Fender Bass Guitars - The Unusual Suspects

Through the years, the Fender Musical Instrument Company has made some very fine instruments. Leo Fender came up with the original electric bass guitar.

However Fender has offered quite a few unique and somewhat unknown instruments. Here are a few of Fender's bass guitars for all you bass players and those interested in guitar history.

It was around 1965 that Fender came up with a concept of shrinking the bass guitar. Fender came up with the concept of a bass neck with fewer frets, that allowed the player to have access to all the notes on the traditional electric bass guitar without having to play on the top end of the fret board.

Theoretically this would eliminate the ‘woofy’ sounds one gets when the string is shortened at the top of the fretboard. Fender did this by adding another high string which was tuned to C.


The neck had only 15 frets but had the same tonal range as a 20 fret bass. It was hoped that bass players who actually read music would adapt to this bass. Unfortunately, this concept failed to produce results. Bass players were happy with their Precision Basses and Jazz Basses.

The smaller size of the Fender V did not win favor with the bass crowd nor did the condensed spacing between the strings. Fender made around 1000 of these instruments between 1965 and 1970. Ironically Fender was headed on the right track, but should have made the instrument with a low B, instead of the high string.

It was in the 1950’s when Nathan Daniels of Danelectro was building his unique electric guitars and 4 string electric basses, most of which he sold under different labels through businesses such as Sears and Montgomery Wards.

In 1956 he had he came up with the concept of adding two additional strings and tuning the instrument an octave down from a regular guitar. This became an instant success for Daniels.

 Many major pop and rock recordings through the mid 1950’s to the mid 1970’s featured a bass player and a six string bass player.

Sometimes the six string part was called ‘tic tac’ bass. The sound was lower than a guitar and brighter than the bass line.

3 Switches

But it wasn’t until 1961 that Fender took note of this and created their own version of the six string bass.


The body was similar to the Fender Jazzmaster, which was already in production, but the top horn was shaped more like a Stratocaster.

The control layout was very similar to the Fender Jaguar, which was introduced the following year. Fender named this the Fender VI. The scale was 30” and shorter than the 34” scale of Precision and Jazz basses. The strings were much thinner than those on standard Fender basses. The instrument came with 3 single coil Fender pickups and a vibrato unit similar to the one on the Jazzmaster.

4 switches

Originally the controls included a single volume and tone potentiometer and three slider on-off switches on the upper bout that controlled which pickup was working.

 Later models added a fourth slider which was a bass cut switch. This added a brighter treble sound to achieve the tic-tac effect.

Due to the shortened neck and the 7.25” neck radius, which was standard on Fender guitars of the day, setting the guitar up and achieving tonality was difficult. Besides bass players are used to fairly wide necks with space between the strings. The standard string guage that Fender suggested was .025 to .095.

Some guitarists compensated by making this a “baritone guitar” by using heavy guitar strings and tuning from low B to high B.

Squier VI

In 2013 Fender put the Bass VI back into production under the Squier brand. The Squier version of the six string bass has a 28” scale and a humbucker bridge pickup along with two single coil pickups.

World War II put Britain in a lot of debt to the United States. To offset this war debt, the UK levied high tariffs on items imported from the United States.

This put a big damper on the guitar market, which is why many ‘60’s British bands played a lot of guitars that were built in Europe. For instance Paul McCartney played a German Hofner bass and Bill Wyman played a Framus bass that was also made in Germany.

Sometime around the early 1960’s a music store in London, Drum City aka Dallas-Arbiter, ordered some specially made Fender Precision bass guitars. These instruments had the same body shape we are all familiar with, but had one difference; there was no body contour. These became known as Slab Precision basses.

Fender slab Precision Bass

The most widely known user of this extremely rare and seldom seen instrument was John Entwhistle of The Who. Around 1966 acquired about 20 of these bass guitars and smashed 3 of them to bits.

Entwhistle swore these slab p-basses had a much better tone than the contoured ones and believed the electronic circuitry was different.

In 1982, under the direction of John Page, Fender put together a line of budget priced guitars and basses under the Bullet label. The Fender Bullet Bass was produced from 1982 to 1986. It was a replacement instrument for the Fender Mustang Bass and the Music Master Bass, both of which were discontinued in 1981.

The Bullet Bass came in two versions. One was a short scaled model, called the B-30 (30” scale) and the long scaled B-34 (34” scale).

Both had a body shape much like the Precision bass, however the headstock had a Telecaster shape. They both came with one single coil pickup that was not split.

The original ones had the Fender logo with a star graphic that stated Bullet Bass Deluxe. These basses were made in the USA from 1982 to 1984.

Fender moved production to Japan and produced both basses there until 1986 when production stopped. Production started up again in 1987 when the B-34 was rebranded the Squier Bullet Bass. It discontinued in 1988.

In 1985 Fender took note of the pointy guitar craze and came up with the Katana Guitar and Katana Bass, both made in Japan. These were perhaps Fender’s oddest instruments ever.


The body was sort of an asymmetrical triangle with a pointy headstock. The bass came with one pickup. This was Fender’s first bass guitar made with an unusual 32” scale. The bass and guitar lasted less than a year when Fender pulled the plug in 1986.

Fender seemed determined to enter the pointy guitar/bass market. The mid 1980’s were the years of Heavy Metal Hair bands and some lackluster years for Fender. In 1986 Fender struck out again with two versions of a model known as the Performer Bass.

Both models came with pointy headstocks and distinctive shaped bodies. What made the models most unique was the two octave neck range.

One model was made at the Fender Japan facility and known as the Standard Performer Bass. This guitar came with a white pickguard and twin pickups that had a most unique shape. The neck was rosewood and this bass sold for around $500 USD.

The Elite Performer Bass was an upgrade and subsequently more expensive; $950 USD. It was US made and came with three uniquely shaped pickups and no pickguard.

It is rumored a five string version was made as a prototype. Both of the Performance Basses as well as the Katana are very rare, and though under appreciated when created, now command high prices by collectors. 

Philip Kubicki was a luthier that became well known in the 1980’s for his Factor Bass. This was a bass that had locking tuners on the body much like the Steinberg bass. Kubicki worked for Fender from 1964 to 1973 as a student of Roger Rossmeisel.


He was the creator of George Harrisons well known Rosewood
Telecaster.

Kubicki could not keep up with orders for his Factor Bass, so he worked out a licensing agreement with Fender in 1990 to produce the Fender/Kubicki Factor 4 and Ex-Factor 4 Extended Bass.

Both came in fretted and fretless models. Unfortunately sales began to slack off and Fender quit offering the instruments by 1992.

Stu Hamm is a well known session bass player. In 1993 Fender was hoping that a very classy looking bass would peek the interest of professional bass players looking for a classic well made instrument. This was the era of natural wood basses. So Fender tapped Stu Hamm and made some very high end instruments and used his name. It is said that he was the first musician to receive a signature Fender bass model.

The original Stu Hamm Urge bass was first offered in 1993. It was made in the USA and built to Hamm’s specifications. The body had an original shape, the oval neck profile was custom designed and had a two octave range and a 32” scale.



It came with 3 pickups. Jazz bass pickups in the bridge and just above the center position and a Precision bass pickup in the center of the body. The electronics were both passive and active. There was a master volume/pan knob, a bass/treble know, a four position EQ knob and a three position pickup selector. The output jack was stereo.

The through the body bridge was gold plated as were the tuning keys and other hardware. It sold for around $1600 USD.

In 1994 Fender also offered a Mexico built version with a poplar body, rosewood fingerboard, twin Jazz bass pickups, a dual concentric knobs. One was for volume/pan and the other was a bass/treble boost/cut. The electronics were passive. This was outfitted with a black pickguard, vintage style Fender Bridge and tuners. All hardware was chrome. It sold for around $600 USD. Both instruments were produced between 1993 and 1999.

In 1999 Fender replaced the former bass guitars with the upscale Stu Hamm Urge II Bass. This beautiful instrument was made of selected alder. The neck was full scale; 34”.




Like the original Stu Hamm Bass, the pickup configuration was twin Jazz bass pickups on the bridge side, a Precision bass pickup in the center and another Jazz bass pickup above it. The bass featured four control knobs, including a master volume/pan control, a three-band active EQ knob with treble, bass and mid cut/boost. It also had a 3 position toggle pickup selector.

The neck on this guitar was had Posiflex graphite support rods. The tuners were Fender/Schaller deluxe models.

The bass was offered in a number of finishes. The colored bass guitars had matching head stocks while the sunburst model came with a natural finished headstock. This instrument sold for $2285 USD.

In 2007 this same model was upgraded to include a Hipshot drop-D tuner on the E string. New finish options were available. The price was now $2740 USD. It was dropped from the Fender line-up in 2010.

During the mid 1980’s Charvel, Jackson and Ibanez guitars reigned supreme with their Super Strat guitars.

Fender tried to enter the market with it’s Katana and Performer line but were unsuccessful.

By 1989 Fender came out with the Heartfield DR bass guitars. This lineup consisted of six different models. The first offered were the DR4 and DR5; four and five string basses.




The bodies were alder, the bolt on necks were tri-laminated for strength in an unusual manner. They were made up of maple/graphite/rosewood. The headstock featured tuners on both sides of the neck. The basses electronics were active. The pickups were low Z output and hum cancelling. These basses were made at the Fender Japan facility.

Later that year, Fender offered custom ordered neck-through versions with elaborate laminated tops and gold hardware. This was called the DR4C and the DR5C. These bass guitars had 22 fret necks with a 19.7” fingerboard radius. The DR4 had a 12” radius.

Fender also offered another custom ordered model called the DR6C which had six strings. By 1993 Fender discontinued the series. The Heartfield was expensive to produce especially with the diminishing value of the yen.

During the same time frame beginning in 1989 Fender offered a budget version of the Heartfield bass called the H.M bass.

These came in Fender and Squier versions and sold for approximately $300 USD. They were made for the heavy-metal pointy headstock crowd ala the “H.M.” logo.

The Fender version came with three Jazz bass pickups and a TBX (treble and bass cut), a 9.5” radius and multiple customer colors.

The Squier version included two pickups and no switching. The neck radius on the Squier was 12”.

Fender made a bold move in 1991 by offering the H.M. Bass Ultra. It had a figured maple top and back, a tri-laminated neck with maple/graphite/rosewood, three Fender Lace Sensor J-Bass pickups, five way switching and active electronics. The tuners were made by Gotoh. This beast came with a price of $1350 USD.

The entire H.M series was shut down in 1993 due to poor sales and manufacturing costs.

Up until 1966, Fender had only offered two different bass guitars; The Precision Bass and the Jazz Bass. In 1966 Fender offered a brand new guitar called the Mustang. It was an upscale version of the Musicmaster and Duosonic.

The Mustang Guitar was a short scale instrument with a 22” scale. As a companion Fender came up with the Mustang Bass. Interestingly, this was the final bass guitar Leo Fender designed for his company.

The Mustang Bass had a short scale; 30” and one split Precision style bass pickup. The guitar had a volume and tone control and a thumb rest. The headstock was, similar to other Fender basses.


The Mustang came with four standard bass tuners. The standard finish was red or white. The pickguards were generally tortoise shell style.

Three years later, in 1969, Fender introduced the Competition Mustang by adding a diagonal racing stripe on the instruments body along with some new finishes.

It continued in production through 1981. In 2002 production briefly resumed in Japan.

The Musicmaster Bass was a similar guitar and also issued in the mid 1960’s. This was aimed at the student model market. The body shape was similar to the Mustang, however the pickguard was white.


The Mustang had a chrome section for the controls, but the Musicmaster’s controls were housed on the plastic pickguard.

This bass had one Stratocaster pickup on the center of the body. The scale was 30”s. This guitar was pulled from the lineup around 1981.

The Squier Musicmaster bass resurfaced briefly in 1997 for one year and then was rechristened the Bronco Bass.

Squier began offering the Mustang bass in 2011 as a part of the companies Vintage Modified series. It is now the Modified Mustang bass.

This year, 2013, Fender introduced the Mustang bass as a part of its Pawn Shop Series. These guitars are made at the Fender factory in Mexico.



 

A very young James Burton.

12 String Guitars History and Some Unique Models

The 12 string guitar has become common place in music history. Though its use has waned lately, it is still a mainstay with guitarists and most prominent players include at least on in their collection.

For many years dating back to the 1600’s, guitars were double course instruments, generally with 10 strings made of dried animal gut. Double course means two strings are tuned to the same pitch, which meant these older versions had 5 courses (double strings) much like our modern 12 string guitar, which can be considered having 6 courses.

The 12 string guitar probably had its origins in Latin America. South American builders came up with a variety of guitar variants.

 These would include the tiple, the charango and the cuatro, though not all had 6 courses of string.

On the other side of the world 5 course citterns, bouzoukis and 11 string ouds were gaining favor. Possibly the first mention of a 12 string guitar was from the musical instrument company Lyon and Healy, which offered some “Mexican-style” instruments with 11 and 12 strings as early as 1905. These guitars were unique in that the had 3 courses of treble strings that were tuned identically and three (or four) lower strings that were tuned in octaves.

Another company of that same era called Grunewald introduced a 10 string guitar they called The Harp Guitar, advertising that it had twice the tone of any guitar.



It would not be until the Folk Era of the 1960’s would any of the well known guitar builders produce well made twelve string guitars.

The early Blues players were the ones that influenced the popularity of the 12 string guitar. Blind Willie McTell and Leadbelly both played inexpensive 12 string guitars made by Stella, which was a part of Lyon and Healy and later Chicago Musical Instruments.

A pretty young lady may have been the first to show interest in the 12 string guitar. In 1916 in Texas a young lady named Lydia Mendoza had settled with her family in the town of San Antonio.

The family had formed a band, but Lydia found she could make more money on her own singing solo. She had a very loud, but pretty voice and chose to play a 12 string guitar to complement her style.

After Leadbelly passed away in 1949, there was no longer a champion of the 12 string. That is until Pete Seeger came along. Though Pete is primarily known for playing his long necked Ode banjo, he also played the 12 string guitar. He figured this was his duty to carry on the tradition.

Pete played this unusual instrument throughout the 1950’s and into the 1960’s with his group, The Weavers.

The 1960’s brought on the Folk Revival and well established guitar builders began to take note. The Rooftop Singers had a hit recording called Walk Right In.


The two guitarists in the group, Eric Darling and Bill Svanoe both played the Gibson J-12-45’s that were featured on this song.

This song did a lot to promote the 12 string guitar and it’s big booming tone.

Reverend Gary Davis with his B-45 12 string guitar

Many of the folk singers of the 1960's were influenced by Reverend Gary Davis. In fact someeven took lessons from him. Reverend Davis preferred his Gibson B-45-12 string.

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds laid down some 12 string solos on his Rickenbacker model 360. George Harrison did the same on many Beatles songs. The one that comes to mind is A Hard Days Night.

New Christy Minstrels
Barry McGuire with the 12 string

I suppose the first time I saw a 12 string guitars was when The New Christie Minstrels were singing their hit Green Green. The hit song had a  brief 12 string run. I was hooked and I had to have one.

Such guitar greats as Glen Campbell, Roy Clarke and Leo Kottke began playing 12 strings.

Kottke was the newly crowned king of the 12 string. He took a cue from Leadbelly and tuned his guitar strings down to where the bottom string was C#. Those old Stella guitars that Leadbelly played couldn’t stand the strain on their necks of standard tuning.

Leo Kottke made his old Gibson B12-25 sound like an orchestra.

As I have stated, the 12 string guitar has waned in popularity recently. Kurt Cobain played one and Melissa Etheridge plays a 12 string. Perhaps the reason it has lost popularity is because guitar synthsizers are able to synthesize the 12 string sound, with only the effort of play six strings.

I believe it is a beautiful sounding instrument when played by the right person. Over the years I have come across some 12 string oddities. These were especially prominent in electric versions of the mid 1960’s. Here are but a few.

The Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitar, which includes the 330, 360,370, 420, 620 and 660 models were very eye-catching when the hit the scene back in the early 1960's, and have since become one of the most common 12 string electric guitars ever used by performing musicians. So what is so unique about this instrument? The clue lies in the design and ease of production.

All Rickenbacker guitar necks are the same size; 1.931".  It matters not if it is a six or twelve string neck. They are cut out of the same wood, laminated the same way, cut the same size and given the same style of head stock. The only complaint I have ever heard about a Rickenbacker 12 string guitar regards the narrow string spacing.  I've played my friends 360/12 and in my opinion it plays like a six string. You don't feel the pressure that comes with some twelve string guitars.

So Rickenbacker does not have to build differing sized or shaped necks. This is a plus for a manufacturer.

Rickenbacker 330 and 660 12 strings

It stands to reason if all Rickenbacker guitars with the 300 or 600 model designation have the same size necks they will fit in the same size case. This is another well designed win for Rickenbacker.

Most 12 string guitars begin with the .027 string on the 12 tuner, the the .047 on the 11th tuner.  Rickenbacker has reversed this so the thicker .047 string goes on 12th tuner and the .027 goes on next.  This too is functional, since it is easier to fit the smaller string into the routed area on the head stock.

It is too bad that Fender no longer builds the Fender XII. It was a great guitar. A lot of the session players preferred this guitar over a Rickenbacker, because of the easily adjustable bridge. This made tonality a breeze.

Nothing against Rickenbacker, but the bridge saddle design of a Fender XII seems to be superior over the Ricky's adjustable bridge saddles. Another plus for the Fender XII is re-stringing the guitar.

Those Rickenbacker 12 string owners soon learn that you remove only one pair of strings at a time. If you take all the strings off, it is very difficult to get the strings to hold on the "R" tailpiece. It can be a all day ordeal.  The Fender XII (for those that are not familiar with Roman Numerals that is X for 10 and II for 2), like most Fender guitars string from the back, through the body.

To name couple of songs that utilized a Fender XII on the recording would include Stairway to Heaven and the opening line of the Beach Boys Wouldn't It Be Nice. To top the Fender XII off is its so-called "hockey-sticky" head stock. Fender made these twelve string models from 1965 to 1969.

Perhaps the other unique feature on the Fender XII is the pickup arrangement. This guitar took a cue from the Fender Precision Bass with it's staggered pickups. So Fender's 12 string actually had four pickup bobbins, each was spit into 3 pole pieces and each wired in series.

This gives the impression of two for the bottom six strings and two for the top six. The four way selector switch provided the neck pickup, the bridge pickup, both together and something Fender called a deep sound which was neck and bridge together with a phase inverter.  Fender went on to design some other 12 string guitars, but none so unique as the Fender XII.

Back in November of 2009 I profiled the Giannini CraViola.

For those not familiar with the Giannini Guitar Company, it is the largest manufacturer of guitars and ethnic stringed musical instruments in Brazil and is located in São Paulo.

The CraViola was designed for Brazilian guitarist Paulinho Noquieria, who played and composed music with Tom Jobin and Vinicius de Moraes. The US and Europe became acquainted in the early 1960’s with Brazilian Music by interest in a dance called the Bossa Nova and the song that Jobin and de Moraes wrote called The Girl From Ipanema. Jump forward but a few years and the Beatles introduced the Harpsichord to modern music.

Noquiera was looking for a guitar that would combine the traits of the harpsichord with a Brazilian musical instrument called the Violacaipira. This is a small ten string instrument that has five courses of nylon strings that are tuned to A-E-F#-B-E.  Due to the instruments small size it has a very bright sound.

The Giannini Company came out with a 12 string assymetrical guitar that combined the qualities of both of these instruments.  The Portuguese word for harpsichord is Cravo. This is derived from the Italian word, clavaciembela which in English translates to clavichord which was a small version of a harpsichord. As previously mention the Viola Capira was shortend to Viola and you put them together to get CraViola.

The CraViola was first built in 1969 or 1970 as a 12 string instrument, but also was manufactured as a 6 string steel guitar and a 6 string classic guitar.  Because of it’s unique shaped the 12 string version has a very bright sound.

Giannini still makes these guitars and imports them. The originals were made with laminated spruce tops and laminated rosewood back and sides.  These days you can purchase models with a solid top and laminated sides or a high end model that is made totally of solid wood.

Years ago a local music store had a 1982 DY87 Yairi Alvarez Double Neck 12/6 guitar in the window.

I had to go in to play it. It was a thing of beauty. It looked great and most importantly it sounded great. As I recall the necks were well set up and the action was low.

The body was 17” wide, which is about the same size as a Gibson J-200 jumbo guitar. I am assuming the top was solid spruce. I am not certain about the back and sides. The neck appeared to be mahogany.

The upper neck was the 12 string and the lower neck was the six string neck. The strings shared a common very large sound hole. The guitar came with a specially made case.

Between 1979 and 1982 Yairi only made about 100 of these guitars.  So they are quite rare. I wished I could have bought it, but the dealer wanted $950. That was a considerable amount of money in 1982.

Can you imagine changing 18 strings?

Joe Veillette is the owner and luthier of Veillette Guitars of Woodstock New York. He specializes in the crafting of unusual handmade guitars, basses, and other stringed instruments. He has created some of the most unique guitars and basses ever.

One of Veillette's most notable guitars is the HD 12 Gryphon, which is an 18.5 scale, 12-string guitar that can be played to sound like a mandolin. Though it appears to be a small scale 12 string guitar, it actually in more of a mandolin.

Instead of having strings tuned in octaves, the HD 12 Gryphon has 6 courses of strings. This means it has 12 pairs of strings that are tuned alike. The instrument is designed to be tuned so the twelfth and eleventh strings are tuned to D (equivalent to the 10th fret of a normal guitar).

This is made possible by the short neck, so that the Gryphon plays in a higher register.

The sound is clean and articulate and of course it is handmade and well designed as are all Veillette instruments.

In 1966, Semi Mosely introduced a production version of a double neck guitar that was available for only a few years.



Although it appeared nothing like the double neck models he created for Joe Maphis, this guitar was a double neck and thus was dubbed The Joe Maphis Model Double-Neck 6/12 String Guitar.

The six string neck was in the lower position and the twelve string neck occupied the upper portion of the guitar’s body. The twelve string neck was a mere 2/16th of an inch larger than the six string neck. Both 22 fret necks came with a 24.75” scale.

The two piece body was made of alder and had the German carve that adorned most Mosrite guitars. The necks bore the M design on the top and both featured a Mosrite logo. The tuners were made by Kluson.

The six string portion of the guitar came with a Mosrite Vibrato tailpiece. The 12 string section had a stop tailpiece. Both came with an adjustable bridge.


The guitar came with four Mosrite single coil pickup that were wound to around 10.42k.

1967 Mosrite 12 string

Mosrite also offered a few twelve string guitars with vibratos.

A small music store owner from Maryland took on the guitar craze and produced some mighty fine guitars.

Koob Venemann, the owner, figured he could make a guitar as good as some of the guitars that he sold at his store, and he did.

These guitars were sold under the trade name KAPA, which stood for Koob, Albert (his son), Patricia (his daughter) and Adeline (his wife.)

Kapa made two versions of twelve string guitars. First was the Continental version, and next was the Minstrel. The Continental came with a semi-Fender style body. Venemann made all the bodies, and painted them at his business in Edmonston, Maryland. However the necks, pickups and electronics were supplied by the Hofner Guitar Company of Germany. Schaller, another German firm, made the tuners.

The Minstrel was a tear-drop shaped model, similar to Vox’s guitar of the same time period. It also was offered as a 12 string guitar.

The Continental came with two ‘foil or staple’ single coil pickups (I’ve heard them with both descriptions.) The Minstrel came with two to three pickups. The odd thing is many of KAPA’s twelve string models had vibrato units.

I borrowed a Continental Twelve when I was a kid playing in a garage band. As I recall the neck was well made and set up. It played like butter.



A friend owned a twelve string Minstrel. It was a great player as well, but was not as easy to play when seated.

Another twelve string guitar that I will mention is the Vox Mando Guitar model V257. This is a very short scale twelve string guitar that was made by JMI from 1964 to 1968. It is tuned up an octave from a regular guitar.

The instrument's lower bout resembles the Vox Phantom; however the upper bout includes a rounded cutaway.

The instrument appears to have 18 frets and joins the body at the 12th fret. The neck is bolted on the body. The majority of these were Italian imports. The head-stock declares this to be a Mando Guitar. There is a small Vox imprint on the pickguard.

These instruments came with twin single coil pickups, a volume and tone control and a toggle switch.

Buddy Miller with TEO Mando guitar

I have heard Buddy Miller use one of these in concert and I have to say it provides a clear ringing sound unlike any mandolin I have ever heard. You could probably pick one of these up for around $1500, but Phantom Guitars offers a fine copy that could be purchased for less.

Luthier Nikos Apollonio makes folk instruments and guitars for a living.  He lives in Maine and formerly was a ship builder. His instruments are entirely handmade and available directly from him on his website. From time to time he offers instruments on sale on eBay.

I have mentioned Nick a couple of times on this blog because he designed and built Noel Paul Stookey’s unique twelve string guitar.

Stookey’s instrument is in fact not a guitar, but a cittern. A cittern is a ten string instrument used mainly in Celtic music.  There are a number of tunings on this instrument, however most of them are variables of one-four-one-five-one or one-four-one-four-one. (DGDAD or DGDGD) as well as other tunings.

Apollonio offers two versions of the cittern. One is a tear drop-traditional model and the other model is very unique one that he calls a Bell Cittern.

Noel Stookey with Sebastian

At Noel Paul Stookey’s request he built a twelve string cittern for Noel Paul Stookey that was played on the Wedding Song.  Nick suggests that you tune down and do not tune to an E. This has nothing to do with structure and has everything to do with getting a rich and vibrant sound. On the Wedding Song Stookey tunes his cittern/guitar down five steps to C. It rings true like a cannon. Nick will make you one upon request.

I can promise you that Nick Apollonio’s instruments are totally handmade of solid wood from the American North East.