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There are two types of guitars I feel that I lack.


honeyiscool

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Well, I had an Epi Les Paul as my second guitar, I loved that thing, I traded it for a Telecaster and as much as I liked the Tele, I missed the Les Paul. Not the tone, just the overall feel of it.

 

This thing looks like it'd make me a man, all right. 10.5 pounds, huh.

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I feel that I need a 12-string, and I need a Les Paul.


Is it a good idea combining the two with something like a 12-string Agile?


al250012white4.jpg

With the right pickups, how jangly can you get a Les Paul anyway?

 

Ehh, I couldn't access and accentuate most of the tonal characteristics of a Les Paul that make it a Les Paul if it were a 12 string.

 

IMO, 12 strings sound like 12 strings and I think an LP style 12 string would just sound like a 12 string more than it would a LP.

 

Now, the thing LOOKS very cool and I'm sure it sounds good too. I just don't think it would satisfy the LP craving. I'd keep'm separated.

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Oh I know, I just want a Les Paul mainly for the look and feel, the sound, I could take it or leave it, especially since now I have two other mahogany neck mahogany body guitars.

 

One of the problems that I've often heard about is the neck heavy nature of 12 strings, and a Les Paul design will ensure that I will never have that problem. Am I correct?

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I feel that I need a 12-string, and I need a Les Paul.


Is it a good idea combining the two with something like a 12-string Agile?


al250012white4.jpg

With the right pickups, how jangly can you get a Les Paul anyway?

 

You might want to look at Eastwood Guitars and also the Dean Boca.

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Humbuckers with 12-strings is a bad idea, IMO. Humbuckers are warm with not a lot of note attack and you want the brightness and attack with 12 strings; that's a big part of the sound.

 

If you're looking for an electric 12-string, I'd highly recommend the Danelectro DC-12. It sounds incredible for not much $$$.

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Humbuckers with 12 strings sound amazing. I played a PRS awhile back that had incredible tone--complex harmonics, sweet highs, firm lows--an outstanding instrument.

 

12 stringers get their chime from the interaction of the string vibrations where certain frequencies are cancelled and multiplied in a set pattern. You can enhance the effect by using a compressor on the front end of an amp. Also, finding the right amp is critical.

 

Any pickup system will work with a 12 string--lipsticks, single coils, humbuckers, mini humbuckers, blade pickups--they all work fine but have a different tone. I think that guitars with air in them make for better 12 stringers, but there are exceptions (Danelectro, Rick 660--guitars with lots of maple).

 

Don't spend a lot of $$ on a new one unless it's a real bargain. Epi made a Korean version of the Riviera 12 that went for around $400 in the '90's. That Agile might be just the ticket. Does Rondo have a 12 string semi or hollow body? (sorry, I'm lazy:-)

 

This Elitist was made at the Terada Plant in Japan where expensive Gretsch guitars are currently made.

 

The rhythm guitar in this track is my Riviera 12:

 

[video=youtube;QJ2E86fcLpw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ2E86fcLpw

 

riviera1.jpg

 

riviera2.jpg

 

riviera3.jpg

 

riviera4.jpg

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I'm worried a bit about neck dive on those. I know it's something people live with but I just prefer not to have anything to do with neck dive.

 

You'd have to try one because semi hollow guitar bodies vary wildly in terms of weight. The LP style Agile is probably OK. Rondo says that the semi 12 weighs 8 pounds which may indicate neck heaviness.

 

Anyway, neck dive is now a thing of the past with this cool device:

 

heads-up-strap-weights.jpg

 

before_after_4.jpg

 

http://www.headsupstrap.com/index.html

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I think you should get two guitars - one LP and one 12 string. Whenever I think of the latter, I think of Rickenbacker, but that might be out of your budget? There's a guy in a local band around here who regularly plays one and each time I see it, it makes me think I need one! He doesn't do jangly Byrds style stuff either - he puts it through a whole range of levels of gain and is sounds amazing.

 

If you want a good Les Paul copy, I can't recommend the old Japanese ones highly enough - my Orville is great, but I hear Burny, Greco and older Epiphones are also very good, but I think you have to do the research to work out which. If you want to go even cheaper, the best Les Paul copy I have played around the

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