Seagull 12 string?

[Producer/Engineer]

Sweet!
Glad you digging the Seagull 12!
You really owe it to yourself to try these strings on that guitar. Fantastic!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CEQQ8wIwAg

Happy for you, Kenny!

[Freakmagnet451]

Been playing for 43 years and repairing guitars for 40. The Seagulls offer great value for the money beyond any doubt and it sounds like you have done well.

I have had a personal quest for a 12 string acoustic that meets my needs for over 30 years. I built one from scratch that was destroyed in a basement flood and have been looking ever since.

I had an Espana built in Finland by Landola that was a great guitar after i worked it over. That was one of my favorites because the neck was not too slender. I like some space on the fingerboard on a 12 string so it's easy to play cleanly.

I also loved my Guild F312NC, that one needed a neck reset but I shaved the bridge down instead because Guilds are a bear to work on the neck joint.

In the end, I now have a somewhat modified Rainsong WS-3000 and that is the best 12 string acoustic I have ever played. Great action, stays in tune for weeks, easy access to higher frets and a tone that is so clear and even it is amazing. It records really well but I had to put a small piece of foam under the strings at the headstock because all sorts of stray harmonics were flying around the room.

Have fun!!!

[KennyLusk]

P/E, thanks for the string recommendation. Looks like I can pick those up in a few places. I'm always interested to try new strings.

MF451, it always amazes me how much of a difference a simple bridge mod can enhance (or change) the functionality of a guitar. I have a '62 Harmony Meteor that has a floating adjustable wood bridge (original) that comes in super handy when using funky alt tunings. Also a cheap Dean nylon C1 that came to life when I modified the bridge a bit.

I'm curious how you first noticed the stray harmonics issue with your Rainsong; ie., was it listening to your tracks? or was it something you were just hearing when you sat in the sweet spot?

Foam under the strings is a cool idea. Never would have thought of something like that myself if it hadn't been for a cool interview I read with Carol Kaye. She talks about using foam under a bass bridge to automatically mute the sustain. Brilliant.

[Sean Sullivan]

Muted string are great, perfect for a percussive, rhythmic sound.

[Freakmagnet451]

Kenny, I was cutting a track with the Rainsong. The engineers had it mic'ed up with SDC mics and we were getting a hot signal but the mic on the neck was picking up all sorts of stray chimey dissonance. So one engineer came in and started touching the guitar in various places while I played. When he touched the strings behind the nut the noise stopped. So we foamed it.

I sort of miss it, it was ruining our recording but playing solo it has a certain charming ambiance, almost like reverb. It really sounds much cleaner with the foam though.

[KennyLusk]

Did you guys try an xy config about 12 inches away and capture each mic to its own separate track in the DAW/tape? Sounds like something I'd try to take advantage of rather than mute. But then again, I wasn't there, so my guessing isn't nearly as qualified as your actual experience. IMHO it might help to use an omni pattern to capture those harmonics. I can understand how a cardioid pattern might make for an EQ nightmare. What kind of mic's and pre's were you guys using?

A wild signal loaded with harmonics like that can be very difficult to track properly. Kinda like tracking an instrument like the Tamboura. Whew man, those things are crazy, but when tracked right they have such a stunning effect. But when you look at the printed wave signal it's really freaky. Looks kinda like a sonic train wreck.

added later: BTW tracking the s12 wasn't going very well for me until I swapped in an omni cap on my 012 and paired it with an 4033 in xy config.

[Freakmagnet451]

I was tracking, did not pay attention to the equipment beyond the guitars and amps I brought to get the job done. It was a decent studio, I know they had some nice mics but not sure which ones. Yes, we mic'ed the body of the guitar and also around the 10th fret.

The stray notes were REALLY loud and distracting, not what we were looking for in this mix: http://www.skitosea.com/content/about/song.asp

The strumming is all the Rainsong until the chorus when the wall of guitars rears it's ugly head.