Michael Hauver is a luthier who manufactures a guitar "similar" to the old Stella twelves. The key may be in the use of a ladder style of bracing rather than the typical "X" pattern of today. His website is www.hauverguitars.com. His address is 3663 Harpers Ferry Road, sharpsburg, Md. 21782. Phone 304-876-8181. His "Barbecue Bob" model is designed to be tuned to B or C. I think it is the closest I have heard to a new 12 that sounds like an old Stella. You won't get the Lead Belly sound unless you tune that low. You'll need heavier gauge strings than the "medium" gauges sold by most manufacturers. His work was reviewed in Acoustic Guitar magazine in January of 2007. http://www.acousticguitar.com/leveltwo/LuthiersWorkbench-514.aspx#2923. Roger in Baltimore
|