Thanks for sharing the pictures, Jonathan. I especially liked the pick-guard on the 12 string.
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Thanks, Rogier. Play first and write later, because writing properly takes a lot of time, especially on occasions when my keyboard goes wonky. 
They sound as good as they look. One thing I love is the AY logo inlaid in abalone, which remains unchanged in their current guitars.
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Indeed. I remember you posted a recording of Happy Birthday finger-style. Would love to hear more 
Yes, here’s the video, shot with my webcam, so the sound quality leaves something to be desired, but it’s better than nothing.
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In other news, I’ve made a breakthrough in practice on the 12-string. Alternate picking of both strings of each course has proven quite a frustrating challenge. The other day, I managed successfully to pick the beginner finger-stretching exercise alternately with almost complete accuracy. This success has encouraged me to practice it more, and this is how we progress; we work through frustration until we experience an initial success, which drives us to keep practicing.
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Just got a new Peterson Stroboclip HD tuner to replace the Snark that popped out of its clip and won’t go back. Using this new tuner is a bit of a learning curve, but it’s almost like getting a whole new instrument.
Those are good tuners 
That’s a good choice you made Jonathan.
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Yesterday I changed the strings on the Twin Six with SIT Golden Bronze 80/20 10-46 gauge. The package says “Bright & Deep Sound,” and this is so far an accurate description. I certainly prefer them to the Martin SP 80/20s they replaced. They’re also cheaper than comparable strings for 12-string. SIT stands for Stay In Tune, which, after only 24 hours, appears accurate.
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Cross-posted from the Gear section discussion of which picks we use.
I now have over 25 picks to choose from, which include all the DunlopTortex triangles, all the Dunlop Delrin 500, all four Dunlop Celluloid, Two Dunlop Ultex triangles (.60 & 1.0), One Dunlop Primetone 1.0. My new favorites are the D’Andrea Ultraplec (1.5 & 2.0), Proplec (only comes in 1.5), and the celluloid XH (1.12) and large triangle (.96).
The ones I use most lately are the D’Andrea Ultraplec 1.5 and the celluloid large triangle, which makes it relatively easy to pluck both courses of the 12-string consistently – and a maddening amount of daily practice.
You’d never guess that I once hated & dreaded picks.
Incidentally, the orange semicircle at the top is an ashtray from a Conran restaurant called Mezzo in the former Marquee Club. I use it to hold picks that are out of regular circulation.
Here’s some background on music in my family, starting with my great-great-grandfather, George Frederick Root.
According to family legend, he could not stand to listen to his children practicing their music, so he had a separate house built away from the main house that was nearly as large, known as the “music room.”
His grand-daughter, my grandmother, was trained as a concert pianist. She had nested concert grands in her & my grandfather’s Park Avenue apartment. One day, their friend George Gershwin paid them a visit, greatly excited about his latest composition, which is how my grandparents, Franklin Pierce Adams & Esther Root Adams, became the first audience ever to hear Rhapsody in Blue.
When I was a young child, my mother regularly played the piano and sang to me, which was my first experience of actual instrumental music. I used to try to make pleasing harmonies by playing certain keys at age four or five, long before I had any practical musical knowledge.
Around age 10, I started to learn French horn, and practiced daily at the piano. I was just about coming to terms with reading musical notation, but in my one and only band practice I recall being terrified by losing my place in the score. Then my family moved, and the only French horn in the new school was left-handed, and so I didn’t continue. Later, in my mid-teens, I started learning piano, and though I struggled mightily with reading musical notation, I found memorization easy.
In the latter half of my mid-twenties, I discovered the sitar through a friend, and a month later took a trip to India, had a sitar made for me, and was taking lessons. From that point on, I continued practicing the sitar for at least three hours per day. Later, I took up the guitar also, which I have resumed since the pandemic struck.
My brother has been playing the drums for about twenty years now. One brother-in-law (sister’s husband’s brother) has just retired as a school music teacher and is also a choir director. My sister’s husband plays the banjo. My wife’s sister’s husband plays trombone in a symphony orchestra.
That, for what it’s worth, is the true (and mercifully short) story of music in my family.
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Nice. I have a 1990 DY-67.
It’s a great guitar, and I think it’s only gotten better with age. I was living in Japan in 1990, but somewhat ironically I didn’t find this guitar in Japan, but in Branson Missouri after I returned to the states. I bought it used; a Branson musician was selling it via consignment to a local guitar store. Came with an awesome case.
A few years ago it needed some fret work, so I took it to a luthier at Texas Music Emporium in Houston. When I went to pick it up he asked me about the guitar, and told me it played and sounded awesome: equal to the best guitars he had in the shop.
I haven’t recorded with it a lot. Lately I’ve been favoring 00 or OM sized guitars, and playing a Martin OM-35 a lot. However, I did recently use it on a recording, along with the OM-35 I just mentioned. On this recording the DY-67 is the fingerstyle guitar panned slightly left. (The OM-35 is strummed and centered.) I do plan on using the DY-67 more going forward, though. Getting it out to record on that song reminded me what a fantastic instrument it is. That recording probably isn’t the best showcase for the guitar. Not only is it mixed in with the Martin and my vocal, but it also needed a string change. At the time I recorded I was too impatient and just went forward with somewhat dead-sounding strings.
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Sorry for the delayed response, Jason. Events keep occurring.
The Alvarez Yairi guitars of the '80s & '90s are exquisite instruments that represent great value for money. Their one Achilles heel is the epoxied neck, which makes a reset nearly impossible. The newer instruments are made with hide glue. There’s a Yairi appreciation thread on the Acoustic Guitar Forum: The K. Yairi / Alvarez Yairi appreciation thread - The Acoustic Guitar Forum
When a friend of mine who’s a much more accomplished guitarist than I played the Twin Six, my '86 DY-76, he remarked that people pay thousands of dollars for a 12-string with that tone & action. Then, in 2020, when I took up the guitar again, I took a gamble on a AY DY-39 6-string listed as an Alvarez on Ebay. It needed a lot of cleaning up and the tuning machines needed tightening, but the gamble paid off. Judging by the condition, the original owner must have been a vigorous strummer who played a lot, perhaps professionally, and must have died for the guitar to come up for sale as part of the estate – an educated guess. Often these Alvarez Yairi guitars are only sold when their owners die.
As for living in Japan, I spent a cumulative 15 years there, initially as a teacher of English conversation in Kyoto, and later as a translator in Yokohama and finally Tokyo. I also did not acquire any guitars while in Japan.
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The D’Addario Nickel Bronze strings that I mentioned in my initial post last June will have lasted a year at the end of this month. They are still resonant and stay in tune remarkably well. If you’re at all inclined to experiment with strings, I’d recommend giving them a try.
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It’s been a while, and I’ve already gone through a set of strings on both acoustics as I continue to experiment.
On the six-string, I tried SIT Silencers 11-50, which, after the D’Addario NBs, felt slightly sharp to the touch. Next time I might try 12s. On the Twin Six, I used my go-to DR Rare Bronze 10-48.
On the Twin Six, I’ve changed to an extra-light set of GHS PB 9-42, which are far easier to play in standard tuning and sacrifice nothing in the way of tome and volume. I also have a set of D’Addario PB 9-45s (EJ41) to try next. I’d definitely recommend these extra-light sets to any players of 12-string.
On the Six, I’ve gone the opposite way, with GHS Vintage Bronze Bluegrass 12-56, which have taken a couple of weeks to get used to. The string spacing is rather tight, so thinner strings allow for marginally more room for fingers. Thicker strings have imposed a greater discipline on me to be precise to avoid unintentionally muting strings.
For practice, I have continued starting with the beginner finger stretches, but have varied it by descending the frets, which requires lifting each finger and precisely placing the pinkie on the next string along. It’s only slightly more challenging to explain than it is to do. As for lessons, I have temporarily stalled at Grade 2 Module 13: Blues because of lack of time to concentrate, as summer is upon us!
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Nice. I just started noodling on that myself as I try to get back at it. It sounded good. Loved the “And many more” at the end.
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The “And many more” ending is based on the C7 chord. It’s the kind of thing you discover while noodling.
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I think I figured it out last night while noodling around.
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