2014 Tony Yamamoto 12-String

A multi-scale 12-string built as a powerful fingerstyle machine.

November 12, 2025

Most guitarists use the 12-string for a change in tonal color and texture, rather than as a primary musical partner. It’s a rarefied market, and high-end, custom-made 12-strings are rare. Former San Francisco Bay Area luthier Tony Yamamoto (who closed his shop and moved back to his native Japan in 2019) loved a challenge, and he specialized in 12-strings, baritones, and other non-standard guitars. I’m currently in possession of a unique Yamamoto 12-string that was originally ordered by fingerstyle guitarist Steve Davison, and in this video, I demo the guitar.

I first encountered this 12-string when Tony brought it to a show I played with Peghead Nation instructor Doug Young in San Francisco. Tony wanted some feedback on the guitar before sending it off to its new home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Doug and I obliged by playing it during our sets. Davison ended up using the guitar extensively on his tours, and you can hear him playing it in this clip from a 2014 show in Massachusetts. In 2016 and 2023, Davidson invited me to perform at the Argenta Acoustic Music Series he hosted in Little Rock, and I borrowed the guitar for a couple of tunes at each show. Earlier this year, Davidson learned about a 12-string recording project I’m putting together, and he generously offered to let me use the guitar for a while.

Davidson’s 12-string playing is reminiscent of Leo Kottke, so Tony built him a high-performance fingerstyle machine. The guitar’s jumbo body measures a full 17-inches at the lower bout, and its multiscale fingerboard goes from 25.5-inches on the treble side to 27-inches for the lowest string. In order to make the guitar more ergonomic, Tony chose a 12-fret neck design, he shaped the body with a radical Linda Manzer-style wedge (the bass side is just 3¾-inches thick, while the treble side has a depth of 5¼-inches), and he included both an armrest-bevel and a second bevel in the back’s upper bout area. The guitar has New Guinea ebony for its back and sides and Adirondack spruce for its top. Figured koa is used for the bevels, binding, and rosette (where it surrounds a ring of abalone), and the guitar’s sleek peghead carries a set of full-size Gotoh 510 tuners.

Davidson used a standard light-gauge 12-string set, and the long scale of the bass-side of the fanned-fret fingerboard allowed him to use tunings with low D or even C notes in the bass without the strings becoming too floppy. I do most of my 12-string playing with the entire guitar tuned down a step-and-a-half (C# to C# in standard tuning) and often go as low as the DADGAD-equivalent (B F# B E F# B) from there. To accommodate that, I restrung the guitar with a heavier set, and I was delighted with how well the guitar handled the resulting low-B notes of the lowest string pair. The guitar’s bass response is impressive, as it’s in solid baritone guitar territory, but it also has beautifully rich trebles and a well-balanced sound that makes it incredibly fun for playing complex fingerstyle pieces. While the comfort-oriented design elements help, it is a monster of a guitar. But the efforts in handling are rewarded by one of the biggest and boldest 12-string voices that I’ve come across.