Any Wide Neck Electric 12-strings?
Len Moskowitz
Might someone recommend a 12-string electric with a neck wider than a
Rick 360-12? I have fat fingers -- been playing bass too long I
suppose!
--
Len Moskowitz
mosk...@panix.com
Paul R. Piotrowski
:
: Might someone recommend a 12-string electric with a neck wider than a
I bought a Rickenbacker 660/12TP (Tom Petty Signature) because it
has a wider neck. Not a lot wider, but certainly noticable. It
is a solid body, cresting wave shape guitar with vintage reissue
hardware and case. Very pretty and sounds great!
Paul
Len Moskowitz
>Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties, and over the last
>six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
>(if you like instruments made from Basswood.)
It turns out that the Strat 12 is still available. Anyone know if its
neck is appreciably wider than a standard Strat?
And then there are all the electrified acoustics. I played an acoustic
Taylor 555 the other day. Wow, what an instrument!
--
Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
mosk...@panix.com
Don Tillman
Date: 26 Apr 1994 11:13:02 -0400
Might someone recommend a 12-string electric with a neck wider than a
Rick 360-12? I have fat fingers -- been playing bass too long I
suppose!
Oh there must be some surgical procedure that will work on those
fingers; the Rick is worth it! But if you insist...
Surprisingly there aren't many 12-string electrics currently in
production, except for Rickenbacker (where almost every model is
available as a 12-string!).
Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties, and over the last
six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
(if you like instruments made from Basswood.)
Gibson made a small number of 12-string ES-335s in the sixties.
Guild had the Starfire XII available for a long time, maybe still
does. (John Philips of the Mamas and the Papas used one of these.)
Carvin has a 12-string option on some of their models.
Reaching back there were the Vox and Burns/Baldwin 12-strings (David
Pack of Ambrosia uses one of these.)
Reaching into obscurity, Ovation made a small number of 12-string
Breadwinner/Deacons. (Roy Clark used one of these.)
And of course the there's the Warmouth catalog.
-- Don
--
J. Donald Tillman
Consultant; Software Engineering, Analog Electronics
Palo Alto, California 415 327-6234
Internet: d...@till.com
Andrew Rogers
>>Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties, and over the last
>>six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
Rumor has it that Fender of Japan was planning to reissue the 60's Electric
XII, scrapped the idea, and released the Strat XII instead. Don't know if
this is true or not, but the first Strat XII product announcement appeared
in the April (1987?) issue of some guitar rag, and I mistook it for an
April Fool's joke!
The latest Fender product line flier implies that the Strat XII is currently
US-made - anyone know if this is true (i.e., actually seen a recent one marked
"Made in U.S.A.") or just a typo/oversight?
>It turns out that the Strat 12 is still available. Anyone know if its
>neck is appreciably wider than a standard Strat?
I used to own a '65 Fender XII (wish I still had it), and currently own an
'89 Strat XII (cream-colored, though both the catalog and _The Fender Book_
say it is/was only available in sunburst). The necks on both certainly
*felt* wider than a 6-string Strat; I'll measure the nut and bridge on the
XII when I get home tonight. The Strat XII neck is definitely wider (and
shallower) than a Rickenbacker, which is what you had originally asked about.
The Strat XII scale length is 24-3/4" (as opposed to the standard 25-1/2"),
undoubtedly to reduce string tension; I didn't actually notice this until I
read about it in _The Fender Book_! (24-3/4" is used on the "medium-scale"
6-string Strats made by Fender of Japan; "short-scale" [24"] Strats also
exist.)
Oh, yes... the Strat XII sounds *exactly* like you would expect a 12-string
Strat to sound! The only complaint I have with mine is that the octave G
string tends to kink where it passes through the string guide, and becomes
hard to keep in tune - so I bypass the string guide completely.
Andrew
Andrew Rogers
>>>six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
>
>>neck is appreciably wider than a standard Strat?
I measured mine - the nut width is 1-3/4". I believe that's slightly wider
than a standard Strat; I don't have a recent example to compare it against,
but most of the replacement necks in the Stew-Mac catalog are 1-5/8".
Andrew
Andrew Rogers
>Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties...
Yes, I used to own one of them (wish I still did). Pete Townshend - known
mostly as a Rickenbacker fan - used one for most of the electric 12-string
parts on "Tommy".
>... and over the last
>six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
>(if you like instruments made from Basswood.)
According to the latest Fender product information, the Strat XII has an
alder body. (This could be an error, though: no other Japanese instrument
is made from alder.) The catalog (and _The Fender Book_) states that it
is only available in sunburst, but mine (as well as the one currently for
sale elsewhere in this newsfroup) is white.
Don't forget (well, a lot of people, probably including Fender, would like
to) the Coronado XII from the late 60's.
>Gibson made a small number of 12-string ES-335s in the sixties.
Yes; Richie Furay played one in Buffalo Springfield.
There was also an Epiphone Riviera 12-string, which was pretty much like a
335 except that it used the "baby" humbuckers; you can see Carl Wilson playing
one in various early-70s Beach Boys photos.
>Guild had the Starfire XII available for a long time, maybe still
>does. (John Philips of the Mamas and the Papas used one of these.)
Don't forget the Gretsch White Falcon 12-string, faverave of both Mike Nesmith
and various CSN&Y members.
>Reaching back there were the Vox and Burns/Baldwin 12-strings (David
>Pack of Ambrosia uses one of these.)
Yeah, I used to own the coffin-shaped Vox Phantom XII - same model that Tony
Hicks played on the Hollies' "Look Through Any Window".
I met (sort of) Graham Nash in a music store in Pittsfield, MA in the mid-70s
(he and David Crosby were playing at Tanglewood that night). I plugged in
a nearby 12-string and played the opening riff from "Look Through Any Window"
(write me if you want the TAB). His response? "Fook the 'Ollies, mon!"
>Reaching into obscurity, Ovation made a small number of 12-string
>Breadwinner/Deacons. (Roy Clark used one of these.)
OK, you want obscure... how about the Danelectro 12-strings! I used to own
three of 'em: single- and double-pickup Bellzoukis and a crackle-finish
Firebird-ish triple-pickup model! Some sources claim that Danelectro's
electric 12-strings predate both Rickenbacker's and the Gibson 6-12 double-
necks, but until the history of Danelectro is written we'll probably never
know for sure...
Andrew
NATHAN PHILLIP STEWART
>In article <TILL.94Ap...@netcom2.netcom.com> d...@till.com writes:
>>Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties...
>
>to) the Coronado XII from the late 60's.
>
>>Gibson made a small number of 12-string ES-335s in the sixties.
I played one of these years ago, and found the neck to be narrower even than
the 6. At the nut, the strings were nearly equally spaced, with no more gap
between each pair than between the two strings which made up the octave/unison.
Needless to say, it was rather difficult to play.
I came very close to buying a Yamaha ES-335 style 12 string as my first "real"
guitar. It had a flame maple top with a transparent green finish. Someone else
bought it out from under me and I ended up playing a Les Paul Studio.
_______________________________________
| | Nathan Stewart
| Marshall | npst...@eos.ncsu.edu
| ________________________ | Play skillfully to the
| |!!o Q Q Q Q Q Q :: | | Lord with a
|=======================================| *LOUD* noise. Psalm 33:3
Bruce McDiffett
: In article <2q8b48$p...@sasuga.hi.com> rog...@sasuga.hi.com (Andrew Rogers) writes:
: >In article <TILL.94Ap...@netcom2.netcom.com> d...@till.com writes:
: >>Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties...
: >
: >Don't forget (well, a lot of people, probably including Fender, would like
: >to) the Coronado XII from the late 60's.
: >
: >>Gibson made a small number of 12-string ES-335s in the sixties.
: I played one of these years ago, and found the neck to be narrower even than
: the 6. At the nut, the strings were nearly equally spaced, with no more gap
: between each pair than between the two strings which made up the octave/unison.
: Needless to say, it was rather difficult to play.
I have one of the the 12-string 335's, and the neck is indeed quite narrow.
But I don't find it a problem at all - it feels great. I think the
reason the neck is narrower than the 6-string is to compensate for the
extra hand strength required by the extra strings. I do find it easier
to play large intervals and complex chords than on some other electric 12's.
Then again, after you've spent time chording on an 8-string bass, I guess
just about any 12-string would seem easy to play. :->
Bruce McDiffett
Soloing in Minoxydilydian mode
Erik de Castro Lopo
: Don Tillman <d...@till.com> wrote:
: >Fender used to have the Fender XII in the sixties, and over the last
: >six years has occasionally had a 12-string Japanese Strat available.
: >(if you like instruments made from Basswood.)
: It turns out that the Strat 12 is still available. Anyone know if its
: neck is appreciably wider than a standard Strat?
Yep, I've tried one. Lovely sound, but the neck is only slightly
wider than a standard strat, so I found it quite difficult to play.
Erik.
PS : I have rather small fingers.
LeftyGtr
the Tom Petty Limited Edition model, so they won't be around forever. They're
getting near the end of the run of 1,000.
New Rickenbacker instruments may also be custom-ordered with this neck profile
at an additional charge.
Hope that helps.
Scott Jennings
Ace Music & Route 66 Guitars