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New 12-string Guitar Day!

Well, I've been dreaming/searching for the last 5 years- watching eBay, CL and so on, and through a post at CharvelSurfcaster.com I finally found someone who had a sunburst (or 'StarGlo' in the catalog) Surfcaster 12. I had never seen one in this finish, so needless to say I was excited when he agreed to send me some photos of this rare find. One look (and about a thousand more afterwards) and I was in love, just as I knew I would be. The owner had picked it up from Guitar Center's used section for a great price, though some of the tuners needed some work. He got the tuners fixed, and a couple months later offered it to me at a very reasonable price- so of course I scrambled everything I had to take him up on it.

She arrived late last week, but it took me a while to get around to taking some photos. Initial play through shows everything to be in great working order, although the SLinky .09s will have to go soon- even though they were just put on. Definitely a bit on the fragile side for my playing. Straight neck, nearly flawless frets, perfectly functioning electronics, nicely yellowed binding & guard, and near-flawless finish! (just one small ding on the top- just north of the sound hole, about 2mm in diameter) The burst finish looks amazing- definitely brings out the Ric side of the heritage, and the flame maple top has just the right amount of depth without getting gaudy.

Serial number puts this one in the earlier days of the surfcaster- approximate date between '92 and '94.

Pics!












Glad the case was included- It's pretty tough (and pricy) to find one that will fit these well.

She will now join her sister-wives in my harem of Surfcaster12 insanity! One more to go until I've got all the colors this was issued in.



(dang- now I've got to get a new family portrait!)

That is one sexy guitar. And the Seafoam Green one is just gorgeous, I'm very jealous

Those are so cool!
let me know if you ever need to thin the herd.

Lucky you! That's one nice looking 12-string Surfcaster! I had a 6-string, orange Surfcaster, for a while in 1992. It just didn't cut it sound-wise, in the heavy rock band I was in. So I sold it, because IMO, it was too nice of a guitar to be modding/cutting up to put in a set of 'buckers. It had an absolutly killer neck. I wouldn't mind having another one.

Schwing!

Nice! So what's the colour that you still don't have?

soo many strings!!!

CONGRATS!!! I know from that "other board" you've been looking for a sunburst 12 string surfcaster for a while. Simply gorgeous - nice even flame on the top and there's just something special about the burst top with the natural back and sides... Its ike a Les Paul. How's she compare to the rest of the herd? Are the necks any different? I've got 2 (both 6-ers) and they feel a little different from one another, but I think that's more from one being a trem version and one being a hard tail. Again, congrats! Now what? Think they made a 12 string version in that midnight purple color?

gorgeous!

i played one of those in a shop in malmö a few years ago. it was beautiful and reasonably priced (after scandinavian standards), but, unfortunately, i had zero cash. but then again, if i had bought it i might not have ended up with my shergold modulator 12...

Thanks all! I'm still giddy about finally tracking one down, and actually swinging the deal to get it into my posession in these lean times.

antisymmetric wrote:Nice! So what's the colour that you still don't have?

The final piece is a trans-top red one. I had one for maybe a month, but sold it before ever rotating it into my stage rig because the surf green one came up on eBay, and I wanted that one more. Actually I don't think I ever had a chance to plug it in at all. It's shown here at the bottom of this pic:



Full disclosure: I actually sold the black one in my family shot at about the same time, but have a close friend who owns another black one that we've been discussing a deal on. Either way it's close at hand enough to include in new family shots, etc.

dilver wrote:How's she compare to the rest of the herd? Are the necks any different? I've got 2 (both 6-ers) and they feel a little different from one another, but I think that's more from one being a trem version and one being a hard tail.

There are a few subtle differences between each one- the orange one has the most substantial neck of the group, and also the lowest serial number of any surfcaster I've seen recorded. The maple & mahogany ones seem to use the slightly heavier weight to great advantage with a slightly more cutting/chiming tone than the basswood ones. As far as an A/B comparison, I'll have to wait a while to get the burst one set up and restrung to my liking (probably with .010s or .011s, and with the G-course doubled rather than octaved) before I can really tell. So far it is a really fast and versatile player- just a little too weedy and wheedle-y with the .009 slinkys that are on there.

dilver wrote:Think they made a 12 string version in that midnight purple color?

Dark Metallic Violet was never offered as a finish option on the 12-strings in the catalogs, but there are some oddball things out there- for instance, the greenburst finish found on a very few hardtail models was NEVER offered as a catalog finish, even for the six-strings. I can hope that they are out there somewhere waiting to join the harem- a beautiful purple metallic or greenburst 12 would be something I'd likely KILL for!

I love those so much. My one real gear regret is not buying one way way back in the day, ended up getting some lame guitar that I would later trade instead.

Sooo hot. These things really are just a mashup of pure cool. I want to track one down now

Now you just need to string it up Rick-style and it will be officially on!

jazzercountry wrote:Now you just need to string it up Rick-style and it will be officially on!

I'm seriously considering it for this one- seems like it would be the most appropriate one to Rickify, and it needs a setup and re-string anyway.

(Unless Jingle_Jangle wants to send me his vintage-burst refin 12caster... It's strung Ric-style already)

Just got her back from the tech after a setup/intonate/restring/reorder ordeal.

D'addario XL .11s, strung ric-style with the big'uns on top. It'll take some getting used to, but hopefully I'll break strings less with it set up this way. (I always seem to bust the octave E string during a particularly rowdy song of ours)

Initial play-through feels just right- nice action (perhaps a bit high for what I'm used to) and very speedy on the shredder neck. It might be a couple months until our next show, so I might actually get some time to rotate it into the stage setup.

I'll try to do an A/B comparison to decide which way I like it strung better after I get used to the feel a bit more.

We've just moved our rehearsal space- into the same building where I work my day job, so I've got all my guitars gathered. A new family portrait is in the works! (I just have to un-stack them from the rest of the gear)