An octave twelve is a type of 12-string guitar fitted with a short-scale neck and a small solid body. It is tuned one octave higher than a standard guitar, giving it the tonal range of a mandolin, and enabling a guitarist to achieve a mandolin sound without learning mandolin fingering. The effect is similar to that of capoing a standard 12-string guitar at its twelfth fret. However, unlike a standard 12-string guitar, the courses of strings tuned in unison, rather than in octaves.
The octave twelve was invented by engineers at Vox, which sold the octave twelve as the "Mando-guitar" from 1964 to 1968. Notable users of the Mando-guitar include Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. Most modern octave twelves are modeled after the distinctive body shape of the Vox Mando-guitar. (Some believe that George Harrison of The Beatles used it on the song "Words of Love" in 1964, but the Mando-Guitar was not introduced until the following year.)
Famous quotes containing the word twelve:
“Cassoulet, that best of bean feasts, is everyday fare for a peasant but ambrosia for a gastronome, though its ideal consumer is a 300-pound blocking back who has been splitting firewood nonstop for the last twelve hours on a subzero day in Manitoba.”
—Julia Child (b. 1912)