Looking for a 12 string Universal Robostar

[Nancy Beck]

Hello again. I have been researching these guitars and have gotten so much good advice, but I am a bit like a deer in headlights. I have had the honor of talking with Bill Stafford about getting into the “pedal” world coming from non-pedal C6. I have been searching for a very light weight 10 string (Robostar or Pro-lite)but Bill strongly suggested the 12 string Universal Excel (Fuzzy) like Susan Alcorn had, (Maroon in color). He suggested that I put a note out to see if anyone knows what happened to her instruments as Bill had sold her one that he highly recommends for me. I only want to buy one of these, and I want it to be the right fit. Bill says I want the 12 string so I can better convert to C6 tuning to play what I already know. I wish I had gotten to see Susan in person, but have studied her music and will continue to do so. Any thoughts on this or if there are any other guitars like this for sale, I’d appreciate a note. Thanks

[Bill McCloskey]

I have a 12 string Mullen RP in universal tuning for sale on the forum, if interested. Before she died, Susan was having issues with her fuzzy guitars and was told she would need to have shipped back to Japan to have it fixed. Not sure what happened after that. Here is my listing: viewtopic.php?t=409448

Nice thing about a Mullen is they are around to buy parts or get repairs and it is an easy guitar to change the copedence.

[Jared Ruari]

What an honor it would be to take care of one of Susan's guitars. I don't think I've seen any conversation about their whereabouts or whether they are for sale.

I recently switched my 12 string over to a close approximation of Susan's copedent on my Williams, and I'm planning to commission a Shoji in the near future. You'll want something with mechanical half stops, but so long as you have those you ought to be able to get there with most any modern or modern-ish 12 string.

[Steve Lipsey]

You can chat with Toshiyuki Shoji at shojikobo@gmail.com. He worked for Excel for 13 years and has developed a design that is an outgrowth of Excel's, with some improvements. He's just starting up his own business to do this, and is building a guitar for me...he is incredibly articulate, responsive, conscientious, and knowledgable. I can't recommend him highly enough! I'm not sure what his lead time might be, but he would be worth talking to....
By the way, one of his clever options to take some weight off is that he can provide legs, pedals, levers, and pedal bar in carbon fiber...

[Toshiyuki Shoji]

I was also involved in building Susan’s guitars, so I’ll do my best to answer your questions as far as I can.

Her guitars had a rather unique configuration: double-neck instruments with 10 strings on the front neck and 12 strings on the rear neck.
I suppose you could describe them as D10/12.

We built two guitars with the same specifications — one using the Exstar model and the other using the Robostar model.

Unfortunately, I don’t know who received the guitars after her passing.