Kids 12-String Basses:
The "Dragons" and More

Kids 12-string basses were made in Japan in the early 1990's by the Hiroshigi Kids Guitar Company.
Kids made these in a special production run that has been reported to number fewer than 30 basses total. They are 34" long scale.

The Kids basses were designed using Tom Petersson's Hamer B12A bass with the Planet Hologram paint job as a starting point. That bass had a slightly different headstock and the neck was thinner than the standard B12A.

Kid's bass compared to a standard Hamer B12A

While these basses are frequently referred to as Dragon Basses because of the dragon designs on the body, not all Kids basses incorporate them into the design. Some of Nikki Sixx's basses incorporate Japanese characters rather than dragons.

Kid's pick-ups

The pick-ups include DiMarzio X2N's. Some basses were made with all black pick-ups,
others had red, green or white pick-ups or various colors combined with black.

Another Dragon Inlay

The Kid's 12-string bass headstock with "Custom Built Electric Guitar" inscription:
The "Kid's" name can be found in different positions / orientations.

Gotoh 510 Bass tuners

Close-up of a Dragon head

AJ Maltese from New York on stage with his Kid's 12-string bass

Close-ups of AJ's Kids 12

Tom Petersson owned several different Kids basses:

Teal Green Dragon bass

This bass was stolen from Tom Petersson during a tour of Japan but he was reunited with it in 2005.

Close-up of the pick-ups in a Petersson Kids bass.

This Kid's 12-string bass is owned by Lance Dierker.

Three outputs.

The first Kid's 12 has a hole that was cut to be used as a truss rod adjustment but then abandoned.

The "Tom Petersson" name badge covered the hole....

....but the name plate on this first Tom Petersson bass had his surname misspelled.
This error was reported to have been corrected on the other Petersson basses.

Tom Petersson autographing this bass, with his signature shown below.
When Lance told Tom that he would never sell this bass and it would go with him to the grave,
Tom signed it, "R.I.P. Tom Petersson".

Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue played five Kids basses, all of which are shown here.

 
Kids Basses Without Dragons:

Kids Players Page