Description

I picked up a guitar for the first time in 1968. One of these days I might play well enough to justify all that time. But nevertheless, quite a few guitars have congregated under my roof somehow, and I know Tone and longevity when it's in front of me. Sooner or later, every guitar player owes him or herself a 12-string. Sometimes described as an orchestra in your hands, an acoustic 12 string has tonal complexity and acoustic power that makes a 6 string brother seem malnourished by comparison. But you don't want just any 12-string. The tension on the structure of the guitar is deforming. A lot of companies give you a lightweight instrument that sounds responsive out of the box, but just watch what happens to it over the next decade.

Guild 12-strings are built to a different standard. The Guild 12 is a piano in your lap. Yeah, it's heavy but that's not all. It packs stunning acoustic power. You don't just get the leading transient of a note, you get the full Joe Frazier wallop of telephone cable strings reaching out to rattle your ribcage and bang on your skull. You'll think you're Glenn Gould in sandals with 15 pounds of instrument instead of several hundred.

With Guild's trademark double-truss rock maple neck, big head, and jumbo body braced to survive centuries but tuned for Tone, this is the 12-string to have. It's going to sound great out of the box, but it's going to sound sensational as you play it in over the next decade. The Guild 12's sound only improves, never degrades. Dig deep and play. Leadbelly played a big Stella, but he'd have wanted one of these if he could have had it. The F412 has maple back and sides, the F512 has rosewood. Both are factory handmade spruce-top American guitars. (via Dream Quest)