Electric 12 string guitars?

[Zork]

For some time already I'd like to own an electric 12 string. I like the Guild Starfire I-12 a lot, it looks cool and I've held in my hands in a guitar shop briefly and it felt very nice. Also the limited edition Sherwood Green Squier Jazzmaster XII was very tempting but I tend to prefer 24.75 scale and humbuckers.

Anyway, a 12 string is a very niche instrument of course. Still, I decided to sell one of my basses and I could reinvest in a Guild Starfire 12. Actually I had it in my thomann shopping card today several times and was so close to pull the trigger, they even have a b-stock offer for a little discount. Then again, it's still not cheap and I'm not sure I would like to carry it to a gig. I just prefer to play a show with one guitar only. On the other hand, it'll be great for recording and it would be very nice to have the guitar around. I can not lie, I own at least two guitars solely for the purpose of looking at it. And it might as well be so cool that I'll end up bringing it to gigs no matter what.

The question is of course: Go for it or not? Do you have an electric 12? And did it end up mostly as a case queen waiting for special occasions or is it a staple of your sound or just something in between that's nice to have? Last question: Apart from King Gizzard, can you recommend some notable contemporary 12 string users?

[dubkitty]

Andy Bell plays 12-string a fair bit in Ride.

i chose to put a Duncan pickup in my jumbo Alvarez acoustic 12-string because it was cheaper than getting a whole-ass electric 12er that i'd play five or six times a year. had i not, the Guild and Squier would be on my short list. the acoustic pickup isn't a perfect solution because it doesn't really sound like an electric, but i think i can process it until it does.

[Gone Fission]

Miki Berenyi of Lush used a 12-string ES-335 most of the time. Jeff Buckley used a Rick 360/12, though the one on Grace might have been a loaner? He had one in his touring gear and it can be heard on some Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk tracks. In Radiohead Ed plays a Rick 12 on How to Disappear Completely and when playing Airbag live. Not coming up with anything else off the top of the head.

Don't have an electric 12 but the draw is there. (Have a Seagull 12 and I don't think I'd fool anyone amplifying it.) I don't know the scale length, but if not the Squier Jazzmaster XII I'd probably be looking at the Gretsch Electromatic line offerings.

[Blackened Soul]

I think electric 12s are cool, we have old vox mkvii that lives in the studio.. we found it in a pawnshop it is heavily modified… sound incredible though

In terms of usefulness that depends on you music.. currently I’m using a 12string bass for half of my band’s set…

[dubkitty]

what is the instrumentation? that would take up a hell of a lot of low end and lower mids.

[Blackened Soul]

Duo, Bass (12string bass, bassvi, 5string cello) and drums
My pedalboard splits highs and lows into two parallel chains

[Zork]

Sounds cool! The band name is really cool, too.

I looked at the thomann site today and they had the b-stock Guild reduced even more. To 515€ from 599€. Naturally, I bought it.
I will report on how it fits my needs.

[Zork]

@BlackenedSoul the Vox looks awesome! I love teardrop guitars!

[Phosphene Audio]

I had a Peavey Milestone for a little while that was absolutely top notch. I didn't use it enough to keep it around.

[Zork]

Nice guitar. I'm personally not too much into "modern" looking guitars but it's refreshing to see a non-vintage looking 12-string. I've seen a black Ibanez RG 12-string somewhere that I thought was really cool too.

[mitchelr]

Mine ended up being more of a "nice to have" than a gigging staple – they're just a beast to lug around! But, the sound in the studio? Totally worth it. For contemporary 12-string players... check out Kurt Vile, he uses them a lot.

[Zork]

It's here!

Unfortunately I only had five minutes to check it out before heading to work. But it came out of the box almost perfectly in tune!

[dubkitty]

that's-a one spicy meatball!

[coldbrightsunlight]

Hot damn, looks great!

[Zork]

After further investigation I can say I'm really impressed by the quality of this guitar. It feels and sounds like a very, very expensive guitar, there's not a single flaw in fit and finish. A quick setup and the action is perfect. It's ridiculously easy to play and looks just gorgeous. It seems to stay in tune very good so far. I wanna see how it holds up with a serious band practice, though. The Squier Jazzmaster XII seems to be all the hype at the moment and the Danelectros are pretty much the usual suspect but I feel the Guild is by far preferable over those. I'm looking forward to a long and intense honey moon phase with this guitar.