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Gordon Smith 12 String Electric

Article from Music UK, December 1983

12 Strings From Smith — an Electric Shock?



Despite the simulation of a 12 string guitar that you can get by using a chorus pedal, it remains true that the 'real McCoy' does have a unique sound — and one that has made a significant contribution to many successful records down the years. Unfortunately, 12 string electrics aren't all that easy to come by these days. Very few of the Japanese manufacturers build them and the Americans, like Fender, Gibson and others, tend to either have dropped their own contributions from their ranges (in the former case) or only offer them as custom-built models, as is the position with Gibson.

In fact, Rickenbacker are almost the only major guitar maker from the States offering them — and as they are currently undergoing severe problems with distribution in the U.K., they may not be as obtainable as they might have been once. Besides — a Rickenbacker 12 string has a peculiarly distinctive sound, and not every player would find them what he wanted. Fortunately, Gordon Smith Guitars (the small Manchester-based outfit, whose superb Gipsy model features in our competition this month) are one of the few makers today actually building a solid bodied 12 string electric, and listing it at a just about reachable price.

The Smith is very much — well, a Smith! It features the twin cutaway styling typical of the marque, a thick and relatively heavy body, finished, in the case of our sample, in a dense black with polyurethane varnish. This has advantages over polyester types, in that it can be repaired if it ever gets damaged, and doesn't crack as easily as traditional cellulose finishes. Like all polyurethane lacquers, however, it doesn't look quite as luxurious as cellulose types — but it's probably much more practical to have on a working guitar.

Gordon Smith guitars are, almost without exception, very traditional, Gibson-like, instruments. The neck on this model is glued on, as opposed to either bolt-on or straight-through. The body is of dense, thick, South American mahogany and the neck, too, is formed from this wood. The rather long headstock (it's got to carry twelve machines — Schallers, of course) bears the gold script of the makers' name and, as one would expect, those excellent quality machines are as good as ever — a factor of even more importance on a 12 string than on a six, of course.

The neck has a rosewood fingerboard, fretted in usual Gordon Smith style with good fat frets. The truss rod access, as on all Smiths, is down at the body end, the makers not liking to carve excessive amounts of wood away from the headstock, and the slot for inserting the Allen key is covered with a neat screw-on black plastic plate. As 12 string guitars are even more fragile (due to the extra tension at the neck/head end and the enlarged headstock) than six stringed types, this policy applies even more on this model than it does on six string guitars. On the hardware front (we've already mentioned the Schaller machine heads) the Smith features a Gibson-like stop tailpiece with adjustable saddles — again, more essential than ever with a 12 string guitar — they can be devils to both tune and then hold in tune if they're not properly made and provided with good bridges. A brass nut features well cut slots — again a help on accuracy of intonation.

Two versions of this Gordon Smith are available currently — one with a single Smith humbucker, one with a pair of them. Our sample had just the one, but it is such a versatile pickup that just the one would more than satisy our needs for tone. Smith's pickups are fully encapsulated in epoxy resin, for extra reliability, and have a good, high output with a fat sound — this one was no exception. The pickup endows the Smith with a rather Gibson-like tone; meaty, rich, warm — an ideal pickup for a 12 string where you're likely to be using it to provide an especially full sounding chordal backup. On the other hand, if you want more of a jangle — more like the old Byrd's sound — then the volume pot features a 'pull for single coil' setting which whips the Smith into a toppier tone, bringing out all the superlative harmonics you get with 12 string chords, really superbly well. The neck on this guitar has to count as one of the most comfortable we've ever encountered on a 12 string. Sometimes the attempts of guitar makers to accomodate 12 strings results in a width which makes playing really uncomfortable — not this one, which is very well proportioned — again, rather Gibson-like with a comfortable low action with tremendously accommodating fretting and easy to handle string spacing between the pairs. Furthermore, the Smith even allows you to handle barred chords fairly high up the neck, something which is very often not the case with this configuration of guitar.

Overall our sample Smith was a faultless instrument in every respect. Intonation, often a troublesome point on twelve string guitars, was spot on and the Smith's tone was really excellent — in fact, on a value for money basis (given that these are more expensive guitars to build) it's rewarding to see that the makers haven't taken advantage of the scarcity value of this type of guitar. The price (for what is a 100% handmade instrument — don't forget) seems very fair indeed — and any player who fancies giving the tremendous potential of a twelve string a go almost certainly couldn't find better value today.

The ideal role for a guitar of this type is undoubtedly on backing chords. It isn't really a lead soloist's instrument — unless you've a fantastic technique, that is! — but for Folk and Folk/Rock or a backing instrument on heavy Rock (listen to Jimmy Page as an example of probably the best electric twelve string player around) the Gordon Smith is a fascinating buy. As with all this maker's guitars that we've tried, we were unable to find any faults with it at all — it's a great guitar at a very fair price — even if it is only really suited to very specialised roles.

GORDON SMITH 12 String Electric R.R.P. £450.00 inc. VAT.



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Total Toto

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Arlen Roth


Publisher: Music UK - Folly Publications

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Music UK - Dec 1983

Gear in this article:

Guitar > Gordon Smith > 12 String Electric


Gear Tags:

Electric Guitar
12-String

Review

Previous article in this issue:

> Total Toto

Next article in this issue:

> Arlen Roth


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