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
Zero fret the advantages and the drawbacks of modern guitar manufacturing. The high string tension makes the instrument almost implayable for beginner students, especially for children, and additionally serves to spoil the ear training for harmonies and tone intervals due to intonation errors. Luthier intervention is required in such cases. High string action at the nut is often preferred to avoid string buzz with heavy playing style. The lower fret area is therefore out of tune. A partial solution is to apply nut corrections by reducing the distance from the nut to fret one for a small amount and then re-tune the