12-string guitars information, in case you’re out there for certainly one of these guitars you must get your self among the finest guitar tuners. Intonation is at all times the difficulty with guitars. With 12-string guitars, our intonation considerations are doubled with a cherry on high. However there’s nothing like good design to bypass these niggles, and right here we’re seeing a whole lot of intelligent revisions to the 12-string guitar format that decrease, if not outright remove, such points.
Oftentimes, it comes all the way down to element. Is the spacing between the string pairings constant on the nut and the bridge? That’s vital, and positively one thing to look out for when auditioning devices.
Playability can be a troublesome one with 12-string guitars. That’s since you are fretting two strings directly, and want to use extra strain to worry the notes. Right here a decrease motion could be immeasurably useful. Even these of us preferring a bit battle in our guitars are received over with low motion on a 12-string guitar.
The very best 12-string guitars to purchase now
The Takamine Professional Collection is typified by immaculate builds, stage-ready electronics and delicate moments of aesthetic aptitude which can be all of the extra impactful than the abalone armageddon all of us too typically see on different premium builds. Little understated prospers such because the amber buttons on the tuners, the ivory binding with darkish wood-trim purfling end the guitar properly.
A stable cedar high, buttressed by scalloped X-pattern bracing, is complemented by stable sapele on the again and sides, and it makes a refreshing different to spruce/mahogany. The P3DC’s dreadnought dimensions confer a considerable quantity of depth and quantity, however this tonewood cocktail will preserve you on an excellent keel EQ-wise.
The split-saddle, string-through bridge design is an actual boon for intonation. As you’d anticipate at this value, tuning and intonation usually are not a problem. Neither is the amplified tone, with the 3-band EQ on-hand to fine-tune your tone.
That is essentially the most iconic 12-string you will get your palms on. It’s the semi-acoustic that George Harrison performed on the Fab 4’s debut US tour – a 1963 360/12, gifted to him by Rickenbacker’s Francis C. Corridor. It’s the sound of The Byrds, The Seaside Boys, and its jingle-jangle brightness modified music historical past for retains.
It’s not low-cost however it’s unbeatable, and really sensible for a 12-string. These Schaller tuners are organized alternately so you possibly can see which string you might be tuning, a function that Harrison favored instantly.
One of many coolest options on the 360/12 is the Rick-O-Sound parallel-mono outputs, which means you could break up your sign and ship one pickup to at least one amplifier and the opposite to a different, including extra depth and unfold to the sound.
Simply step on an previous analog phaser or a flanger and watch folks soften into their environment. Pure psychedelic nirvana comes as normal, however in fact you possibly can play it clear for pop-folk jangle, that resonant semi-hollow maple physique positive lets it sing.
The 652ce is likely one of the greatest 12-string guitars cash should purchase. In a world the place the 12-string has a fame for wonky intonation, the Taylor 652ce Builder’s Version finds the candy spot between engineering and craft to construct an instrument that’s nigh-on excellent.
Simply check out the {hardware}, for instance. We’ve received a Curve Wing Micarta/Tusq-saddled design with double-mounted string anchoring so there are simply six bridge pins as an alternative of the 12, and a bit extra room for a trio of piezo transducers that assist make Taylor’s Expression System 2 ship such undiluted amped tones. The Gotoh tuners are distinctive.
This being a Builder’s Version collection instrument, Andy Powers’ V-Class bracing is beneath the hood, guaranteeing maintain and quantity. How does it really feel? Nicely, easy to play, with a beveled armrest and subtly rolled physique edges to make it comfy for lengthy classes. That’s good, since you received’t wish to put this 12-string down.
The Martin D-X2E 12-String Guitar is all about growth, chime and affordability. To get that identify on the squared-off headstock, and that quantity of change from a thousand bucks is just not unhealthy in any respect, and the end high quality on Martin’s Mexican-built X-Collection acoustics is unerring.
The Low Profile neck profile is a really comfy palm-filler, approachable with out ever being overly skinny. The neck on the Martin D-X2E is billed as ‘choose hardwood’ and this may change relying on inventory – however it’s mostly Spanish cedar, sapele, sometimes mahogany.
On the fingerboard it’s the identical, however right here we’d anticipate katalox or Mexican ebony. Both means, finger pickers ought to discover the nut width beneficiant sufficient to accommodate them, whereas not so huge as to alienate the strummers.
The sound is massive and open with choral shimmer excessive. Don’t let the indiscriminate naming of supplies put you off with the X-Collection, the high-pressure laminate again and sides ably helps that spruce on high, making the Martin D-X2E a really enticing 12-string guitar that does the identify on the label proud.
The Fender Villager 12-String V3 has been kicking round since 1965 and it wears the period’s model properly. Simply take a look at that hockey stick headstock. That’s one thing, proper? The Newporter physique form is a Fender design however it positions itself as a cutaway neo-dread’, with all quantity and presence that means.
At this value, it’s good to see some stable Sitka on high of the Fender Villager 12-String V3 – even when we don’t see it beneath the Jetty Black end, it helps add element and trebly refrain to the Villager’s voice.
The Fishman electronics usually are not unhealthy both, with a three-band EQ that can assist you discover your house within the combine, and an onboard tuner as a result of this can be a 12-string guitar and a dependable tuner is necessary. That stated, the slim C profile neck could be very welcoming, and the Viking walnut bridge a pleasant staging publish from which to strum these massive open chords.
If the 652ce is the Taylor at its most bling, the 254ce sees the US acoustic large strip issues again to the necessities, leaving you with a 12-string guitar that’s made for the stage and a really useful instrument for the studio, too.
The Taylor 254ce’s construct is austere however flawless. A stunning piece of stable Sitka spruce enhances laminated Indian rosewood on the again and sides, and it makes for a well-balanced voice with loads of heft within the low finish.
The Expression System 2 pickup and preamp is deployed right here – therefore being excellent for the stage – whereas the Grand Auditorium physique dimension is a pleasant compromise between the large growth of a dread and smaller-bodied acoustics that don’t fairly have the center down low. And with these 12-strings, that steadiness reveals itself in a candy, huge chime that’s exhausting to give up.
Gretsch’s classic rock ’n’ roll mojo interprets completely into the 12-string format. The eye to element on the present Electromatic collection is unimaginable, the finishes excellent. From the sure f-holes to the G-Cutout tailpiece, the smaller late-50s spec headstock, to the multi-ply binding, the Gretsch G5422G-12 Electromatic Hollowbody is likely one of the most interesting trying devices in our round-up of the most effective 12-string guitars.
The skinny U profile neck is slim sufficient for some fast jazz comping and swap rock double-stops however simply as you plug in and dial within the slapback echo the 12-string width and chime hits you proper within the face. It is a Gretsch for positive, the Black Prime Filter’Tron pickups providing a bit snarl earlier than the 12-strings rounds out the assault.
The Gretsch G5422G-12 Electromatic Hollowbody is a bit more rock, a bit hotter than the opposite electrics on the checklist, and whereas this could occupy classic psych if required, attempt enjoying it by way of some fuzz and enjoying with reverbs, as a result of it appears like a terrific guitar to broaden your horizons on.
Guild has been making 12-string guitars because the Nineteen Sixties, when the corporate escaped New York and decamped to its Hoboken, NJ, facility, the place it grew beneath Bob Bromberg’s supervision and Carlo Greco’s design experience. And but the Guild F-2512E Archback appears and appears like a holdover from its 50s manufacturing, its arched again a legacy of the jazz containers Guild used to construct, solely this time matched with a flat maple high.
All that maple makes its presence felt within the F-2512E’s presence. This greatest 12-string guitar contender has phenomenal detailing, a star-dust tone profile when enjoying chords, and a harpsichord-esque vibe when enjoying single notes.
The pearl rosette and tortoiseshell ’guard full the retro really feel. However there are some concessions to modernity right here, with the Guild AP-1 Archback pickup providing the choice of going by way of an amplifier, and pau ferro in situ as a legacy of the CITES restrictions on rosewood.
D’Angelico at all times has such an air of refinement about them. One imagines their house owners don smoking jackets of a night and drive classic European sports activities vehicles. It’s the headstock design, or perhaps, as with the case of the D’Angelico Premier Fulton Grand Auditorium, the pearloid block inlay and the five-ply binding. It’s received a Gatsby look to it.
This impression is torpedoed by a price ticket that’s inside attain of us common of us. The D’Angelico Premier Fulton Grand Auditorium makes use of a well-traveled tonewood combo on mid-priced electro-acoustics, with a stable Sitka spruce high – superbly completed in Classic Pure lacquer – including the tinsel to a laminated mahogany again and sides.
The beneficiant Venetian cutaway and slim, satin-smooth neck (20mm on the first fret) makes this an possibility for showboating, ought to the event come up, and the nut width ought to agree with the fingerstyle and hybrid-pickers on the market.
The hockey stick headstock is again, of us, however perhaps it appears extra at house right here, what with the offset physique and break up single-coils – the retro tortoiseshell and pearloid pickguards solely add to the phantasm that we’ve fallen by way of the wormhole to emerge in LBJ’s America.
Sure, one other 1965 mannequin, which actually was floor zero for the 12-string’s pop-rock recognition after The Beatles got here, noticed and conquered the States in 1964. The Fender Alternate Actuality Electrical XII 12-String Guitar would make a wonderful funds different to the Rickenbacker featured additional up on this checklist.
It’s fairly completely different, positive. The Ricky has a set neck, whereas the Fender has a bolt-on; there’s no mistaking the Fender scale and really feel. However each will get you an angle on the jangle and assist soundtrack one thing loopy.
Simply suppose what this could do now within the age of multi-reverbs which can be simply designed for atmosphere. You get the sensation the Electrical XII’s time is coming once more. This, once more, was a favourite of the Byrds, and Jimmy Web page used it within the studio for Stairway’s 12-string elements. The current mannequin makes use of a extra standard 3-way pickup selector versus the rotary dial on the Nineteen Sixties model, and has a brand new and improved bridge.
