NB, don't sell that 12 string. At some point in your life you will want what it does. Even my nice Martin is a bear to play. The neck is big. Push down the low string of the pair and you still have to push harder to sound the high string of the pair, and you have to do that without pushing so hard that you pull it out of pitch. It is a different animal. I look at as "exercise". My hands are stronger and better on a 6 string because of the strength the 12 string has "forced" me to have. I played with a pick all my life, I still have a drawer full of blue Wabash, but I have started using my bare fingers. Not really finger picking, but sort of using my fingers the same as I would a pick...sort of...I'm still developing my "style". Anyhow, the fleshy part of your finger may calm some of the "noise" as you call it. Let me be redundant...do not sell that Martin. Some day you will want to hear that "Chorus of Angels".