NOGD - 12 string electric!!!

[KuruPrionz]

I haven't owned an electric 12 string guitar in a LONG time. 

This one came my way. I've never seen a Daisy Rock that looked like a normal guitar. I like it, stylish and the white pearl finish is nice. 

 

I knew there was a Gotoh bridge that came on the newer Danelectro 12 strings that had 12 saddles and could be intonated correctly.

I've seen tune-o-matic bridges on 12 strings that could not be intonated correctly, only 6 saddles. 

This one has 12 saddles properly adjusted and plays in tune up and down the neck. Action is low, neck is wide enough. 

 

The pickups are chimey, full and quiet. The strings are set up like the 12 string Rickenbacker that George Harrison used to play, with the octave strings below the main strings instead of above like most 12 strings. It has a different sound, thicker, fuller but still with that 12 string chime to it. Bolt on neck, overall the guitar is a little bit heavy but it sounds awesome and plays well.

 

I'm really happy to have this one!!!

[desertbluesman]

Have a great time playing that one amigo. Nice looking also.

[Larryz]

Congrats Kuru!  Great pics on a great find.  I love the 12 saddles! I also like the octave strings below (George Harrison style)...😎👍

[Anderton]

I LOVE electric 12-strings. I have a blond Ric 360 that's over half a century old, and a pretty rare Les Paul 12-string. The Gibson Repair and Restoration people did  a fantastic job on the Ric, they made it like new. 

 

[KuruPrionz]

5 minutes ago, Anderton said:

I LOVE electric 12-strings. I have a blond Ric 360 that's over half a century old, and a pretty rare Les Paul 12-string. The Gibson Repair and Restoration people did  a fantastic job on the Ric, they made it like new. 

 

Sweet! I've a friend in Fresno who has a Ric like that. He bought it new in the sixties, has a Hofner Beatle Bass from the same time period. 

Both immaculate and nearly unplayed. 

Our Weirdo-Butt band ~ Las Vegas On Mars submitted a version of Eight Miles High for a Gene Clark tribute album and I played the Ric. We made it onto the record too. 

I've always loved electric 12 strings, should have kept every one of them. Fender 12, a Harmony hollow body 12 with 3 Ric pickups and a couple of others whose details escape me now. 

But I have this one and I love it. I'm working on songs where I tune my acoustic 12 string down a whole step to D and put a capo on the Daisy Rock at the 3rd fret. It works well and sounds huge. 

[KuruPrionz]

Too late to edit. 

I did have an Ovation Deacon 12 string electric. It was the heaviest guitar I"ve ever owned. Played great but the pickups where not chimey and it was mint so I flipped it and made money. I do have an Ovation Preacher that was boogered, and another Deacon neck, one of these days I'll finish cobbling up that one too and put huge strings on it. 

Baritone 12!!!!

[Larryz]

I had a Fender hockey stick Coronado 12 and wisht I had never sold it...Not a real fan of playing 12 strings but my buddy has about 5 Takamine acoustic 12's.  They are very easy to play and sound great plugged in for their price range...😎

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, Larryz said:

I had a Fender hockey stick Coronado 12 and wisht I had never sold it...Not a real fan of playing 12 strings but my buddy has about 5 Takamine acoustic 12's.  They are very easy to play and sound great plugged in for their price range...😎

There is nothing like the sound of an electric 12 string. 

You can find it on a few records pre-Beatles but George's Ricky on Hard Days Night changed the world forever. Amongst the many, Roger McGuinn started playing a 12 string Ricky, which influenced Tom Petty to play one too. 

 

Once I sat on top of a huge Leslie speaker at the local music shop and played a Gibson ES-335 12 string as the sound swirled around below me - Cosmic!!!

A friend of mine still has that guitar. 

[Larryz]

If I ever do buy another electric 12, it will be a Ricky...I love the sound.  😎

[KuruPrionz]

36 minutes ago, Larryz said:

If I ever do buy another electric 12, it will be a Ricky...I love the sound.  😎

Larryz, I've played the Rickys and I love 'em. Necks are a bit thin for my large hands but the action is really low so I can deal with it. Craig's above is super nice!!

 

This Daisy Rock is not far off that mark in terms of the tone. I think a big part of that is how it's strung. Most 12 strings have the octave string above the standard tuned string. 

The Ricky was the only one I knew of that had the octave string below the standard string, until I got the Daisy Rock. Same configuration and the pickups are a bit fuller and warmer sounding too while still having that chime. Some of the Rickys do have the Rick-O-Sound thing where they split the front and back pickup to two different jacks and you can play in stereo. Now you gotta bring two amps if you want to do that. An AB box into 2 amps set differently will more or less do the same thing for any mono guitar. 

 

The string layout really sounds different to me and I can A-B it with my Rainsong which has the octaves above the standards. The Rainsong is brighter sounding when you strum than the Daisy Rock. The Daisy Rock has side bolts to lock the bridge down, which seems to increase the sustain and evens out the tone quite a bit and the neck is a bit wider and thicker so I find it easier to play cleanly on it compared to my friend's Ricky. 

 

I do love the Ricky headstock, much more compact. The Daisy Rock has six to a side Grovers so it's heavier and much longer. A minor disadvantage in context of the cost, I paid $255 for the Daisy Rock. Not gonna happen with a Ricky!

[Larryz]

Kuru, I'll keep the Daisy in mind too...thanks for the review!  I like the octave strings on the bottom too and the intonation saddles.  I would have to try both necks as I've never played either the Rick or the Daisy.  I really like the sound and until now I thought only the Rick could get it.  The price on the Daisy (used) is well worth keeping in mind! 😎👍

[KuruPrionz]

11 minutes ago, Larryz said:

Kuru, I'll keep the Daisy in mind too...thanks for the review!  I like the octave strings on the bottom too and the intonation saddles.  I would have to try both necks as I've never played either the Rick or the Daisy.  I really like the sound and until now I thought only the Rick could get it.  The price on the Daisy (used) is well worth keeping in mind! 😎👍

I was selling guitars for an estate for a while there. Craigslist, all local since I didn't want to pack and ship. 15% commission. 

I had the Daisy Rock listed for $400 for over a month and go zero contacts from it. I thought about taking it down to $300 to see if anybody would buy it then. 

Then I thought about buying it for $300 minus my 15% commission and I went ahead and did it. 

 

They usually sell for a bit more on eBay, if you can find one. I don't think they sold many. 

I just checked the Rick 12 strings in Sold on eBay and the least expensive complete guitar went for $1500. There was a body and neck solidbody model that went for $750 but it had no hardware or electronics - a project. 

And a natural finish vintage like Craig's went for over $5k.

 

So the Daisy Rock is a bit of a bargain in comparison. 

[surfergirl]

Very nice guitar. I'm sure will enjoy it.  

[KuruPrionz]

22 hours ago, surfergirl said:

Very nice guitar. I'm sure will enjoy it.  

Thanks surfergirl, I already do enjoy it!!!!

 

Right now I've got parts for 2 songs figured out using the Daisy Rock capoed at the 3rd fret and the Rainsong tuned down to D.

On one of the songs I play the DR using a G shape so it's Bb and the RS I play a C shape, also Bb. On the other song, the DR is an E shape (G) and the RS is an A shape (also G). It just sounds huge and chimey, love it!

 

Edited cuz boo-boos... 😁

[Winston Psmith]

There's a Dano 12-string at my FLUMS . . . You may have inspired me to go take a closer look at it.

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

There's a Dano 12-string at my FLUMS . . . You may have inspired me to go take a closer look at it.

The Dano is a nice 12 string, the ones I've seen had a Gotoh bridge will full intonation for all strings. 

A bit more work to set up properly but once it's done you can play anywhere on the neck. 

It's worth having the frets leveled, crowned and polished, I do that myself and plan on doing the Daisy Rock when the strings get tired. It plays fine as is already. 

The reissue lipstick pickups are nice and chimey too. 

 

It's a great choice for an affordable 12 string guitar. I just fixed my post above too, apparently edit time has been extended a bit. Nice.

[Anderton]

It's too bad the Daisy Rock 12-string doesn't seem to be made anymore.

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, Anderton said:

It's too bad the Daisy Rock 12-string doesn't seem to be made anymore.

It is too bad and I had a hard time finding a "sold" listing on eBay, I don't think they sold very many of them.

It isn't the sort of thing I expected from Daisy Rock, after the "flower" guitars and the smaller guitars in pink. They carved out a niche for themselves providing decent instruments for the feminine side of humanity but this is a fairly normal looking full sized guitar with a bit of heft to it so their niche market may have found it unsuitable while someone like me would never have thought to look for one in the first place if it hadn't landed in my lap. Goodie!!!! 😁

[KuruPrionz]

Here you go, Larryz, a Rickenbacker 12 string on craigslist in Everett Wa.

Looks like a nice one too... 😁

 

https://bellingham.craigslist.org/msg/d/everett-1991-rickenbacker-jetglo/7433856413.html

[Larryz]

Thanks Kuru, That's a nice looking Ricky...I'm just not serious about adding any guitars to my harem at this time.  Probably won't want to add any more guitars for quite some time.  I keep saying that and somehow wind up with another one!!! $2 grand is probably a decent price for a collector's item...😎

[KuruPrionz]

9 minutes ago, Larryz said:

Thanks Kuru, That's a nice looking Ricky...I'm just not serious about adding any guitars to my harem at this time.  Probably won't want to add any more guitars for quite some time.  I keep saying that and somehow wind up with another one!!! $2 grand is probably a decent price for a collector's item...😎

Just mess'n wit ya! 🙂 I wouldn't buy it either, at that price you have to worry about it. My other post is about a guitar that I don't have to care about, it will probably get played all the time which is what matters to me. Cheers, Kuru 

[Larryz]

+1 and Glad you found a new toy Kuru!  👍

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 1/27/2022 at 8:00 AM, Winston Psmith said:

There's a Dano 12-string at my FLUMS . . . You may have inspired me to go take a closer look at it.

 

On 1/27/2022 at 11:26 AM, KuruPrionz said:

The Dano is a nice 12 string, the ones I've seen had a Gotoh bridge will full intonation for all strings. 

A bit more work to set up properly but once it's done you can play anywhere on the neck. 

It's worth having the frets leveled, crowned and polished, I do that myself and plan on doing the Daisy Rock when the strings get tired. It plays fine as is already. 

The reissue lipstick pickups are nice and chimey too. 

 

It's a great choice for an affordable 12 string guitar.

Now, the Dano 12-String guitars that I tried back in the '90s (or was it the early 2000's?) were pretty cool. I really, really wish that I had bought one then!

The most recent iterations? I tried one in a store a couple of years ago, and then a second one, and... I decided to pass. They were both rattle-y, cheap feeling, noisy (string/fret/hardware buzz AND electronic hum and noise, even with clean tone at low volume), lousy intonation, lame tone unplugged or amplified, terrible set-ups... Everything about them made me NOT want to play them, let alone buy them and/or try to fix 'em up. A set-up, fret and nut work, that's one thing; but, to need to replace virtually everything... ?! They were both crap.

So, with that caveat, try one, Winston, and please report back! I hope you find a truly good one!

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, Caevan OShite said:

 

Now, the Dano 12-String guitars that I tried back in the '90s (or was it the early 2000's?) were pretty cool. I really, really wish that I had bought one then!

The most recent iterations? I tried one in a store a couple of years ago, and then a second one, and... I decided to pass. They were both rattle-y, cheap feeling, noisy (string/fret/hardware buzz AND electronic hum and noise, even with clean tone at low volume), lousy intonation, lame tone unplugged or amplified, terrible set-ups... Everything about them made me NOT want to play them, let alone buy them and/or try to fix 'em up. A set-up, fret and nut work, that's one thing; but, to need to replace virtually everything... ?! They were both crap.

So, with that caveat, try one, Winston, and please report back! I hope you find a truly good one!

I will happily admit that I haven't played pretty much anything new for a long time - except for one tenor 8 string ukulele that was $600 new. I loved it, so I ran away!

That said, there are probably older Korean made Dano 12 strings out there, waiting for a happy new home. 

Maybe you could even find a Daisy Rock! 

Hard to find and I don't like the midrange tones but the soldibody Ovations that were made in the USA long ago have the best necks I've ever played on a 12 string. 

I've got the parts to build one with my own choice of pickups, one of these days. 

If you could find a boogered one that you can do up how you like it, that would be a 12 string of a lifetime. 

[Mark Schmieder]

It looks a bit like my Danelectro 12-string, except for the pickups.

[Shamanzarek]

I'm a 12-string fan. I was in a band with two Rickenbacker employees in the early 80s. One day the guitar player brought in this Fire-Glo 1966 360-12 that had the fingerboard splitting off. As his Christmas bonus Rickenbacker repaired and refinished the guitar. He had a fairly big guitar collection and never used the 12-string much having strung it as a 6-string. So I bought it from him and still have it. Our guitar player went on to be Neil Diamond's guitar tech for many years until Neil's retirement.

 

[Jon Levy]

On 1/25/2022 at 8:31 AM, Anderton said:

I LOVE electric 12-strings. I have a blond Ric 360 that's over half a century old, and a pretty rare Les Paul 12-string. The Gibson Repair and Restoration people did  a fantastic job on the Ric, they made it like new. 

 

Wow, that is a gorgeous guitar!