12-string body shape opinions sought

Kalimna · June 2019

Greetings all,

This year, my wife and I celebrate 10 years of being Mr&Mrs, and to mark the occasion Marie gets an eternity ring and I have persuaded her to let me get another guitar. Because it will have a fair old sentimental value and my guitar quiver is otherwise complete (ish!), I have decided to go for a 12-string from Brook.
Now here is the question - what is the general consensus on body shape for a 12-string?
I haven't decided on body wood yet, but it is very unlikely to be mahogany or indian rosewood. In fact I have several sets of B&S wood at home that are possibles - from some cocobolo to myrtle to tas blackwood. I may, instead, for some UK grown timber.
But I don't know whether to go for a jumbo/super jumbo, dreadnought, parlour, OM style etc.
Any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Adam

Andy79 · June 2019

Well if I were so lucky I would copy the Oscar Schmidt jumbo 26 1/2 scale with oak or walnut and spruce top. Look at Fraulini for some 12 string drool time

earwighoney · June 2019

Kalimna said:

Greetings all,
This year, my wife and I celebrate 10 years of being Mr&Mrs, and to mark the occasion Marie gets an eternity ring and I have persuaded her to let me get another guitar. Because it will have a fair old sentimental value and my guitar quiver is otherwise complete (ish!), I have decided to go for a 12-string from Brook.
Now here is the question - what is the general consensus on body shape for a 12-string?
I haven't decided on body wood yet, but it is very unlikely to be mahogany or indian rosewood. In fact I have several sets of B&S wood at home that are possibles - from some cocobolo to myrtle to tas blackwood. I may, instead, for some UK grown timber.
But I don't know whether to go for a jumbo/super jumbo, dreadnought, parlour, OM style etc.
Any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Adam

Of the sets you have, I'd prefer Myrtle & Tas Blackwood, the latter would be my first choice but for UK based choices, I'd go for Walnut or Yew, Brook make excellent guitars with the two latter choices in particular.

I'm generally not a fan of rosewoods for 12 strings, the overtones of rosewood in addition to the extra strings can make rosewood 12's a bit too much.

As for body size, it's down to what kind of body size suits you the best for ergonomics and for your playing style. If you're a 6 foot 8 inch giant that strums really hard then an single 0 sized parlour might not be the best fit! What body sizes do you find the most comfortable? Also are you planning to fingerpick or strum? The recommendation for an Leadbelly style 12 makes a lot of sense if you're looking for something really punchy.

If I was you however, I'd go for a short scale 12 as the stringsets are going to have a huge amount of tension for the fingers, and a short scale could make it a little easier for the fingers. Again, it's my taste but I'd go for a smaller body size as that's what I am comfortable with but I think it makes a preferable difference for the bass, larger bodied 12's can have a huge thumping bass I prefer a little more control. For the latter, I'd recommend having a few looks at the Collings 0 sized 12's on youtube, I think they sound great.

Kalimna · June 2019

Thanks for the advice - all very useful.
As it happens, I have a Brook Tavy (jumbo-style) in yew, so I am familiar with their work. I suspect it would be mostly for strumming with the odd diversion into fingerwork. So on that basis, perhaps the smaller body-sizes may not be the best choice then?
When you say rosewood 12 strings are 'a bit much', do you mean that their sound tends to mushiness? I had wondered if the cocobolo might have offered a crisper sound to counteract that, but my experience is minimal there.
Cheers,

Adam

earwighoney · June 2019

Kalimna said:

Thanks for the advice - all very useful.
As it happens, I have a Brook Tavy (jumbo-style) in yew, so I am familiar with their work. I suspect it would be mostly for strumming with the odd diversion into fingerwork. So on that basis, perhaps the smaller body-sizes may not be the best choice then?
When you say rosewood 12 strings are 'a bit much', do you mean that their sound tends to mushiness? I had wondered if the cocobolo might have offered a crisper sound to counteract that, but my experience is minimal there.
Cheers,
Adam

It's all a YMMV issue, and what works for my ears might not work for your ears and vice versa.

IMO, rosewood guitars generally have a reverb like effect and have a more pronounced presences in the basses and trebles. That combined with the inherrent chorus nature it can lead to some rosewood 12's just simply having too much going on at one time/too many frequencies all at the same time and it's generally why most 12's around are either Mahogany or Maple.

The Tavy is my favourite of the Brook shapes. I played a Baritone Maple Tavy quite a few ago in Ivor Mairants which was one of the best 3-4 guitars I've ever played. I personally would have no problems in choosing a 12 string Tavy with Maple, Yew, Walnut or the Myrtle or Tas Blackwood back and sides you have. IMO, I think the latter could be truly exceptional.

If you are going down the route of Brook, send them some messages to ask what they would think would work!

ICBM · June 2019

12-fret Dreadnought. Because they just sound the best, and you don't usually play a 12-string far enough up the neck for the restricted access to matter, even if you keep it tuned down to D and capo up a lot.

Since they're huge, you could also use some of that nice wood in a 3-piece back and make it more interesting if the pieces aren't big enough otherwise.

Like this...

Image: http://willcuttguitars.com/product%20images/082614/253610-2up.jpg

Kalimna · June 2019

Thanks again for the advice/suggestions.
As it happens, I had emailed Brook already, but very early discussions so far - I just wanted to canvas opinions regarding a couple of design options from yourselves as I find that the more advice received leads to better decisions (mostly).

I like the idea of 3-piece backs (the Tavy I have is yew with a centre panel of slightly rippled walnut), but I don't think it would be a necessity from the material I have.
I also like the idea of a dreadnought too (nothing against the jumbo/super-jumbo/OM however). I don't think they do as a standard, but I wonder if Brook would do a dropped-shoulder style body?

Hmmm. A fair bit to think about, and a trip to Devon to plan out....

Cheers,

Adam

ToneControl · June 2019

Also phone Avalon
They are now a custom-shop operation, and they built 15,000 Lowdens

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