1967 Gibson-made Epiphone FT-112 Bard 12-String Guitar

February 25, 2016

1967 Gibson-made Epiphone FT-112 Bard 12-String Guitar

This square-shouldered dreadnought was Gibson's offering in the 60s for a bigger 12 under the Epi brand. It's basically the same as the tailpiece-load version of the Gibson B-45N but with Epi badging at the headstock. This includes a 16" lower bout, big 2" nut width, and standard 24 3/4" Gibson scale. The top is x-braced as per a typical 6-string of the same size and the tailpiece load means that the bracing doesn't need to be stiffened-up.

These sound balanced, mid-rangey and punchy with a "woofy bark" on the low end that records well for bass runs. The top-end, as you'd expect with x-bracing, is a bit creamier and more rounded-off than something like a big old Harmony 12. The top is solid spruce, the back, sides, and neck are solid mahogany, and the bridge and fretboard are rosewood. This guitar is all-original and crack-free, though it does have a ton of finish cracking, flaking, and general weather-check all around.

My work included a fret level/dress, cleaning, restringing, and various adjustments at the nut and saddle. I totally-compensated the saddle but I'll be doing a little bit more adjustment to it later today.

The neck is a big C-shaped thing and, with the 2" width, feels a lot like a classical neck. The frets are big old jumbo stock and have plenty of height after the level/dress.

I like those Epi-style pickguards.

I think these adjustabe bridges are a great idea -- as long as they're fitted with rosewood, ebony, or bone saddles. The ceramic saddles that Gib used for a while are just plain awful. This one is ebony.

As you can see, there's plenty of adjustment up/down.

A cool thing about the Epi line from the time is that the mahogany was often left a natural color rather than stained more of the deep red Gibsons are more-typically associated with. It's a nice look.