Speaking of “soaked in effects”, my favorite 12 string sound is British Indie Shoegaze / Dreampop band, LUSH. Miki Berenyi’s Epiphone 12 string rhythm chords plus classic Boss pedals equals very happy days indeed! 😃👍
Agreed. It was a bitter sweet day to get rid of mine, but I find a TC sub and up pedal gets me kinda close, without the headache. Close, but not the same.
@@kennethc2466 Sound very much like a POG or similar pedal on a standard electric so I could see how you could get close enough for most parts in a mix.
For years - whenever my uncle would let me get his 1965 360-12, which he'd had from new, out to play - it was a toss up between 'Eight Miles High', 'Ticket To Ride' and 'Needles and Pins'. Didn't see him for years then in 2011 I saw him at my aunt's funeral... 'Have you still got the Ricky?' 'Actually, no I sold it to a mate last week for £600'. There was almost a second funeral that day (he'd always told me I'd have first dibs after using it on some of my best recordings in Eden, Konk, Chapel etc). I've never gotten over it.
12 string electric is the most beautiful sound of all time. Have been playing electric 12 for my entire career. Best part - knowing when to use it and when not to.
Sounds Great , congrats! I got myself a Reverend Airwave 12 string , its such a great guitar stays in tune, slightly shorter scale, independent saddles for each string so you can intonate it, locking tuners, wider neck and very easy to play for a 12 string. Very stable instrument. I highly Recommend it if you are looking for a 12.
I own a second hand Lefty Rickenbacker 330/12. It sat in the case for about 10 years as I scratched my head how it fitted my music. It wasn’t until I bought my Vox AC15 and found how fantastic it sounded clean behind overdriven guitars. It makes dumb power chords sound far more thought out.
I bought one because my Artcore full-hollowbody 6-string AF75 is gorgeous, and it sounds and plays SO very well. But yes, I have to use a bass gig bag for the 12.
I’m lucky to be old enough to have a 66 Fender Electric X11 and 69 Villager acoustic with same hockey stick headstock from way before prices got silly, but also have the excellent Dano and one that never crops up in these videos, a noughties Fender Japan Strat X11 (very pretty, metallic blue, matching stock), neck comfy as a regular Strat, regular Strat sounds, why did they never do this earlier?? Shares the fully 12-way adjustable Gotoh bridge as the Dano, a great improvement on the clunky but useable original bridge. Essential feature for vaguely adventurous chords. Most of these videos get so stuck in the Byrds/Petty clichés (thanks Mick for being disallowed). I’d urge anyone interested to listen to Pat Metheny and Ralph Towner to hear how outside the cliché box you can go. For instance tuning lower 4 pairs in 5ths (so B over low E etc) and see what regular chord shapes work - barred major and minor 7th shapes can spring surprises with major 7ths or 9ths popping out. Or play patterns of harmonics. Or slide. Swelled echo. You’ll stumble on nice things you never imagined. Finally, the stringing arrangement unique to Rickenbackers (overpriced and overrated in my Lackorickenbacker world) may owe its origins to the Greek Bouzouki - another one for you to try, tuned same as top 4 strings of guitar but a tone lower. As a bassist primarily, obvs I like an 8-string bass too. It’s all double the fun. Rick Biddulph
I wanted a 12-string ever since I discovered The Smiths as a teenager. Then some years ago I was on Denmark Street with about an hour to kill while I waited for a bass I'd taken in for repairs to be finished. Logn story short, I went home with my bass... and an Italia Rimini 12-string. No regrets!
Ah man, somebody had a Rimini double neck for sale. Had it not been north of Bristol, I’d have totally gone for it. (Don’t go north of Bristol - nosebleeds and monsters. )
Back when I worked at the guitar shop they’d always say “You spend half your time tuning and half your time outta tune”, lol. Fortunately the modern day 12’s seem to hold tuning fairly well (massive generalization). They’re super cool for layering in tracks too and the last Danelectro 12 I really liked I let get away from me. Congrats on the beautiful guitar, can’t wait to hear more!!! All my love brother!!!
Not true. I have a 12-string ac. electric, a lefty one, even, and I don't have any issues at all keeping it in tune, or dealing with it. If it's set up right, it shouldn't be that difficult to tune. If you keep screwing with it doing alt. tunings or whatever, it might be.
Hearing a Crossroads riff on TPS wouldn’t normally surprise me but not that one! I think that’s what I heard, I need other middle aged Brits (such as Benny or Miss Diane) to confirm…
When you started to talk about the "one 12 string performance" my mind went straight to Jimi Hendrix. His "Hear My Train A Coming" on that 12 string is *P H E N O M E N A L* !
If you haven't tried a Revered Airwave 12string, then please do before you settle for anything else. I honestly think they are the best 12 out there - not just best for the price - just flat out the best.
@@41DegreesSouth it sure is great value. The revered airwave is roughly 1500-1700 euros for me and I do own a couple of guitars above 2000 euros but they are all six strings and I would rather invest the money in something that I use more often than once or twice a month for some recordings. That being said I heard nothing but good things about the guitar. I'm just not playing 12-strings that often to justify the purchase. Also my wife...you know how it is man. 😆
A good video. I love your approach to action, none of that inches mm gauge nonsense, ha ha. I like a lot of Paul Kantner's stuff in Jefferson Airplane.
Yes, in the electric 12 strings world, the cheapest is the best. I bought mine used one 300€, so happy with it, easy to play, easy to change strings, always perfectly in tune thanks to the 12 saddle bridge that Rickenbacker and Grtesch laked so much.
Brilliant! The Artcore stuff is really, really nice, and I'll echo the sentiment that 40 years ago one couldn't get half the guitar (or bass!!!) for anywhere near that money. Bravo!
Inspired by the Beatles and Byrds, I bought a Rickenbacker 360/12 in 1966. A really great guitar and even sitting in its case for years stays “in tune” and plays like a dream. It has that classic sound.
I have two twelves - a Dano 59X12 and a recently purchased Squier Jazzmaster. I love them both. I'll be keeping one of them in open tuning which sounds amazing.
Thanks Mick. I got a lot out of that. I've never played one & I didn't know that the top B & E are different to the others. Great to hear an affordable guitar sounding that good. Cheers.
Can you just imagine how thin a string you'd have to use to tune the top E an octave higher? I'm pretty sure that's the only reason the top two pairs are tuned in unison instead of octave.
Oh man, I love it! I have 2 Ibanez Artcore semi-hollows, and I really love them. I also have an old Eko 12 string that is just magical. Super cool guitar!
Just picked up a Godin A12 a few days ago. All black - looks and plays amazing. The quality of these Canadian made guitars is astounding. The A12 is an chambered acoustic so which is what I was looking for as I seem to be returning to my acoustic roots. I may try that reversal of the octave strings as it should make finger picking more natural. Thanks for sharing - beautiful guitar.
Interestingly, I just came back here again after watching the 2022 'Summing Up' episode, and when I got down to the 'Closing Thinkings' portion of the vid, you made mention that, after all that investment in high-quality and vintage guitars, you found yourself enjoying the sound of the budget-conscious 12 String. In that 'Summing Up' vid, you mentioned how much looser and more flexible you were feeling with your new guitars, and how much they were helping you to go with the flow of things (my words), not getting hung up on the machine so much as it seems you are putting your best into the guitar, and the guitars seem to be responding by giving you some great sounds in return. Just thought that was interesting. Hope you are having a lovely Holiday, thanks for everything.
Next thing you know, you’ll be a die hard Brian Jonestown Massacre fan! 😃 Btw, I have a vintage Fender Electric XII, that, when I acquired it, it had been exposed and almost lost to a fire. Many hours later (not least on eBay and forums sourcing hard to come by parts) it is a killer guitar and for decent money (not counting the hours in it). Ended up aged firemist silver with matching headstock.
I agree about low-mid priced instruments. I recently went Bass shopping, and purchased a gorgeous Sterling Stingray SS-4 in Olympic White. It played great from the get-go.I did a little fret-edge filing and it just as comfortable as my Suhr or Taylor. Price $549 + tax in NYC. Good Luck with your new guitar Mick.
I’ve just got a £100 kit version of a 12 string Strat that makes, going to enjoy customising and setting it up my own way, can even make it a bit sleeker shaped with a belt sander.
Was at a similar point some months ago: wanted a 12 string acoustic but did not want to spend the money I've spent on the 6 string Martin and Santa Cruzes. I went for a 1975 Ibanez 12 String "Vintage" dreadnought (Made in Japan) from eBay for below 200 Euros. Shameless Martin copies at that time - bought it unseen and it was shipped in a wonky box. I was absolutely blown away about the sonic quality, loudness and playability of this 47 years old rosewood/sitka thing. Of course, the tuning pegs are not of today's Waverly/Schaller/Grover/Gotoh/... quality but it keeps the tuning surprisingly well. No risk, no fun.
Congrats! 12s are wonderful! I have a Guild 12 I tune to C. For electric I use an EHX Intelligent Harmony Machine to add an octave down, and fruzz it up with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2V2 and a Wamplet Belle into my '64 Vibroverb and Luckhurst Princeton homage. Epic!
Great buy Mick and nice chops as usual. Like most of the time, when it says "made in Japan" it's a guaranty for good quality. And, hey, they did it again. I expect to see you play this guitar more often during the show. To my ears, this guitar is a steal for that price.
Nice. That is a beauty. Ibanez Artcore guitars are great. I have seen close-up pictures of that guitar, and I agree the string spacing at the nut leaves much room for improvement. The one thing you could do to greatly increase your enjoyment of the guitar would be to have a new nut made with optimized string placement. I have alot of experience with that. I use Xcel to tabulate the spacings and Visio to draw the string locations, to give me a template. I could even help you with that if you are interested.
I have a Rick Tuner 12 string made of redwood. He was a guitar tec for the Dead. I don’t think it gets better than this 12 string made by Rick. He passed away a few months ago. I have a left handed model. The model that replaced it, is over 20,000. He made right handed model’s. Very interesting man. Check him out. Worth the time it takes you to find out more.⚡️🎸⚡️
I needed an electric 12-string for project over 20 years ago. The only affordable option was a Pacifica 12 which turned out to be a great guitar. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to get one of the Alternate Reality Fender XIIs a few years ago. Apart from changing the 3-way for a four way rotary it is stock. I got my first 12-string acoustic at 17 (39 years years ago) and would never be without either.
I had THE 12 string - a Rickenbacker 360v64 (reissue of the Harrison 12 string). There’s nothing like the sound of a RIC 12 due to the reversed position of the octave strings. To top it off, I even had it signed by Roger McQuinn!!!👍👍👍👍 Oh and if you want hear some unbelievable acoustic 12 sting, listen to Leo Kottke!
I first played 12 string guitars in the late 60's and early 70's and remember the larger E A D G strings being above the high octave strings as you look down while playing the guitar, meaning your pick contacts the low octave before the higher octave string on a down stroke. Every video I see now has the the higher octave string above the lower octave string and therefore usually picked before the lower octave string. Does anyone remember 12 string guitars strung the way I remember and can shed any light on when that configuration changed or were the guitars I got to play just constantly done wrong? I didn't own a 12 string back then so I was not responsible for the way the strings were installed. Any links to 60's and 70's videos of 12 string guitarists such as Beatles, Byrds, Richie Havens etc which illustrate the string layout would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Mick! For years I have been watching and hearing you talk about the Vintera Strats. And for years I have been saying that I am not a Strat guy. I have own 6 or more over the years and they aren’t my voice. Picked up a Road Worn Vintera 50’s Strat a few weeks ago on a “well maybe one more time.” It sits next to my bed. I play it all the time. Can’t get enough of it. Love it. Thanks so much for what you guys do!
Thought I’d restring my Yamaha Pacifica 303-12 while I watched this fabulous video. Just about got it done by the end of the bud. Nice one Mick, love the guitar.
Good on you Mick !! 🎼🎸🎶 I fell ib love with the 12 string after 1st listen of 'New Chautauqua' . 2 yrs later, bought a Guild F-512. I've yet to buy a 12 Electric. Thinking it's about time 😀😉 may you and Dan continue to do what you do. And look forward to shows centering around 12 string guitars. Hint. Hint.
I nearly spat my tea out when the first bars of Crossroads came through the speakers...😂😂🤣🤣. 12 strings are awesome though; pretty sure there is some on Stone Roses too.......????
You want the octave strings slightly detuned from the regular ones. Gives you a natural chorus without any pedal. That's what I do with both my acoustic and electric 12s.
@@spiderfan1974 Ha ha. You don't even have to try to detune them. If you play any 12 string with a six saddle bridge, the intonation can never be perfect - or really all that close! So if you tune up the open strings, you'll start getting slight detune at every fret as you go up the neck. At least that's the case for the octave pairs.
@@RMosack my electric 12 the octave strings and the regular strings are on a fender style bridge and are separated. The regular strings are strung through the body. The octave strings load through the back of the bridge. The strings until the D and G run straight through the nut to the tuners. The d and g are as straight as they can be. My electric 12 string stays in tune as good as any guitar I own does. I live in the southern US the weather changes hour to hour I'm always tuning guitars because of it.
Sounds KILLER! D Standard with Vibe, has a GREAT sound? ANYTIME you dissect Dolye type sounds…count me in! Love what he does, and sometimes it is hard to get the Tone happening? Of Course, what he’s playing is probably the biggest piece, but his sounds are magic! Great work Mick.
You can't even mention Hotel and California in the same video without getting demonetized. 🥴 What a treat, Mick!! You are such an inspiration on so many levels!! God bless you!! 🙏
I had an Italia Rimini 12 for years, up until a few months back. I bought it on a whim, too. Every time I picked it up, I'd end up playing 'Mr Tambourine Man' or 'My Sweet Lord'... and yeah, the Crossroads theme. I loved it, kinda wish I'd kept it, but I just never found any use for it - I'd try forcing it, rather than it inspiring something.
Always great to hang out. Woke up stressed at 4:00 am Seattle time and was saved by your relaxing peaceful video to find some serenity. So grateful it was there for me (and everyone really) Cheers
Welcome to the club! That sounds and looks amazing. I'm lucky to own a Ric 12 and it's getting a lot of play of late. A bit of tape style flange and some analog delay is working for me at the moment. I use flatwound strings (McGuinn/Townshend) and compression. I keep it clean too but I have to say your drive tones sounded great. Check out David Crosby solo and CSN&Y. Lots of electric 12. Beautiful big jazzy minor 7's. Roger wouldn't let him play 12 in the Byrds! Can't wait to hear more. Chime on.
It’s interesting when you add chorus or vibrato. The settings have to be just so as not to fight with the natural chorusing effects of the xtra strings. I’ve been jonesing for a 12 string for a while now. Thanks for this. I hadn’t considered the artcore series.
I happen to the 6 string version of that guitar with the Ibanez version of a Bigsby. The Artcore series guitars are really nice for the money. It was my first "real/nice" guitar. I love it. Also, my wife told me that under no circumstances am I allowed to sell or trade it.
06:15 I bought a Squier Jaguar Short Scale Bass for about $500 Australian Dollars a while back. Made in Indonesia. VERY surprised at the quality & playability. Replaced pickups with Bartolinis and it rocks. Yes, folks need to keep an eye out for good quality for price gear. There's plenty about!
Fun show. Thanks Mick. My main guitar is an '00s AS73 six string. Love it. A tone I really dig with it is Rangemaster > Harmonious Monk > Zoom 507 plate reverb (really).
The Rickenbacker 12 string configuration certainly contributes to its unique tone. Of course, it is possible to convert any 12 string guitar to a Rickenbacker 12 string configuration by replacing the string nut with one cut a la a RIC 12 and then restringing the guitar accordingly. But that modification alone won't turn the guitar into a RIC 12. Interestingly, the first Rickenbacker 12 string guitar that Rickenbacker manufactured was strung in the traditional 12 string manner. That instrument was gifted to Suze Arden. George Harrison ended up with the second one the company built which was the first one strung in the Rickenbacker 12 string way. Both of those guitars were 3xx/12 models. And Mike Campbell owns the first 6xx/12 string guitar that Rickenbacker built. That guitar was also strung in the Rickenbacker 12 manner. And one final fun fact, Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church has often uses a Rickenbacker 12 string which he had customised and restrung in the traditional 12 string maner. Go Figure.
Awesome sound.and congrats on the new guitar. If you haven't, or haven't recently, I highly recommend you listen to some Blind Willie McTell -- he's a monster of 12 string blues, and one of my faves.
Mick ,you are a top dude, man. The fact that you get excited by the inspiration an electric 12 string ,brings to you, is bleedin' fantastic. look at the world with a childs eyes, all the best.
Glad to see you going down the 12-string rabbit hole! I snagged a Reverend Airwave 12 after seeing the Greg Koch RUclips demo (Starship Trooper, if you haven't seen it, it's a must!) and haven't regretted it one second! Having separate intonation on each string helps but yea, the chorusing covers it up decent anyway. The thing about electric 12 is is kinda a one-trick pony, but it's a damn sweet trick! I find myself picking it up to play a few minutes and looking up a few hours later! As for the playability, in my experience, it's not so much what's under the fingers, but the fact that you tend to center the tip of the finger on 1 string, so on a 12 you end up way off-center on the other (which then feel's weird). If you work on aiming more for the space between the two strings it works better, but that's a new technique to be sure! That said, electric 12 is awesome for live and pretty good for recording. The next step is with recording to checkout Nashville tuning. Basically, take the extra 6 strings and pop them on a 6 string and you have Nashville tuning. Double track your standard parts with the Nashville tuning (to tweak what you play, either or) and you can handle each completely differently. Different effects, eq, amps etc. The cool part is that you can accentuate that jangle or pull it back a bit or anything in between. I keep an acoustic and an electric in Nashville tuning just for recording. My plain old Danelectro 6 string turns out to be perfect for Nashville tuning as it has a bit of that jangle or chime naturally. Anyway, worth checking out now that you're already down the rabbit hole!
You're right, of course, about Rickenbackers reversing the string order; which is a large part of why they sound uniquely, or 'distinctively', different from 'standard' 12 strings.
I bought my first Ibanez guitar last year, an Expressionist AMH90, double cutaway hollowbody, and I love it. Great pickups - I'm usually not a fan of humbuckers, but I like these, and it has maybe my favorite neck profile of any guitar I own. It's a nice, chunky "C" that just feels fantastic. Anyway, I'm now a fan - great bang for the buck, and excellent build quality for the money. And Mick is absolutely right - the quality of cheap guitars these days is mindblowing. When I started playing, cheap guitars were pretty much crap.
Wonderful tones, as always. 12-strings are the original octave and chorus effect. My acoustic 12er has a unison G string, I tried to like the high G (which becomes the highest-pitched string on the instrument) and all the trademark licks that use it, but it was doing weird things to the more everyday stuff I was playing on it.
I too have the Ibanez AS7312. I got it in 2013, and still love it! It had intonation issues though, so I got a new 12 saddle bridge (it came with only a 6 saddle which made it impossible to completely intonate), and I also got an Earvana Acoustic Retro Style Nut. I took it to my luthier friend Steve (RIP) and he cut the slots in the nut and installed everything. Not the 12 string is very, very intonated. I can play an octave D and it's still in perfect tune. I'll post a RUclips link next on the chance RUclips will allow it. It's really worth it to upgrade! If the link doesn't appear, the video title is "Ibanez Artcore AS7312 Semi-Hollow Intonation Mods".
I recently scratched the electric 12 string itch as well. I picked up the Danelectro 59X12. Really great guitar at a reasonable price. It’s not my go to, obviously, but when you need that sound, it works like a charm.
Great VLOG! As someone who has returned to electric guitar after a 20 year break I can concur that both solid state combo amps and mid range guitars have come a HUGE long way since the 2000s. I have two Ibanez guitars (great to see them getting some TPS love) 20 years apart of a similar price bracket and the difference is astounding, and the new Orange 35RT just destroys my old Marshall 80RCD from the 2000s in every single way except perhaps volume, but even then it's much closer than the wattage would suggest. Great vid!
Speaking of “soaked in effects”, my favorite 12 string sound is British Indie Shoegaze / Dreampop band, LUSH. Miki Berenyi’s Epiphone 12 string rhythm chords plus classic Boss pedals equals very happy days indeed! 😃👍
Agreed
She’s the reason I bought a 12 string. I love the Birds, XTC, Smiths, Plimsouls, etc. But when I think of my favorite 12 string sound, it’s Lush.
12-strings are the hardest to play, most annoying to maintain, impossible to keep in tune…most glorious-sounding things on the planet.
That pretty much sums it up. Well said!
Agreed. It was a bitter sweet day to get rid of mine, but I find a TC sub and up pedal gets me kinda close, without the headache. Close, but not the same.
@@kennethc2466 Sound very much like a POG or similar pedal on a standard electric so I could see how you could get close enough for most parts in a mix.
@@AndrewNuttall Got rid of my POG for the TC after using a friend's. I like it FAR better.
Try an 11 string oud then we can talk about this….
Most of you know this already, but Doyle Branhall also wrote "Life by the Drop" and SRV played/recorded it on a 12. Nice bit of picking there.
I think that’s a different Doyle Bramhall, his father.
@@philipellis7039 you may be right, I don't know. Sorry for any confusion!
Anyway it's still a great song and some lovely playing lol
🤣🤣
A different Doyle bramhall with the same name
I can’t pick-up a twelve string without playing The Killing Moon. Instant Bunnymen (on a good many of their songs.) Sounds great Mick!
For years - whenever my uncle would let me get his 1965 360-12, which he'd had from new, out to play - it was a toss up between 'Eight Miles High', 'Ticket To Ride' and 'Needles and Pins'. Didn't see him for years then in 2011 I saw him at my aunt's funeral... 'Have you still got the Ricky?' 'Actually, no I sold it to a mate last week for £600'.
There was almost a second funeral that day (he'd always told me I'd have first dibs after using it on some of my best recordings in Eden, Konk, Chapel etc). I've never gotten over it.
Wow! Adios £4k... some mate.
Bowie's Starman for me on 12 string.
@@samuelxavier2473 Acoustic, maybe. Electric, nein!
Try an electrified bouzouki. It gets even closer!
I love my Ibanez semi hollow, I got it for my 15th birthday 10 years ago and it's been incredible the whole way
Those lower end Ibanezes in general are a real steal, incredible guitars for the money and no compromises on looks.
Mick, now I got to get a 12 string, fuzz and you’ve already got the octave. So many possibilities!
Yay!!
12 string electric is the most beautiful sound of all time. Have been playing electric 12 for my entire career. Best part - knowing when to use it and when not to.
Sounds Great , congrats! I got myself a Reverend Airwave 12 string , its such a great guitar stays in tune, slightly shorter scale, independent saddles for each string so you can intonate it, locking tuners, wider neck and very easy to play for a 12 string. Very stable instrument. I highly Recommend it if you are looking for a 12.
I have the same love it
The reverend 12 string is right up there with the hagstroms and the Guild electric semi hollow 12 strings . But I love the Reverends
I own a second hand Lefty Rickenbacker 330/12. It sat in the case for about 10 years as I scratched my head how it fitted my music. It wasn’t until I bought my Vox AC15 and found how fantastic it sounded clean behind overdriven guitars. It makes dumb power chords sound far more thought out.
I bought one because my Artcore full-hollowbody 6-string AF75 is gorgeous, and it sounds and plays SO very well. But yes, I have to use a bass gig bag for the 12.
I’m lucky to be old enough to have a 66 Fender Electric X11 and 69 Villager acoustic with same hockey stick headstock from way before prices got silly, but also have the excellent Dano and one that never crops up in these videos, a noughties Fender Japan Strat X11 (very pretty, metallic blue, matching stock), neck comfy as a regular Strat, regular Strat sounds, why did they never do this earlier?? Shares the fully 12-way adjustable Gotoh bridge as the Dano, a great improvement on the clunky but useable original bridge. Essential feature for vaguely adventurous chords.
Most of these videos get so stuck in the Byrds/Petty clichés (thanks Mick for being disallowed). I’d urge anyone interested to listen to Pat Metheny and Ralph Towner to hear how outside the cliché box you can go. For instance tuning lower 4 pairs in 5ths (so B over low E etc) and see what regular chord shapes work - barred major and minor 7th shapes can spring surprises with major 7ths or 9ths popping out. Or play patterns of harmonics. Or slide. Swelled echo. You’ll stumble on nice things you never imagined. Finally, the stringing arrangement unique to Rickenbackers (overpriced and overrated in my Lackorickenbacker world) may owe its origins to the Greek Bouzouki - another one for you to try, tuned same as top 4 strings of guitar but a tone lower. As a bassist primarily, obvs I like an 8-string bass too. It’s all double the fun.
Rick Biddulph
I wanted a 12-string ever since I discovered The Smiths as a teenager. Then some years ago I was on Denmark Street with about an hour to kill while I waited for a bass I'd taken in for repairs to be finished. Logn story short, I went home with my bass... and an Italia Rimini 12-string. No regrets!
Ah man, somebody had a Rimini double neck for sale. Had it not been north of Bristol, I’d have totally gone for it. (Don’t go north of Bristol - nosebleeds and monsters. )
The fretboard looks so much nicer once darkened up with that conditioner. The guitar sounds nice too!
Tuned up my Danelectro a few months back,and it's still in perfect tune. Best 4.50$ I ever spent.
Octave fuzz on a 12 string. Thanks Mick, that made my day. I am now imagining Dan with the 12 string and a POG.
Back when I worked at the guitar shop they’d always say “You spend half your time tuning and half your time outta tune”, lol. Fortunately the modern day 12’s seem to hold tuning fairly well (massive generalization). They’re super cool for layering in tracks too and the last Danelectro 12 I really liked I let get away from me. Congrats on the beautiful guitar, can’t wait to hear more!!! All my love brother!!!
Not true. I have a 12-string ac. electric, a lefty one, even, and I don't have any issues at all keeping it in tune, or dealing with it. If it's set up right, it shouldn't be that
difficult to tune. If you keep screwing with it doing alt. tunings or whatever, it might be.
Hearing a Crossroads riff on TPS wouldn’t normally surprise me but not that one! I think that’s what I heard, I need other middle aged Brits (such as Benny or Miss Diane) to confirm…
Yes! I’m old…I heard it too! Great tune :)
Sadly also old enough to confirm what you heard.😂
Yep, you heard right. Watch out for that wobbly set!
When you started to talk about the "one 12 string performance" my mind went straight to Jimi Hendrix. His "Hear My Train A Coming" on that 12 string is *P H E N O M E N A L* !
Yes!
@@ThatPedalShow so sad we lost Jimi at such an early age.
If you haven't tried a Revered Airwave 12string, then please do before you settle for anything else. I honestly think they are the best 12 out there - not just best for the price - just flat out the best.
It's roughly 4x the price of the ibanez...
@@cosmicrevival7105 have you seen the rest of his guitars???
@@41DegreesSouth yes, but he clearly stated that he didn't want to invest much because it's not a main guitar for him.
@@cosmicrevival7105 hmmm, 🤔 it's all relative I guess.
I thought that at under 900gbp, it is exceptional value, but I take your point.
@@41DegreesSouth it sure is great value. The revered airwave is roughly 1500-1700 euros for me and I do own a couple of guitars above 2000 euros but they are all six strings and I would rather invest the money in something that I use more often than once or twice a month for some recordings. That being said I heard nothing but good things about the guitar. I'm just not playing 12-strings that often to justify the purchase. Also my wife...you know how it is man. 😆
Excellent video, Mick! Thank you for taking us along.
A good video. I love your approach to action, none of that inches mm gauge nonsense, ha ha.
I like a lot of Paul Kantner's stuff in Jefferson Airplane.
The Danelectro 12's are a fantastic value (as is their entire line, IMO). Definitely worth checking out.
Yep bought one a few years back.
Once setup right, it was fantastic for the price.
Yes, in the electric 12 strings world, the cheapest is the best. I bought mine used one 300€, so happy with it, easy to play, easy to change strings, always perfectly in tune thanks to the 12 saddle bridge that Rickenbacker and Grtesch laked so much.
Rickenbacker makes a 12-saddle bridge.
When most blues guitar players cover Crossroads that’s not the version they mean! Love it, right back to best of the 70s!
Welcome to the 12-string family. They've always been a necessity for me. Great stuff as always!
Brilliant!
The Artcore stuff is really, really nice, and I'll echo the sentiment that 40 years ago one couldn't get half the guitar (or bass!!!) for anywhere near that money.
Bravo!
Loads of fun ahead for you - enjoy! Thanks for sharing …
Inspired by the Beatles and Byrds, I bought a Rickenbacker 360/12 in 1966. A really great guitar and even sitting in its case for years stays “in tune” and plays like a dream. It has that classic sound.
I have two twelves - a Dano 59X12 and a recently purchased Squier Jazzmaster. I love them both.
I'll be keeping one of them in open tuning which sounds amazing.
Thanks Mick. I got a lot out of that. I've never played one & I didn't know that the top B & E are different to the others. Great to hear an affordable guitar sounding that good. Cheers.
Can you just imagine how thin a string you'd have to use to tune the top E an octave higher? I'm pretty sure that's the only reason the top two pairs are tuned in unison instead of octave.
Good work, Mick! The first time I changed the strings on my Danelectro Vintage 59 12, I broke two strings and lost a pint of blood.
Oh man, I love it! I have 2 Ibanez Artcore semi-hollows, and I really love them. I also have an old Eko 12 string that is just magical. Super cool guitar!
Just picked up a Godin A12 a few days ago. All black - looks and plays amazing. The quality of these Canadian made guitars is astounding. The A12 is an chambered acoustic so which is what I was looking for as I seem to be returning to my acoustic roots. I may try that reversal of the octave strings as it should make finger picking more natural. Thanks for sharing - beautiful guitar.
Interestingly, I just came back here again after watching the 2022 'Summing Up' episode, and when I got down to the 'Closing Thinkings' portion of the vid, you made mention that, after all that investment in high-quality and vintage guitars, you found yourself enjoying the sound of the budget-conscious 12 String.
In that 'Summing Up' vid, you mentioned how much looser and more flexible you were feeling with your new guitars, and how much they were helping you to go with the flow of things (my words), not getting hung up on the machine so much as it seems you are putting your best into the guitar, and the guitars seem to be responding by giving you some great sounds in return. Just thought that was interesting. Hope you are having a lovely Holiday, thanks for everything.
Next thing you know, you’ll be a die hard Brian Jonestown Massacre fan! 😃
Btw, I have a vintage Fender Electric XII, that, when I acquired it, it had been exposed and almost lost to a fire. Many hours later (not least on eBay and forums sourcing hard to come by parts) it is a killer guitar and for decent money (not counting the hours in it). Ended up aged firemist silver with matching headstock.
I agree about low-mid priced instruments. I recently went Bass shopping, and purchased a gorgeous Sterling Stingray SS-4 in Olympic White. It played great from the get-go.I did a little fret-edge filing and it just as comfortable as my Suhr or Taylor. Price $549 + tax in NYC. Good Luck with your new guitar Mick.
Yes. I recently got a Squire Affinity Telecaster and I am very pleased with its quality and sound despite the low price point.
My grandfather just gave me one of his 2 1982 Takamine F-389. Lawsuit era, with the Martin style headstock. Anyways, super lovely guitar Mick enjoy.
Nice
I’ve just got a £100 kit version of a 12 string Strat that makes, going to enjoy customising and setting it up my own way, can even make it a bit sleeker shaped with a belt sander.
Was at a similar point some months ago: wanted a 12 string acoustic but did not want to spend the money I've spent on the 6 string Martin and Santa Cruzes. I went for a 1975 Ibanez 12 String "Vintage" dreadnought (Made in Japan) from eBay for below 200 Euros. Shameless Martin copies at that time - bought it unseen and it was shipped in a wonky box. I was absolutely blown away about the sonic quality, loudness and playability of this 47 years old rosewood/sitka thing. Of course, the tuning pegs are not of today's Waverly/Schaller/Grover/Gotoh/... quality but it keeps the tuning surprisingly well. No risk, no fun.
Congrats! 12s are wonderful! I have a Guild 12 I tune to C. For electric I use an EHX Intelligent Harmony Machine to add an octave down, and fruzz it up with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2V2 and a Wamplet Belle into my '64 Vibroverb and Luckhurst Princeton homage. Epic!
Great buy Mick and nice chops as usual. Like most of the time, when it says "made in Japan" it's a guaranty for good quality. And, hey, they did it again. I expect to see you play this guitar more often during the show. To my ears, this guitar is a steal for that price.
Nice. That is a beauty. Ibanez Artcore guitars are great. I have seen close-up pictures of that guitar, and I agree the string spacing at the nut leaves much room for improvement. The one thing you could do to greatly increase your enjoyment of the guitar would be to have a new nut made with optimized string placement. I have alot of experience with that. I use Xcel to tabulate the spacings and Visio to draw the string locations, to give me a template. I could even help you with that if you are interested.
I have a Rick Tuner 12 string made of redwood. He was a guitar tec for the Dead. I don’t think it gets better than this 12 string made by Rick. He passed away a few months ago. I have a left handed model. The model that replaced it, is over 20,000. He made right handed model’s. Very interesting man. Check him out. Worth the time it takes you to find out more.⚡️🎸⚡️
I needed an electric 12-string for project over 20 years ago. The only affordable option was a Pacifica 12 which turned out to be a great guitar. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to get one of the Alternate Reality Fender XIIs a few years ago. Apart from changing the 3-way for a four way rotary it is stock.
I got my first 12-string acoustic at 17 (39 years years ago) and would never be without either.
Niiiiice!
I had THE 12 string - a Rickenbacker 360v64 (reissue of the Harrison 12 string). There’s nothing like the sound of a RIC 12 due to the reversed position of the octave strings. To top it off, I even had it signed by Roger McQuinn!!!👍👍👍👍
Oh and if you want hear some unbelievable acoustic 12 sting, listen to Leo Kottke!
Love Leo!
I also love the 12 string guitar. One of my favorite players is this guy from Alsace, Jangle Rhinefart.
I first played 12 string guitars in the late 60's and early 70's and remember the larger E A D G strings being above the high octave strings as you look down while playing the guitar, meaning your pick contacts the low octave before the higher octave string on a down stroke. Every video I see now has the the higher octave string above the lower octave string and therefore usually picked before the lower octave string. Does anyone remember 12 string guitars strung the way I remember and can shed any light on when that configuration changed or were the guitars I got to play just constantly done wrong? I didn't own a 12 string back then so I was not responsible for the way the strings were installed. Any links to 60's and 70's videos of 12 string guitarists such as Beatles, Byrds, Richie Havens etc which illustrate the string layout would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Mick! For years I have been watching and hearing you talk about the Vintera Strats. And for years I have been saying that I am not a Strat guy. I have own 6 or more over the years and they aren’t my voice. Picked up a Road Worn Vintera 50’s Strat a few weeks ago on a “well maybe one more time.” It sits next to my bed. I play it all the time. Can’t get enough of it. Love it. Thanks so much for what you guys do!
Mick is one of favorite guitarists. Something real about him.
That’s very kind of you to say Douglas, thank you!
Thought I’d restring my Yamaha Pacifica 303-12 while I watched this fabulous video. Just about got it done by the end of the bud. Nice one Mick, love the guitar.
Any time I hear a 12-string, I immediately think of the soundtracks from the Borderlands games.
Good on you Mick !! 🎼🎸🎶 I fell ib love with the 12 string after 1st listen of 'New Chautauqua' . 2 yrs later, bought a Guild F-512. I've yet to buy a 12 Electric. Thinking it's about time 😀😉 may you and Dan continue to do what you do. And look forward to shows centering around 12 string guitars. Hint. Hint.
That 12 string is beautiful and sounded amazing! Nice guitar Mick!
Thank you Jeff!!
A have five guitars Ibanez Artcore-line. 12-string is not great, but very suitable. As the others. Very good cheap and usefull guitars.
first thing stick lashings of reverb and chorus/flanger on it! Instant goth machine ala The Mission
Or The Mission UK as they were/are known in the states
I nearly spat my tea out when the first bars of Crossroads came through the speakers...😂😂🤣🤣. 12 strings are awesome though; pretty sure there is some on Stone Roses too.......????
Best part of this video is Mick singing “Nikita”
An ode to my favourite drill - Makita!
Question: How long does it take to tune a 12 string?
Answer: Nobody knows!
Great video Mick. Guitar sounds ace!
Hahahahah!!!
You want the octave strings slightly detuned from the regular ones. Gives you a natural chorus without any pedal. That's what I do with both my acoustic and electric 12s.
@@spiderfan1974 Ha ha. You don't even have to try to detune them. If you play any 12 string with a six saddle bridge, the intonation can never be perfect - or really all that close! So if you tune up the open strings, you'll start getting slight detune at every fret as you go up the neck. At least that's the case for the octave pairs.
@@RMosack my electric 12 the octave strings and the regular strings are on a fender style bridge and are separated. The regular strings are strung through the body. The octave strings load through the back of the bridge. The strings until the D and G run straight through the nut to the tuners. The d and g are as straight as they can be. My electric 12 string stays in tune as good as any guitar I own does. I live in the southern US the weather changes hour to hour I'm always tuning guitars because of it.
An infinite amount of time (but worth it!).
It’s always great to have a 12 or a Nashville strung guitar if you can afford it. Even jamming to a track is fun
Also, if it has a strong, stable neck: messing with 10-string options can be occasional fun.
Sounds KILLER! D Standard with Vibe, has a GREAT sound? ANYTIME you dissect Dolye type sounds…count me in! Love what he does, and sometimes it is hard to get the Tone happening? Of Course, what he’s playing is probably the biggest piece, but his sounds are magic!
Great work Mick.
You can't even mention Hotel and California in the same video without getting demonetized. 🥴 What a treat, Mick!! You are such an inspiration on so many levels!! God bless you!! 🙏
Best electric 12 string is the Burns/Baldwin double six - no competition. Built like a tank, stays in tune, easy to play.. and looks cool
I bought mine B stock new and I’m very happy.Prices have gone up.
I feel old, named those tunes with just a few notes. Happy Days !
The one cab wet dry rig is sounding amazing Mick! Inspiring set up.
Thanks Charlie. I really love it!
I had an Italia Rimini 12 for years, up until a few months back.
I bought it on a whim, too. Every time I picked it up, I'd end up playing 'Mr Tambourine Man' or 'My Sweet Lord'... and yeah, the Crossroads theme. I loved it, kinda wish I'd kept it, but I just never found any use for it - I'd try forcing it, rather than it inspiring something.
A new TPS video right as my coffee is ready. Gonna be a good day!
It sounds killer with fuzz and distortion. Great buy 👌
My first guitar was an old Washburn acoustic 12 string from the 80s that needed a lot of work. That neck was so big like playing a 2x4 lol
Always great to hang out.
Woke up stressed at 4:00 am Seattle time and was saved by your relaxing peaceful video to find some serenity. So grateful it was there for me (and everyone really)
Cheers
That’s great to hear Chris! Wishing you a peaceful day. :0)
Must've spoke to you, looks & sounds fantastic, good on ya! Always good to see what you guys are up to...all the best from Alberta Canada
I've never fancied one, but I'm sure every guitarist will want one at some point on their journey....Including me no doubt!
I just bought an Ibanez AS73 last week, I guess Mick and I have good taste 🤓
Welcome to the club! That sounds and looks amazing. I'm lucky to own a Ric 12 and it's getting a lot of play of late. A bit of tape style flange and some analog delay is working for me at the moment. I use flatwound strings (McGuinn/Townshend) and compression. I keep it clean too but I have to say your drive tones sounded great. Check out David Crosby solo and CSN&Y. Lots of electric 12. Beautiful big jazzy minor 7's. Roger wouldn't let him play 12 in the Byrds! Can't wait to hear more. Chime on.
It’s interesting when you add chorus or vibrato. The settings have to be just so as not to fight with the natural chorusing effects of the xtra strings. I’ve been jonesing for a 12 string for a while now. Thanks for this. I hadn’t considered the artcore series.
@17:50 I'd be inclined to use a spirit based dye. Dark oak or ebony. Worked well on my Casino Pau Ferro fretboard, and it's permanent. :)
I happen to the 6 string version of that guitar with the Ibanez version of a Bigsby. The Artcore series guitars are really nice for the money. It was my first "real/nice" guitar. I love it. Also, my wife told me that under no circumstances am I allowed to sell or trade it.
Xanadu - Rush 😍 (double neck, but the 12 sound is awesome in that song).
Love an electric 12! That's a very cool looking one you've got there Mick!
06:15 I bought a Squier Jaguar Short Scale Bass for about $500 Australian Dollars a while back. Made in Indonesia. VERY surprised at the quality & playability. Replaced pickups with Bartolinis and it rocks. Yes, folks need to keep an eye out for good quality for price gear. There's plenty about!
Fun show. Thanks Mick. My main guitar is an '00s AS73 six string. Love it. A tone I really dig with it is Rangemaster > Harmonious Monk > Zoom 507 plate reverb (really).
Thats one the best sounds 6 or 12 strings I,ve ever heard!!
It’s a shame no one else seems to do the octave strings the same way Rickenbacker does 😢
The Rickenbacker 12 string configuration certainly contributes to its unique tone. Of course, it is possible to convert any 12 string guitar to a Rickenbacker 12 string configuration by replacing the string nut with one cut a la a RIC 12 and then restringing the guitar accordingly. But that modification alone won't turn the guitar into a RIC 12.
Interestingly, the first Rickenbacker 12 string guitar that Rickenbacker manufactured was strung in the traditional 12 string manner. That instrument was gifted to Suze Arden. George Harrison ended up with the second one the company built which was the first one strung in the Rickenbacker 12 string way. Both of those guitars were 3xx/12 models. And Mike Campbell owns the first 6xx/12 string guitar that Rickenbacker built. That guitar was also strung in the Rickenbacker 12 manner. And one final fun fact, Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church has often uses a Rickenbacker 12 string which he had customised and restrung in the traditional 12 string maner. Go Figure.
Not really!
Awesome sound.and congrats on the new guitar. If you haven't, or haven't recently, I highly recommend you listen to some Blind Willie McTell -- he's a monster of 12 string blues, and one of my faves.
Mick ,you are a top dude, man. The fact that you get excited by the inspiration an electric 12 string ,brings to you, is bleedin' fantastic. look at the world with a childs eyes, all the best.
Thank you kindly Tim!
Glad to see you going down the 12-string rabbit hole! I snagged a Reverend Airwave 12 after seeing the Greg Koch RUclips demo (Starship Trooper, if you haven't seen it, it's a must!) and haven't regretted it one second! Having separate intonation on each string helps but yea, the chorusing covers it up decent anyway. The thing about electric 12 is is kinda a one-trick pony, but it's a damn sweet trick! I find myself picking it up to play a few minutes and looking up a few hours later! As for the playability, in my experience, it's not so much what's under the fingers, but the fact that you tend to center the tip of the finger on 1 string, so on a 12 you end up way off-center on the other (which then feel's weird). If you work on aiming more for the space between the two strings it works better, but that's a new technique to be sure!
That said, electric 12 is awesome for live and pretty good for recording. The next step is with recording to checkout Nashville tuning. Basically, take the extra 6 strings and pop them on a 6 string and you have Nashville tuning. Double track your standard parts with the Nashville tuning (to tweak what you play, either or) and you can handle each completely differently. Different effects, eq, amps etc. The cool part is that you can accentuate that jangle or pull it back a bit or anything in between. I keep an acoustic and an electric in Nashville tuning just for recording. My plain old Danelectro 6 string turns out to be perfect for Nashville tuning as it has a bit of that jangle or chime naturally. Anyway, worth checking out now that you're already down the rabbit hole!
You're right, of course, about Rickenbackers reversing the string order; which is a large part of why they sound uniquely, or 'distinctively', different from 'standard' 12 strings.
I bought my first Ibanez guitar last year, an Expressionist AMH90, double cutaway hollowbody, and I love it. Great pickups - I'm usually not a fan of humbuckers, but I like these, and it has maybe my favorite neck profile of any guitar I own. It's a nice, chunky "C" that just feels fantastic.
Anyway, I'm now a fan - great bang for the buck, and excellent build quality for the money. And Mick is absolutely right - the quality of cheap guitars these days is mindblowing. When I started playing, cheap guitars were pretty much crap.
Wonderful tones, as always. 12-strings are the original octave and chorus effect. My acoustic 12er has a unison G string, I tried to like the high G (which becomes the highest-pitched string on the instrument) and all the trademark licks that use it, but it was doing weird things to the more everyday stuff I was playing on it.
That’s given me lots of idea for my new Italia Rimini 12.
Fantastic choice and great to hear it. I was half tempted to sell you my Burns but you've saved me that heart ache :)
Beauty! I got a Fender Electric XII about 2 years ago and I love it. So much fun!
7:18. A 7 minute build up and the first tune is the old theme tune from "Crossroads". 😃Ace!
I too have the Ibanez AS7312. I got it in 2013, and still love it! It had intonation issues though, so I got a new 12 saddle bridge (it came with only a 6 saddle which made it impossible to completely intonate), and I also got an Earvana Acoustic Retro Style Nut. I took it to my luthier friend Steve (RIP) and he cut the slots in the nut and installed everything. Not the 12 string is very, very intonated. I can play an octave D and it's still in perfect tune. I'll post a RUclips link next on the chance RUclips will allow it. It's really worth it to upgrade! If the link doesn't appear, the video title is "Ibanez Artcore AS7312 Semi-Hollow Intonation Mods".
You weren't kidding about the Bramhall cut being soaked in uni-vibe. That is a cool sound indeed.
I recently scratched the electric 12 string itch as well. I picked up the Danelectro 59X12. Really great guitar at a reasonable price. It’s not my go to, obviously, but when you need that sound, it works like a charm.
Treating a dry fingerboard can make such a difference, very rewarding. Love the guitar, those Ibanez models are killer!
Great VLOG! As someone who has returned to electric guitar after a 20 year break I can concur that both solid state combo amps and mid range guitars have come a HUGE long way since the 2000s. I have two Ibanez guitars (great to see them getting some TPS love) 20 years apart of a similar price bracket and the difference is astounding, and the new Orange 35RT just destroys my old Marshall 80RCD from the 2000s in every single way except perhaps volume, but even then it's much closer than the wattage would suggest. Great vid!
The Reverend 12-string is extremely cool. I love 12-strings
So pumped. Probably favourite song and such an amazing version!!