I had to change out my car’s battery the other day. The normally simple procedure was made more complicated because there was a bracket securing the battery to the car. I could not quite reach the bolt to unscrew the bracket with my wrench.
I found out via a YouTube video that you needed an extra-long fixture to easily reach it — something any auto shop or gearhead would have, but not me. I eventually found a way to get the job done, but it would have been much easier with that specialized tool.
Too Many Guitars? You Mean Not Enough Guitars
There is a certain point for many of us where we start getting more than a few guitars — enough to unironically refer to them as a “stable.” At that point, we usually start branching out. We ask questions like, “Which guitars are missing from this collection?”
So we start buying the “new and different.” As for me, I started my current collection with a cheap Epiphone Les Paul Special. After a few years and a lot of saving up money, I expanded my collection to a PRS SE Custom 24 and a Godin Strat-style guitar. A little more time and savings netted me a replacement for my stolen Seagull acoustic, a Deering banjo, a Danelectro, an Ibanez semi-hollow…you get the picture.
But there is one guitar type that I no longer have. It was special, it was different, and it filled in a hole in my collection. Yet it just didn’t stick.
The 12-String Question
The guitar in question was a 12-string acoustic by my favorite guitar brand, Seagull. It was well constructed and had a cedar top, which I prefer over spruce because of the darker, richer tones. Quality was not an issue; neither was the full, chimey sound.
And yet, it didn’t last. I had it for maybe a year before I sold it to acquire other gear. But why?
A Specialized Tool
In my experience, just like the extra-long socket wrench I needed to change my car battery, an acoustic 12-string is a specialized tool. There are certain songs it really works well for, but many others not so much.
In my case, I was finally able to play “Life By the Drop” by SRV the right way. And I could pick along with that one part in “More Than a Feeling” by Boston.
But honestly, once I discovered the few songs I knew that really were written with a 12-string in mind, there wasn’t much else I could do with it.
For everything else I tried, it was nothing but a bulkier, thicker-necked, harder-to-play instrument that didn’t sound “right” on most songs written for a six-stringed guitar.
To Buy or Not to Buy
In the end, for me personally, it didn’t make sense to keep the guitar. I had several hundred dollars tied up in an instrument that was so specialized that I rarely used it. When I did break it out, it was harder to play, and when I wasn’t playing it, the instrument was taking up valuable space in my closet.
As for my advice, if you already have several guitars and are looking to round out your collection, a 12-string might be a good idea if you like or prefer the sound, or if you are specifically writing songs with it in mind. But outside of a few specific contexts, it’s very likely that your regular six-string is going to sound and perform better.
If you have a different take on why a 12-string guitar is a valuable addition to your stable of instruments, let us know in the comments!
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