Baton Rouge X11LS/F-AB-12 Folk

I was fully expecting to send this back as for the price i couldn't believe it was going to be any good and after some recent bad luck with Recording King acoustics i was expecting the worst, huge surprise, it plays absolutely lovely, looks great and sounds wonderful, there was no sharp frets (as per the Recording king guitars), it was beautifully setup with a low action and very playable, the tuners which are very important in a 12 string obviously are pretty good and it stays in tune well, the guitar is so good I've ordered a pickup for it as intend to use it live with my band. I would also say it isn't an expensive guitar which you can tell close up, it's similar to Tanglewood's crossroads series but it looks great, vintage looks, it's a keeper and quick delivery as well. Very pleased

Ok. I'll admit it: I love Baton Rouge guitars, and I'll go a step further and say I have not been disappointed with Thomann's selection or service at all. The last 5 instruments- one 5 - string bass, two electric 6's (one double cut SG- style and one single - cut LP Style) one e cello, and two Baton Rouge acoustic guitars - have all come via Thomann Music. You can read all about the Baton Rouge X11S/FJE-SCR in the style of the Folk Jumbo flat top with cutaway in my review of the aforementioned page.
But this is about the folk style (read: folk - sized) 12 - string.
The first thing you'll notice about BR guitars is they are much lighter than most acoustics. Don't worry about that as the quality does not suffer.
The guitar arrived just slightly out of tune which is amazing. You know the old joke: "You spend half the time tuning a 12 - string and the other half playing out of tune."
(Insert Rim Shot or Canned Laughter Here)
Once tuned she stayed in tune and the re - tuning required is minimal from day to day. Much like all the other guitars with which you have to deal. Piece of cake. The intonation was spot on at the open position, 12th - fret, and harmonics up and down the neck, just like the other BR guitar.
I admit, jumbo and dreadnought - sized 12 - strings spoiled me, as the smaller folk 12 means a narrower nut and hence the space between the strings are truncated, and my fretting fingers felt cramped . . . At first.
After a couple minutes I got used to chord changes and triad shapes on the narrower nut end, and fell in love. That's the second worst feature in my mind. The first worst (?) Feature is this particular guitar does not come in the Screwed Crimson finish, which is awesome on mahogany and spruce both. The "SCR" in the X11S/FJE-SCR stands for "Screwed Crimson," so my BR guitars do not match perfectly.
C'est la vie . . .
I have placed piezoelectric pickups on all of my acoustic guitars, and they sound great. The dreadnought 6 (X11S/FJE-SCR) has on - board electronics and running each pup through its own signal chain makes for a mind - blowing experience. But that is not this.
If you are looking for a 12 that fits everyone in the family, here it is. If you want a beautiful 12 - string machine with bright and even EQ across the board and a folk - sized sound, well here you go.
Get one.

I've flirted with a few 12-strings over the years but always ended up selling them at a loss. This is the first one that I've been able to live with. I generally play finger style and classical so I wasn't really sure where this would fit in. It turns out that it's actually playable in those styles. My Baroque and Renaissance pieces take on a whole new dimension.

As for strumming, it's just a joy. I've never used a plectrum but use a mix of basic thumb strumming and rasgueados and let's just say - it fills it space in the room. Magical.

I tune it down a whole tone so I can't say what it would be like in standard tuning in terms of string tension and playability but tuned from D to d it's a cannon.

The intonation is pretty much perfect so whacking a capo on at the second fret let's me play along with all my favourite rock songs.

If you're reading this, you already know you want one. Now you just need to convince the missus.