I can't say if my old 70's "lawsuit" Tak has a doweled neck or not -- no way I'm taking it apart to find out! What I can say is that it has a fantastic sound, and plays like butter. I don't like the "jangle" sound you get from some 12s; the old Tak is sweet. I've fairly recently switched back to a 6 string for a while to try and hone my skills on it, but when playing for pure pleasure, I pull out my 12. One thing that I can say about it that I've noticed it does NOT have in common with other 12s I've tried: the thing stays in tune marvelously, even when the weather abruptly changes.