1982 Charles Hoffman 12-string Dreadnought Guitar

Overview: Charles Hoffman was a hugely respected builder and repairman (he passed in 2024, unfortunately) out of the Twin Cities area. This '82 12-string is built beautifully and sounds tip-top. The neck is cozy, the trim is classy, and it has interesting little quirks (the "H" in the headstock and the "snakehead" shape to it as well as that lobster-claw-style pickguard) that give it some flair.

It's solid spruce, x-braced, over solid mahogany back and sides. The neck is multi-piece for stability and the mahogany seems to be quite good-quality stuff. The fit and finish is excellent.

Repairs included: Jacobi was preparing to reglue the bridge on this when I lost the original bridge to the sander (one of my guys had taken off the "shield" to sand a longer piece of wood and I didn't put it back on before using it). That mistake turned-out to be a bonus because Jose made a brand-new bridge (and fit it) in the same pattern and with similar curves but it's slightly less-tall and has a better overall shape and cut than the original so there's more saddle to play with for later adjustments and there's more back-angle on the saddle from the bridge pins as a result. After that, Jose leveled and dressed the frets, made a new, fully-compensated bone saddle, and set it up. It's playing tip-top, now -- like a fresh, new guitar -- and before it left I fit a K&K pickup for the owner.