Donny already knows this, I've said it many times here and elsewhere. But it bears repeating. If you want *that sound* in a durable and easy to intonate and play electric 12-string, Fender is the one. Stairway To Heaven was a Fender 12-string, McGuinn used one in the studio besides his Rickenbacker...many famous classic electric 12 parts were recorded with a Fender 12. Like Pet Sounds. Other contenders were the Danelectro, of course the Rickenbacker, but the original models of those could be difficult to intonate and were more of a chore than the Fender, which was and is built to last and to play right out of the case. Like the Telecaster.
That's just my two cents as a fellow owner and player.
Now about the Epiphone or even the Gibson electric 12-string models...higher quality? I don't get that at all, unless it's about aesthetics and visual appeal. Carl Wilson said his own had the same issues as most of them did with the headstock cracking or even breaking off due to the flawed design that didn't account for the added tension. Imagine Gibson's "Les Paul Syndrome" with the headstock breakage applied to an even worse headstock and neck design with hundreds more pounds of string tension pulling on it. Carl's neck had to be replaced, if I'm remembering it correctly he had a "Frankenstein" Gibson/Epiphone electric 12 because of the breakage. Confirm, anyone?
Anyway, to each his own, it's like Chevy versus Ford, but still - I don't know where the high quality issue comes into play with electric 12 models from Gibson and/or Epiphone that have a decades-old rep for broken headstocks and neck flaws.
![]()
That's just my two cents as a fellow owner and player.
Now about the Epiphone or even the Gibson electric 12-string models...higher quality? I don't get that at all, unless it's about aesthetics and visual appeal. Carl Wilson said his own had the same issues as most of them did with the headstock cracking or even breaking off due to the flawed design that didn't account for the added tension. Imagine Gibson's "Les Paul Syndrome" with the headstock breakage applied to an even worse headstock and neck design with hundreds more pounds of string tension pulling on it. Carl's neck had to be replaced, if I'm remembering it correctly he had a "Frankenstein" Gibson/Epiphone electric 12 because of the breakage. Confirm, anyone?
Anyway, to each his own, it's like Chevy versus Ford, but still - I don't know where the high quality issue comes into play with electric 12 models from Gibson and/or Epiphone that have a decades-old rep for broken headstocks and neck flaws.