TWELVE-STRING GUITARS
78-7187 C F Martin (new) J12-16GT jumbo body 12-string, all solid wood, gloss finish top, 1250631, with hard shell case.
The Martin List is $1699 and the Martin MAP is $1249.
78-7188 C F Martin (new) D12-28 twelve string, dreadnought, all gloss finish, East Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce, #1265463, with hard shell case.
The Martin List is $3049 and the Martin MAP is $2299.
15-6942 Taylor (new) T5C-12, twelve-string, #20070216503, in Black finish, with hard shell case.
The Taylor List is $4058. The Taylor MAP is $2399.
15-6541 Martin (used, 2007) Richie Sambora MC12-41 twelve-string, in light golden brown sunburst, Individual No. 26, Serial number 1136637, near mint plus condition
with a newer Martin Geib style deep reddish brown -lined hard shell case. The following description is quoted or paraphrased from the C F Martin “Sounding Board” magazine: As lead guitarist and principal songwriter for Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora has reached the pinnacle of rock and roll success. But beyond the stage lights, Richie Sambora has shown a more eclectic musical persona. His two solo albums are rich with emotion and introspection and range beyond rock to include blues and acoustic. Acoustic guitars are essential tools in his songwriting, and he usually reaches for one of the numerous Martins he owns. He also has a fondness for 12-string acoustics and often plays one in duet appearances with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi. While the Martin OMC-41 Richie Sambora (which we also have in stock) and MC12-41 Richie Sambora Signature Editions draw their inspiration from his vintage OM-45, these spectacular, stage-worthy guitars have a style all their own. The body size he selected -- M (0000) for the 12-string, with its rounded cutaway, offers balanced tone and outstanding access to the upper frets. The top is of Italian Alpine spruce (talk about pinnacle) for brilliance and richness, and back and sides are of Madagascar rosewood, the tone-wood considered by many to be closest in appearance, projection and clarity to now-rare Brazilian rosewood. Appointments include the Style -41 top inlay and Style -45 rosette whose select abalone stands out against the top’s unique vintage tobacco (yellow to brown) “Sambora” sunburst. The top, back, headplate and fingerboard are bound in grained ivoroid, and the last three sections mentioned feature inset black/white fine line inlays; he grained ivoroid end piece and heelcap have black/white fine line accents; the 1800s style distinctive pyramid belly bridge with Stauffer point is carved from black African ebony; a black polished and beveled pickguard protects the top. Unique outlined inlays highlight the black African ebony fingerboard and headplate. Beginning at the 1st fret and continuing to the 17th, small abalone hexagon position markers on the fingerboard are bordered with mother of pearl, which are in turn accented on both sides by delicate black line inlays. Richie Sambora’s inlaid signature appears between the 19th and 20th frets. The headplate showcases an exclusive “heart and cross” Martin torch inlay in abalone and mother of pearl inspired by a bracelet designed by Richie Sambora’s wife, actress Heather Locklear.A low profile neck – 1-11/16" for the 6-string and 1-13/16" for the 12-string – with diamond volutes at the base of the headstock and the Martin stamp on the back combines a modern feel with classic appearance. Gotoh gold tuning machines with small knobs, and a bone nut and compensated TUSQ saddle provide smooth tuning and precise intonation. The bridge pins and endpin are fashioned from fossilized ivory and topped by colorful pearl dots. The Richie Sambora Signature Editions are beautifully finished in polished gloss lacquer. Stage-ready, both the 6-string (which model we have in stock brand new) and the 12-string come factory-equipped with Martin Gold Plus Natural 1 electronics and a gold strap button. Each Martin OMC-41 and MC12-41 Richie Sambora Signature Edition guitar comes with an interior label personally signed by Richie Sambora and C. F. Martin IV. In addition, each guitar is individually numbered in sequence with the edition total. The edition size of either model will not exceed two hundred instruments. This virtually never played, but previously owned example, is $4119 or at our cash discount price, $3995.
15-6434 C F Martin 1969 D12-35 Brazilian rosewood and Sitka spruce, #249299 in excellent minus condition with newer 640 molded hard shell case.
The Model D12-35 debuted in 1965. This was the first time Martin made a 12-string since the prototype they had made before WW2. We refer, of course, to the one Model C-2 twelve string that they made in 1932 (and would the owner of that guitar please stand up? Thank you!). The new version in a 12-string was made with Brazilian rosewood sides, back and headplate, a three-piece back, white bound ebony fingerboard and carved ebony bridge, three concentric rings around the soundhole that are made up, respectively, of 5-ply, 9-ply and 5-ply, six-ply top binding while the back only has 2 and the the twin diagonal lines have crème-black-crème. The sides are bordered in 4-ply. The headstock slots are rounded, the tuners are etched-filigree plate with 12 crème celluloid buttons, the heel cap is bordered in four-ply. That's a lot of plies. A guitar like this produces exquisitely clear clean sound with a density of tone that is virtually incomparable. This is because you have here a slope-shouldered body in which the body joins the neck up two frets from the point where it joins a 14-fret guitar, adding approximately 61 square inches of internal space which produces a significantly stronger sound. The Brazilian varies greatly. The sides are light brown with a darker brown vertical lines running through, the two extremes on the back are swirly Brazilian of the type we call B-grade. The center section of the back is uniform brown with very light dark streaking. This guitar shows normal signs of wear and also some touch up in places. The headstock logo is faded out to dark. There's no much left of it. There are nicks on the front and back edges of the headstock, the finish is dulled in some areas, the pickguard is replaced with a black modern Martin teardrop with straight sides. There is a finish check (or an incipient crack) on the treble side of the back adjacent to the angled back stripe. Martin made 183 of this model in 1965, 250 in ’66, 625 in ’67, 802 in ’68 and 803 in ’69. This guitar sounds so amazing that people refer to it as "The Thunderer" and when they say those words they will lower their heads as if in pious supplication. It is presently in our workshop having its lovely little neck reset, and its bridge replaced, but when it emerges it will be available for $6701 or, at our cash discount price, $6500.
15-5150 Taylor (new) LKSM Leo Kottke 12-string, #20060621149, with hard shell case.
The famous jumbo body cutaway that is designed to be played with medium gauge strings and tuned down to C#. It somehow makes every piece you play on it sound just like Leo Kottke is playing it. How do they do this? The Taylor List is $3298, and the Taylor MAP is $2449.
15-6205 Breedlove (used, 2003) Classic XII twelve-string in ebony and Sitka spruce, #6223, near mint condition, with original black Breedlove hard shell case.
Positioned at or near the top of the line Breedlove twelve-string guitar in a non-custom but high-end level, this 17” benevolent behemoth has the long sloping cutaway on the upper treble bout, the cutaway that one can put to use when playing with all of one’s marbles or small toy cars with functional wheels. Other than that graceful amputation it is a 17” jumbo with a 4 5/8” depth at bottom. It has a medium-width grained Sitka top which, like some of us, has turned a lovely shade of burnished orange, and is offset by a four-part abalone soundhole rosette buttressed by twin rings of black-white-black with white celluloid soundhole. The top is bordered in 5 plies of white and black with ivoroid outermost, the fretboard, sides and back in two-ply. The pointy headstock is polished ebony and just above its center it has the “Flying Stylized B” that flies for Breedlove. This Breedlove 12-string, being of the ebony persuasion, is not only mind-fryingly gorgeous but it also performs at a level of sonic precision, density of tone and outspoken warmth that one simply cannot secure from any other 12-string. We have always considered Breedlove jumbo 12s to be one of the premiere brands and models on the market. This example is the Fearless Leader of jumbo cutaway 12-strings and an asset to the professional musician like you can’t imagine. $4,072 or, at our cash discount price, $3,950
15-6222 Paul Reed Smith (used, 2005) Custom 22/12 electric 12-string, #97325, in the Blue Mateo finish with original rectangular hard shell case.
This superb 12-string electric with a neck that’s easily playable, being just under 1 ¾” at the nut, features a hum-single-hum triple pickup configuration, a newly designed, fully intonatable bridge and special humbucking pickups specifically built for PRS 12-string guitars. It utilizes a carved quilted “10-top” high level maple top with mahogany back, a 25" scale length mahogany neck with a rich, dark rosewood fretboard and 9 multi-color abalone bird inlays. It has a special 12-string neck carve, PRS 12-string adjustable stoptail, PRS 14:1 “Phase II” low mass, locking tuners with mini pearloid buttons. Metal parts are gold-plated on this opulent version. The truss rod cover is black and embossed “20th” to celebrate PRS Guitars 20th Anniversary. The two humbucking 12 string pickups are assigned for treble and bass with gold-plated covers and the center pickup is a Lindy Fralin single-coil, The volume and push/pull tone control is coupled with a 3-way toggle pickup selector (push/pull translates to: in the up position it splits the treble pickup to single coil and activates the center pickup). This guitar is in “Virtually New” condition and has been set up by Gil Rosado of our repair shop. New, these things list for $5,040. Wow. Your cost on this used example that is stunningly pretty with that three-dimensional “I do believe I’m in the Islands, sunning myself under a palm tree with a Marguerita in hand” Blue Mateo finish, is only $2779 or, at our cash discount price, $2695.
15-5313 Breedlove (new) SJ25-12 cutaway 12-string guitar, #9263, made from Maccassar (Striped) Ebony on the sides and back and close-grained Sitka spruce top with considerable cross-grain, housed in a hard shell plush lined case.
When it comes to jumbo 12-strings Breedlove is the leader of the pack. Their big-bodied, 17" wide, 4 9/16th" deep, long scale (around 25.6") behemoths do, as the prophet foretold, shake your vittles and rattle your malls. No guitar wood has the clarity and precision, the brain-bisecting cutting power of ebony. There was a time when guitars could not be made of this stuff because ebony is brittle and when you tried to bend the sides it shattered like a dry unbroken spaghetti, but then they discovered Maccassar (or striped) ebony and believe it or not this wood has that crystalline brilliance of the other ebony but it will allow bending into guitar shaped bouts. The result is a 12-string guitar that finally provides its owner the tintinnabulation of the bells bells bells, the rhyming and the chiming of the bells about which Edgar, Al and Poe wrote, and Phil Ochs sang. Any time you feel like getting excited just call me up and I'll play this guitar for you over the phone (assuming it's still in stock). You've never heard anything like this and frankly neither have we. From the gleaming nickel-plated Grover Mini-Rotomatic tuners to the art deco small dot fingerboard inlay on the left and right edges of the board, and from the simple abalone soundhole and winged two-piece bridge to the solid yet useful ebony tailpin, this is a craftperson's chimera, a woodworkers wassail. $3628 or at our cash discount price, $3519
15-5515 Breedlove (new) Focus 12-string cutaway, #9228, sunburst top, back, sides & neck, with L. R. Baggs Dual Source pickup system and hard shell case.
Breedlove, one of our favorite 12-string guitar makers, has done it again – they’ve produced a smaller body, 15 5/16” wide, long scale, flame maple sides and back, Sitka spruce top, electric-acoustic 12-string at an elevated level of both timeless beauty and aural affluence. This tympanic timber will give any 12-string player the shivers. Breedlove is the company that builds most of their guitars with the patented JLS Bridge Truss System – called JLS because it makes other builders JeaLouS. In case you are not familiar with this system, which alleviates the tension on the top, here’s what Breedlove says about it: “Since 1990, Breedlove Guitar Co. has been using a unique device in our guitars that has allowed us to brace our tops in a very progressive way, concentrating primarily on the top’s acoustic properties. There is a synergy that results from a graduated top thickness, balanced scalloped bracing, a pinless bridge, and the JLD Bridge Truss System. This has given our guitars their own distinctive sound, one that is highly dynamic, bringing out a “piano like bass” that results in a remarkably well-balanced tone for application in a broad variety of musical styles.
This cantilevered truss counterbalances the string tension to create a relaxed top and guarantees structural integrity of our steel string guitars. A relaxed top maximizes wavelength response.” All of this sounds highly technical but the fact is that when you play a Breedlove 12-string it’s almost impossible to go back to that dowdy, aging-technology 12-string that you leave at home when you go out on those mysterious “business trips” or “hunting with your friends.” The Breedlove 12-string will do what Bob prophesied – it will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, but in order to have this happen you must pick up the phone and say those three little words for which every picking person yearns: “I want one.” From its glorious abalone rosette – set against a deep three-tone sunburst that provides the onlooker a small glimpse of eternity (no, really, don’t take my word for it) to the 7 “rising bat” abalone fretboard inlays, and from the white-black-white top purfling to that precipitous “watch what happens to my marble when I do this” cutaway and, oh yes, the wing-ed bridge, this is a flight of more than just fancy – it’s a veritable rocket ride to rejuvenation. $3769 or at our cash discount price, $3664.
BREEDLOVE JUMBO 12-STRINGS (HOLD ONTO YOUR CHAIR WHEN YOU PLAY 'EM). The model SJ-25 is the soft cutaway version; the model SJ-20 is a non-cutaway. All are natural Sitka top unless specified otherwise. All of them (every one) is, we assure you, the best sounding twelve-string you will ever have played (each one consistently wonderful). We have the largest selection of Breedlove Jumbo 12-strings in the Acoustic Universe (and for good reason).
88-2612 Breedlove (new) SJ20-12 Walnut sides and back/spruce top jumbo twelve string, #7304, with the dark chocolate three-tone sunburst finish face, and hard shell case.
We have just received something uncommon – a non-cutaway, walnut sides & back, spruce top, fourteen-fret, wood-based behemoth with the deco pattern of five dots inlaid in the ebony board on the bass side and then five dots on the treble with two twin dots only at the 12th. This guitar is bursting with the full palette of sonic seasoning, a molecular montage of myth and melody.” To the mighty meticulous makers of what is, by anyone’s standard, one of the finest 12-string guitars in existence, we say: “Thank you for making one of the best sounding, most beautiful 12-strings in all the land, and thanks, too, for allowing us to advertise your products in order to sell them.” (What a concept!)
83-3297 Breedlove (new) SJ-25 cutaway jumbo bodied 12-String guitar in walnut and Sitka spruce, #4585, with hard shell case.
One look and listen to this instrument and you too will know why the Material Girl ordered 8 or 9 custom made Breedlove guitars to take with her on her “Drowned World” Tour. Forget modern styling - Breedlove thinks “future,” far into the future, like Star Trek. The Sitka spruce top (which has a book-matched stripe across lower belly where the wood got scared or something of that nature that year) has no pickguard and features a single, elegant abalone ring around the soundhole. The top & back are bound in black as is the heel cap. The mahogany neck is matte-finished with interesting wood figure - typical mahogany stripes to headstock and base, then dotted like some undiscovered creature on the headstock back and the heel. The tuning heads are closed chrome Grovers. The walnut back and sides look like a slow running stream, with occasional eyes that look out at you (our streams have eyes). The fingerboard is ebony, with single pearloid dot fret markers that “align left” until the twelfth fret: there are two dots and from there on, they continue singly and “align right.” The pinless bridge, which has a recessed cubby where the string ends hide, has an angular appeal similar to a Klingon hand weapon, or a techno-bat. The truss rod cover and headstock have a similar future-primitive look and the end pin is black as is the bottom stripe. Here’s your “Prime Directive:” Get this Material in your hands for your next musical Enterprise and let it take you where no one has gone before, Email or call for price. (This guitar is sold but we have more Breedlove 12-strings in stock – call or email us for current inventory!)
83-8274 Breedlove SJ-25 cutaway 12-string in walnut back and sides, #3535, with hard shell case.
One of the finest 12-string guitars we have in our inventory (and we have nearly 25 high end 12-strings on hand), this is the cutaway version of the noncutaway walnut SJ-20 on which Daniel Master performed his winning entry “No Place for Children” on stage at the Woody Guthrie Songwriting Competition in Okema, Oklahoma. Simple of appointment this guitar features a single-ply black bordered top and back, a highly colored abalone rosette bordered in thin black lines, an unbound ebony fingerboard with 5 small pearl dotmarkers on the bass edge, to fret 12, and then 4 small pearl dotmarkers on the treble from 12 through 19 (with 20 frets total). On its unbound ebony headplate the “Flying B” defies gravity. This Maccaferrian cutaway, 17” wide, full jumbo guitar, with neither flash nor flatulence ,facilitates fanciful fingering. Email or call for price. (This guitar is sold but we have more Breedlove 12-strings in stock – call or email us for current inventory!)
If you would like more information on MANDOLIN BROTHERS' products and services, please write, phone, fax or email to mandolin@mandoweb.com.
