Why Guild’s 12-string design is one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century – and how it became a go-to acoustic for Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Brian May

Brian May playing a Guild Jumbo 12-string acoustic.

I personally consider the Guild jumbo 12-string acoustic guitar one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century, right up there with electricity, the vacuum tube, personal computer, interstate highway, space shuttle, jet airplane, television, etc. Sure, it may simply be a flattop acoustic guitar model developed rather late in the game during the ‘60s, but to many players the Guild jumbo 12-string is to the acoustic guitar what a Steinway Model D concert grand is to the piano. 

Jimmy Page rather eloquently described his first encounter with a Guild jumbo 12 (a very rare early ‘70s F-612 model) in his book Jimmy Page – The Anthology: “I was in Manny’s guitar shop in New York when the guy working there said, ‘There’s a guitar here you’ll want to buy, a Guild 12-string.’ I told him that I already had a 12-string Harmony, but he insisted: ‘No, you’ll want to buy this.’