Octave twelve Octave twelve An octave twelve is a type of 12-string guitar fitted with a short-scale neck and a small solid body. It is tuned one octave higher than a standard guitar giving it the tonal range of a mandolin and enabling a guitarist to achieve a mandolin sound without learning mandolin fingering. The effect is similar to that of capoing a standard 12-string guitar at its twelfth fret. However, unlike a standard 12-string guitar, the courses of strings tuned in unison, rather than in octaves. The octave twelve was invented by engineers at Vox, which sold the octave twelve as
Guitar low B string, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds and Rickenbacker) uses an octave G string paired with the regular G string as on a 12-string guitar, allowing him to incorporate chiming 12-string elements in standard six-string playing. In 1982 Uli Jon Roth developed the "Sky Guitar", with a vastly extended number of frets, which was the first guitar to venture into the upper registers of the violin. Roth's seven-string and "Mighty Wing" guitar features a wider octave range. The bass guitar (also called an "electric bass", or simply a "bass") is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar,