I regard Chris Goldring as a member of the Community even though he rarely reads and never posts here. He’s joined me for many a community open mic and provided guitar, fiddle or mandolin for most of my ‘projects’. He’s the one who egged me on to take up the guitar and signposted me to Justin’s website in the first place.
So, when he mentioned the other week that he fancied a 12-string guitar, I had a look online and found this Höfner 1970s 12-string on fb marketplace. More or less mint condition. Hardly a scratch. Professionally set up and newly dressed frets.
It seemed like a bargain, so I bought it for £175 (Chris insisted on paying)
He sometimes plays live and wanted a pickup. I had previously installed a Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pickup in my Fender acoustic, which I hardly ever use, so I removed that and performed surgery on the 12-string with my drill (They say you should only use a reamer for this, but the drill bit has worked fine for me twice now). All seems to work well, and I’ll drop it off today or tomorrow.
Easy come easy go… 
Hi Brian and Chris ,
Okay, a bit of a strange title for the post 
, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun for Chris 
.
Happy NGD Chris 
Nicely done Brian 
I wish you a lot of time together
Greetings
I can imagine you’re gonna miss it already
How do you feel about 12 strings and having so much strings under your fingers?
@roger_holland ‘Strange’ is good! 
I do like a good deal, and I enjoy it when projects turn out ok
@LievenDV I can’t say I’ll miss it, although it was fun having a go to see what they feel like.
I hadn’t realised that the lower 4 strings are the same notes, but an octave apart, whilst the higher two are just ‘doubled up’ strings.
My fretting technique is sloppy at the best of times, which becomes even more obvious when you have to fret two strings with each finger.
Still, it’s nice to know I’ll be able to borrow it, should I ever get an itch to scratch 
Happy NGD to Chris and well done on finding this little treasure, Brian!
I wonder what it sounds like? Hope Chris will be playing it for us in either one of your collabs or an upcoming open mic!
Anyways, that’s a very thoughtful give-away and I hope you spent some joyful hours making some nice music together with this beauty!
Tell the truth Brian. You’re just too cheap to buy 2 sets of strings every time! 
Vielen Dank, Lisa
I’m sure he will, one way or another. We all love our new toys!
@sairfingers Haha, you know me too well, my friend (although it’s value not cheap I like )
I’m playing the long game… I’ve got my eye on a lovely Martin up in Scotland.
I reckon I’ll be able to get a good deal on once the decrepit owner shuffles off this mortal coil
Happy NGD Chris !!
You are a diamond Mr L, can’t say owt more than that laddo.
I’m hopeful I’ll be around for a while yet Brian so don’t stop checking out FB marketplace. 