Not quite coming full circle, more like an overzealous G, but: I love the idea of an archtop 12 string. Good luck finding one, then one that a working stiff can afford, though.
Here’s a stunningly beautiful Benedetto 12-string Cremona model, which costs about as much as a solid down-payment on a house. Even its finish name, Claret, speaks to its exclusive nature.
After that, we slide into myth and possible Photoshop jobs. Here’s a D’Aquisto I stumbled over in my search for my budget-price Grail [see below]:
So, that Grail I mentioned. I’ve heard whispers that the Vestax shop that used to make D’Angelico copies also made seven- and even twelve-string one-off custom instruments. The only ocular proof I’ve ever found of the 12, unfortunately, is this vaguely fake-looking image:
I suppose the best solution is to find and buy an affordable archtop you like, take it to a luthier to have him/her elongate and re-drill the headstock for double-six tuners and hope that you picked an ax with a really good truss rod, to keep the neck straight for the first few years of the guitar’s new life [or have the luthier do a full neck makeover, what the hell.]