Holzapfel Jumbo 12-String Natural, Very Good, $3,850.00

Carl C. Holzapfel 12-String Jumbo | Call | Holzapfel guitars hold a rather obscure place in the vintage guitar world today. However, German immigrant Carl Holzapfel Sr. and his son Carl Jr, operated a shop in Baltimore for nearly one hundred years, building mostly mandolins and guitars pre WWII, and viol instruments and repairs post WWII. One can make a strong case that Carl Sr. played a key role in the development of the modern 12-string guitar. From 1898 through about 1905, Holzapfel and his partner Beitel, built a number of jumbo 12-strings, and records in the Holzapfel archives note that at least one of them was ordered before the turn of that century. No other makers offered a 12-string at that time (although some were in the works) and certainly not in that jumbo size.

This example was most likely made post WWII, but reflects the dimensions and materials of those earliest Holzapfel & Beitel jumbo 12s. The prior owner shared that he’d walked into the West Fayette St. shop in Baltimore, in 1960, and bought it off the wall. Was it used, made up of old parts, or newly constructed? We’ll likely never know. The body is made from mahogany, with a book-matched spruce top (note the resin stains on the top, which can be seen on several other Holzapfel guitars). The ladder-braced top is trimmed with herringbone and bound in white celluloid, with attractive purfling around the sound hole. The neck is mahogany, with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The head stock is faced with Brazilian rosewood. The bridge is carved from Brazilian rosewood, and typical of those found on Holz 12s. A look at the workmanship on the bridge, fingerboard edge, and the transition area where the neck meets the head stock shows that this guitar was made by Holzapfel's hands and not a CNC machine.

The guitar has a label inside the sound hole that is marked: 'Carl C. Holzapfel Baltimore, Md. Anno: 19__' but can be easily ID’d as a Holzapfel 12 at a glance. First giveaway is the sheer size. The body measures a full 16 1/4” across the lower bout, with a body depth just about 5” deep at the end pin…the Humvee of 12-strings. The bridge is the typical Holzapfel carve, and not only glued to the top, but secured by four wood screws in all their machined glory, not hidden, ala Gibson, with pearl dots. This trait is found on almost all Holz 12s that we’ve seen. Scale length measures 25 1/4” and the neck 1 15/16” across at the zero fret. String spacing at the saddle is 2 5/8".

The neck was recently reset (Holzapfel guitars have a straight mortise and tenon neck joint as opposed to the typical dove tail joint found on Martin and most other guitars) and it seems the luthier used two bolts through the heel block to help secure the neck into the tenon joint . Earlier repairs include a back and side crack repair, a seam separation below the bridge and two hairlines glued at the bottom of the slots. The prior owner also shared that he ‘varnished’ the body several decades ago. The neck retains its original thin finish.

So how does an imposing, heavy-built Holzapfel 12-string sound? Like bells wafting from a Sherman tank. The tone rings out, loud and clear, with long sustain, very different from, say, the woody and growly tone of a Stella jumbo. Almost makes you think it’s X-braced. The neck is thick (we’ve played thicker) but it’s not clumsy to the player, and fits the hand fully but comfortably.

Holzapfel 12s are rare, probably more rare than a Stella jumbo, but not totally unknown in music circles. Dave “Snaker" Ray put one to good use on several seminal blues revival albums through the 60s, and Mike Seeger is known to have played one for years. The Holz 12 is held in pretty high esteem among players and collectors today. Give us a call to discuss a case and price. Please visit our website: www.vintagebluesguitars.com for more photos.