Pete, I will show you tuning. Finger picking a 12 is harder than finger picking a 6.

Have the guitar Rodgersed and tell him you want it set up and intoned like my Mugen 12, with almost no rounding of the edges of the frets.

Tune to concert (EADGBE) to start with: it simplifies life.

Do NOT use strings heavier than 10/47 at that pitch, at least to start with.

The bottom E has a fat string tuned the same as the bottom E on your 6, plus one an octave higher.

Then A - same as your 6, and one an octave higher.

Then D - same as your 6 and one an octave higher.

Then G, one the same as your 6 and one an octave higher.

Then B - both the same as your 6.

Then top E, both the same as your 6.


First tune all the strings roughly with your tuner.

Designate this point in the progress "Step Two"
Next tune the thinner ones in each course and one of the B and top E accurately, using the tuner.
Next tune the fatter ones of the octave pairs to be exact octaves. Do this by playing the octave harmonic on the fat one and bringing it up or down until that octave harmonic is exactly the same (no "beating") as thinner one.
THen tune the oter one of the B and top E to be exactly the same as the one you did first - same objective, to eliminate the "beat".

Go back to Step Two and do it again - the change in tension on the neck as you did it the first time will have caused slight variations to creep in.

Your D and G chords and E minor should now sound sweet. Your E major will sound as if you should flatten the G strings a bit, but do not do so or all the other chords will go "off".

Now the capo. You will need a Shubb 12-string capo. You might get away with one of the new G7s but I suggest not on a 12 string.

If your guitar has been set up right (trust Rodgers on this), the clearance fret to string should be the same for each string in a course. As a result the other side of each string (the side facing the audience) will be a little different.

You want the capo to pull both strings in each course down to the fret - and no further or it will pull the string sharp. So put hte capo withthe front of the rubber exactly on the fret - no further up or the sound will go "thuddy" - and keep the tension on the capo as low as possible. Just tight enough not to fall off is tight enough.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES PULL THE STRINGS DOWN TO THE FRETBOARD OR YOUR TUNING WILL SOUND LIKE CATS IN A SACK.

But since the capo is wider than the fret, there will be a bit of rubber behind each fret that is tending to bend each string a bit sharp. And since the fat strings are fatter they will tend to get bent a little bit more. The way to cure this is to get Rodgers, with afine file, to put tiny grooves in the rubber of the capo to relieve the pressure on the fatter EAD and G strings a little: half the thickness of each string is a big enough groove and one third would be safer - but it's no big issue if it's overdone, just get a new capo rubber and try again.

The reason you don't want the ends of the frets over-rounded is part of this too. If the edge of the fret is rounded off too much, to get the thin E string onto the fret you will need to make the capo over-tight on the fat E string, pulling it sharp.

The grooves will however mean that your capo will only be usable part of the way up the neck because the string spacing changes as you go up the neck. But you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.



When you have a little more experience, ask Rodgers to show you his Martin 12 - he is now using Newtone strings for equalised tension, and tuning down a tone so he can use strings with more mass, and the Martin seems to like that: it sounds far bigger than it did.   But I suggest you do not go there to start with.