…with a clipon pickup, to make it more accurate. Korg brand, FYI. I had a real nice Boss tuner that was going ‘off’ gradually. A 12-string shares some characteristics with a sitar—the harmonics of some guitars can get real tricksy: not all 12s, but some, have a secondary resonance on some pitches that just drives you nuts trying to tune them. My old birdseye maple Martin had a raft of hidden resonances. This far more modest Ibanez’s B and E are particularly a pita.

For those of you who haven’t seen a 12 string close up, every note has 2 strings, a high and a low, except the highest, which has 2 of the same.

The Ibanez is a ‘knockoff’ guitar, ie, patterned on a more expensive one, is far quieter than the maple one; and I rejoice to say this plugin sensor that clips to the headpiece is a joy and will tune it perfectly in less than five minutes. Do me credit, after the last time Mike Briggs worked it over, I was able to keep it *almost* in tune for months of not playing it. But—almost in tune is the most painful of all.

So I’ve resolved I want to play again. It’s been 10 years. My eyesight is such I have to memorize the lyrics—because I can’t read them at the range your music sits at most filks. But—I want to try. So I clipped the nails on the left hand and plan to spend a bit each day, getting my calluses back—they return fast, if you’ve ever had a really good set of them. Nothing like the pain of the first time. The first time—you just plan to bleed and play on… Now—my fingers will get a little zingy for a few hours, but that will go by the next day; etc. And after a couple of weeks they’ll have a nice callus.

Why a 12? Dunno. I decided I wanted to learn guitar back in the 80’s, so I went down to the store and tried some. I tried the 6 and it hurt like hell. The 12 double strings spread out the contact so to me it doesn’t go straight to the bone the way the 6 string does. And I like the sound.

I’m not much for listening to music of any kind unless I’m equally armed. I can’t sing worth a damn unless I have a guitar in hand. Then I can stay on pitch, mostly. 😉 Be warned, world.