Martin D-12-20 12-String

Pretty plain, but the binding and back inlay are pretty cool.

Sound is huge and overtone series is very balanced throughout. Especially good in the high end.

No truss rod or adjustable neck. It has required a reset every so often. No flaws have come up since purchased new in 1972. Much faster neck than other 12's I tried over the years.

Solid throughout. No reservations.

Martin has backed this thing 100%. During last neck reset, I learned that the previous adjustment was secured with epoxy! Martin took the guitar and reset neck, replaced the fingerboard and refretted the instrument as well as touching up some finish wear. I paid the shipping both ways and that was it. In my experience, Martin means what they say with "Lifetime Warranty." Our dealer was awesome.

Been playing since 1968. Have 3 basses, Taylors, American Strat Ultra, Alverez Yari, and various amps/effects. Best thing about this guitar is the sound. I compared this guitar to the Guild and chose it for the sound as well as Martin's reputation. I want to install a Martin Thinline Gold pickup soon. Have one in another guitar and it is awesome.

Tuners?

Sounds great when in tune. Bought used with pickup installed.

Tuners

Will not stay in tune - Have had several people try and repair -
Martin says the tuners are unavailable.
I've loaned this guitar to several people and they loved the sound, but had trouble with keeping it in tune.

Martin factory says these tuners were bad but unavailable.

Have Martin D28, Alvarez AD62SC, Gibson B25(My first guitar)
My nest purchase will be an Alvarez Yairi(I love my Alvarez and play it more my other guitars).
Purchased the Martin D12-20 about 20 years ago.

1966 Martin D 12-20, I was reading these postings because I am deciding what to do with my 12-20. It has the features that are listed in the other postings, and I agree that is is the best sounding 12 that I have ever played. I am a parlor guitar player, I prefer the small-boxy sound of the various parlor style guitars. However, after having Takamine, Seagull, and fender 12s, this 12-20 is huge and brilliant.

It doesn't suit my style at all. Just strumming this guitar, I imagine my neighbors waking up and wondering what band is playing locally. It is huge and loud, and the harmonics are (as previously mentioned) angellic.

I bought this guitar about 12-13 years ago. A lady needed to get out of it because she was moving, after a divorce. I bought it and then played it for about six years until a friend at the time needed to borow it. I thought that the loan was going to be for a few weeks, it turned in to almost seven years. I recently got it back. I would like to say that the guy took care of it, but it looks like it has been through every kind of storm. The tolex on the case has some mold on it, so I know that the guitar has been near moisture..duh. The guitar it's self has always had some small surface cracks, but they have darkened, and the finish is a pumpkin color.

After what this guitar has been through, I can't believe how good it plays and sounds. My wife must be tired of hearing the guitar, I haven't put it down since changing the strings. My friends keep coming over to play it also.

I've heard great things about Martin's customer service. I haven't dealt with them personally.

I also own two epiphone blues-masters, a 70s tele, an early Valley Arts Strat, and an old Gibson small box guitar.

I bought my D12-20 in 1967 when I was a sophmore in high school. Traded an electric Japenese solid body 12 string even for the hard shell case and paid $300 for the guitar. She was hanging right beside her more showey big sister the D12-35, but was more than I could afford. In spite of that, she's been the best guitar investment I ever made. Some have called her plain jane, but that only applies if her strings aren't vibrating. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? How about beauty can also be in the EAR of the beholder!

First 12 string I ever played was a Fender villager about two years before I bought the Martin. I was hooked. The Japanese 12 that got traded for the Martin was my first 12, but I learned that there was a direct correlation between price and quality. Some have said the D12-20 sounds like angels, I prefer to call it ethereal.

She's been back to Nazareth twice in 39 years for bridge resetting, both times due to my negligence. She's set right where she needs to be for my style of playing, usually finger style but sometimes flat pick. Fit n finish are excellant, factoring in she's now a middle aged sweet heart.

She'll out live me, no doubt.

If you need to send it back to Martin, they'll take care of it first rate, though it probably won't be a quick turn around. Still, what sold me on the guitar in 1967 was the lifetime warrantee, since I was trading in an 18 month old twin pick up 12 string bad joke with a neck that was trying to touch its toes.

Been playing for a long long time. In the 80s I picked up a Sigma D 35 sold it 10 years later. Should have kept her, 'cause she was sweet, too. If it were stolen or lost would I buy another? Probably, but 40 years of aging on that sound board doesn't get replaced no matter how much you spend unless its for another 40 year old axe.

My D12-20 was a 1965 model I purchased in 1972 from a piano store in Lawrence Kansas on my home from high school for $225.00. It had the slotted head stock and open tuners with white plastic knobs and a solid spruce top. the only modifications i made to the guitar was to replace the string pegs with new ones and one tuning gear with an identical one ordered from Martin.The fretboard and bridge were rosewood and the neck was as straight and flat as a Kansas highway, although a little wide for my 17 year old hands. The second I held that guitar I knew I had to have it, even though it was pretty much a Plain Jane.

The tone was unlike anything I had ever heard to that point (or since for that matter)and went right to my heart. The sound would just reach out and grab you from across the room. A beautiful deep resonating bass and harpsichord like treble and an open clear ringing sound that just sounded great. At that time i was playing anything James Taylor, and Arlo Guthrie, or anyone else that strummed and fingerpicked an accoustic guitar

Although the neck was a bit wide for my young hands the action was great, and never showed any signs of needing the neck reset. It never cracked and the pick guard never lifted. All in all a beautiful guitar but with no special bells or whistles.

My Martin held up to the rigorous weather of Kansas and traveled all over the midwest with me, from Chorpus Christi, Texas to Kearney, Nebraska. A well built guitar over all and I treated it like the piece of art that it was.

I bought it used and was never under warranty during my ownership.

I am now 51 and have been playing since i was 16, Right now I own a Takamine 6 string. and an old Japanese violin, and several keyboards including a Fender Rhodes Stage 73 and Hammond B2 with a Series 700 Leslie as well as a Prophet One and Korg Polyphonic Synth(that I traded a Martin HD28 for) and a mess of other sound equipment I used on tour with various bands.

The Martin D12-20 and another HD28 as well as a Hoffner Archtop f-hole guitar were stolen in 1978.

Since then I have had a Gibson accoustic, and the current Takamine 6 string. Neither comes close to the sound that came from the D12-20.

Every so often I get a little sentimental about the old D12 and brouse through the listings on e-bay,etc. trying to find another one...but i haven't replaced it yet.

My Martin D12-20 is a 1971 model, 12 fret 'Standard' Dreadnaught body, in spruce and mahogany with the open headstock and open-gear tuners. The fretboard and bridge are rosewood, the neck is non-adjustable, and the body is bound but not fancy. It was purchaced used and had a repaired patch in the finish in the upper bout from some careless(and mindless) flatpicking up the fretboard plus an assortment of dings and nicks from road use by a previous owner that, I was told, was a professional musisician/performer. I bought it with a standard Martin gray shell case.
I have upgraded the nut to quality bone, the saddle to compensated TUSQ and the bridge pins to ebony/pearl. I have since added a Martin/Fishman bridge pickup for stage use and had the neck reset after 32 years.

I have found 12 strings in general to have a muddy or tinty tone lacking either good string seperation or tone complexity.
The D12-20 is known as an exceptional instrument and, I am told, the 1969-71 era was it's best years. It was well broken in when I purchased it and has a clear, sparkling tone with good volume, great string seperation/definition with incredible sustain and tone complexity. The TUSQ bridge saddle has further developed an already exceptionsl instrument. It amplifies well but sounds best when the pickup is blended with a mic. It is a player's guitar.
I went through the 70's playing eveything John Denver I could learn. The D12-20 gave me an instrument that matched tone with the big Guilds JD was noted for.

The D12-20 is not a showpiece.
It is about as easy playing as any 12 I have had in my hands.
The neck, though non-adjustable, has never been anything but dead level and arrow straight.
The spruce top has a fairly wide grain which seems to add depth to the tone.

The D12-20 is about as reliable, dependable and well built as you can expect from an acoustic 12 string. It is prone to body deformation over the years and a neck reset is always a likely possibility. It just shows the fine line that an acoustic guitar needs to walk to have the tone and sustain to turn heads wherever it may be played. Reduce the problem by keeping the guitar detuned when in storage and maybe using a tuning reduced 1 full tone.

Martin does not give warranty support to used instruments but their quality and construction are such that it is seldome needed.
I had a brief discussion with Chris Martin IV at a Martin workshop and found him interesting, interested and responsive.

I found this in 1977 in a guitar shop in Glassboro NJ(no longer in business) after searching for a suitable 12 string for a year. I went, literally, from music store to store tuning and playing every 12 string on display. I pulled this off the display rack and, when touched with a pick, I knew my search was over.
Would I sell it?.....never!!
Would I replace it?.....in a heartbeat if I could find another in the 69-71 era.
In 25 years of playing this plane Jane, I have yet to find her equal.
The only close compeditor is the JF size Guilds and they are a much larger body.
My luthier says it 'plays like butter' and he could not put it down after finishing the neck reset in 2003. He had 2 offers to buy it, one 'name your price', while it sat in his shop waiting for me to pick it up. Quite an endorsement.
As a player, it has everything it needs. This is NOT a 12 string that will turn heads until the pick touches the strings. Then it becomes a living thing with a clear ringing voice.

This is a '65 D-12-20 I purchased from a good friend in 1967 who needed the money to buy a Martin D-21. The solid spruce top developed a pickguard crack next to the sound hole about 1983, but it has never opened up and my current repairman says it appears quite stable and it most certainly doesn't affect the sound which is in his terms "powerful". The body and neck are mahogany and the fingerboard and bridge are beautiful purple red brazilian rosewood. The body is the elongated sloped shouldered drednought style that goes with the 12 fret neck. The slotted headstock has the original tuners. The original case is a geib style plywood fortress that's still solid after 39 years of use.

The sound is big when you really dig, yet light strumming has an almost delicate harpsicord quality. I use light gauge(.052 to .012) phosphor bronze strings and tune it down one note to D. The deeper tone really fills a room when leading praise and worship at a bible study. On mission trips I've used it in small mexican and indian churches with no amplification and the tone doesn't seem to suffer when you're playing hard and loud.

The guitar has no adjustible truss rod and over the years I've had the neck heated and straightened 3 times. Two years ago the lowered saddle and high action required a neck reset. A local shop did a superb job and the new higher bone saddle, a fret dress, and lower action made playing much easier up the neck. The finish on the guitar is still good with very little crazing considering the changes in temperature and humidity it has been subject to on mission trips over the years. The Geib case is wood and shuts tight, which probably helps to limit big moisture changes inside the case.

The guitar is quite durable, but I've retired it from heavy duty traveling. My mission trips over the years sometimes meant one day in the hot dry desert in New Mexico and the next at 10,000 ft. in snowy Colorado. The guitar has been reliable, but my guitar repairman didn't think it was good to keep changing the surrounds so drastically. I still use it often at home and church. Everything is still original except for the saddle which is now bone.

The guitar warranty was only to the original owner so any work I need done is handled by me personally or Tulsa Guitar and Electronics which does great work at a reasonable price. One thing I will say about Martin is they built this guitar to last and sound better over the years.

I've been playing since 1961. This old Martin has been a faithful companion for longer than I've been married. Sell it, forget it! My other guitars are a '72 Martin 12 fret drednought I use for flat pickin' "old time country music" and bluegrass and a '73 Yamaha FG-260 12 string converted to 6 string I use for finger picking and blues at home and also as a travel guitar since its got a very punchy bass and is very loud when strummed hard in leading group singing.

Standard 12-20.

Features? well it is an acoustic 12 string....hmm.....

Mine is a 1971 in good original condition apart from missing the scratch plate.

This guitar is very fine! I played quite a few 12 string acoustics, and was resigned to buy an "average" one when I stumbled upon this one. It sounds like a harpsichord/guitar/piano...well, it has a very full and rich harmonic tone: far better than the others I tried.

Has a particularly good action for a 12 string..most of them are a bit of a challenge for a low action wuss like myself.
Nicely finished, but nothing extravagant: let's say workmanlike.

Seems to be a well put together item that will last as long as it is treated with respect!

I bought it because it played and sounded a lot better than the others I tried. Admittedly it is Martin, so you'd expect that the baseline will be better than most of the competitors. I wanted it for recording, and it will sound fine.

I have a ton of other gear, mostly electric, but I recommend the Martin as a very good sounding + playing 12 string.

Recommend auditioning them as a reasonable value guitar with superior tone.

My other 12, by the way, is a Maton electric Fyrbyrd from the 1960's. 3 pickups, and ! yes !! ! a Bigsby type trem!!
And it doesn't go out of tune.

I bought this '64 (it was the first year they made 'em) Martin 12 fret slot-head 12 string from a shop-owner over the internet a month ago. I was lucky and got what was advertised to me. It's in excellent- condition (I think you could call it a 9 or 8+++) with pretty much no visable bumps, scratches, buckle rash, little pokes etc. Aging has faded the finish and changed the top to a pumpkin color. Also the tuners have a certain "patia" to them. There are a couple of small bumps in the back of the peghead. The original case is in good shape too. This is the kind of instrument where you might expect the receipt or tags to be tucked away in the case - but that was not the case.

I'm very pleased with the sound. Bright and jangly - more bass end would be nice for acoustic (non-amplified) playing - I could probably get it if I tuned it down to 'D'. I'm an old 'Folky' and use it to play things like "8 Miles High" and "My Back Pages" as well as a few originals. I play coffee house type gigs and will use it live. I owned custom Goodall jumbo 12 in the recent past (Rosewood and Sitka) and while different, the D12-20 sounds almost as good - and is easier to play - and stays in tune better than the Goodall with the mini-Shallers - and was 1/4th the cost...

I bought it used (38 years old), but it was very well made. I've seen better looking bone than what they used for the nut and saddle, and the pickguard is just starting to lift the least bit. - The action when I bought it used was/and is about perfect. Amazingly, nobody can see evidence of a neck re-set and it looks like it will be a least a few years before I have to worry about that.

It holds a tune well - the tuners are original open gears, they're a little hard to turn sometimes, but work fine for now. I'm sure they'll need a repair sooner or later.

Been playing off and on for 30 years. Anyone looking for a nice 12 string from a good company with a bit of a vintage look and feel should consider this. I really think the 12 frets clear thing makes quite a difference. The slotted head thing just looks pretty cool.

This is a 1969 model dreadnought 12-string made in Nazareth, PA. The rosewood fretboard has 19 frets, and joins the body at the 12th. It has mother-of-pearl dot markers, 1 each at the 5th, 7th, 9th and 15th frets and 2 at the 12th. The headstock is slotted in the DS style with the traditional logo in gold script and has stainless tuning machines. The top is 2-piece solid Sitka Spruce with inlaid 2-tone circular purfling and the standard black teardrop pick guard. The bridge is rosewood with black plastic pins with white dots and a slanted saddle. The 2-piece, book-matched mahogany back has an inlay of contrasting wood parquet at the joint. The sides are mahogany as is the neck, and the black and white edging matches the purfling. I have added a well-concealed Barcus-Berry Hot Dot bridge pickup that is wired through a jack plug in the tailpiece that is also the strap anchor. The finish is transparent, with some signs of wear, and some pick scratch marks from a previous owner.

I love the sound of this guitar. It is rich and mellow when played softly yet has the power to belt out auditorium-worthy volume even without amplification. I play finger-pick style most often and strum with my nails, and the sound is unwavering. Flat picking this axe can bring the house down! Twelve string acoustic music may be dated to some individuals' tastes, but if you like CSNY, Leo Kotke, Ry Cooder and any of the "unplugged" heroes, including Clapton, you'll appreciate the clear trebles and base this instrument projects. Acoustic slide comes across fairly well, but the heavy guage strings are not a recommended good match to this guitar.

No complaints on action, fit or finish. Martin is hard to beat in this category! This is not a top-of-the-line model, yet the attention to every detail makes it stand out against any other make. As noted before, there are signs of wear in the finish, but come on... what do you expect from 32 years of use?

This guitar can go almost anywhere as long as it's kept in a hard case and out of extremes in weather. Martin's spray cleaner is all I need to keep the appearance up. I changed out the tail strap button to accomodate the jack socket, so I can't fairly judge the original equipment. Everything else is reliable and durable.

I'm the second owner, so I can't give a fair assessment on warranty.
I've never had to have it repaired, but I trust that the factory will be happy to extend their legendary support and service for a nominal fee.

I first played a Martin 12 string 2 years before this guitar was made.
When I saw this one in the store, I almost tripped and fell while attempting to make my way non-chalantly over to where it was displayed. I hope to pass it on to my offspring, but it is mine in the meantime. My only regret is that I don't play it often enough.
I have one other guitar currently, a handmade classical I bought in Puerto Rico, one of the last by Julio Rodriguez Burgos. The quality of both guitars is impeccable, and they will both appreciate over the years. I've been asked to sell both guitars numerous times and have only smiled and refused the offers.