Fender Electric XII 12 String Solid Body Electric Guitar (1966)

Fender Electric XII Model 12 String Solid Body Electric Guitar (1966), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 136729, sunburst lacquer finish, alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black tolex hard shell case. This Fender Electric XII was re-worked a bit in the 1980s but is largely as built and a fine player's example. Based on the extremely faded finish looks like it spent a lot of time in the sun at one point! This mid-'60s model is not one of Fender's best-remembered creations but nonetheless is a superbly engineered, great-sounding and extremely practical instrument. Introduced at the 1965 NAMM Show at the dawn of the CBS/Fender era the Fender 12-string married the popular Jaguar/Jazzmaster style offset body to a new 12-string neck with a distinctive extended "hockey stick" headstock. The neck itself is typically Fender; slim and very comfortable. These are often considered the best-playing electric 12s of the 1960s. The electronics are unique as well with two pickups each with two separate coil units as pioneered by the Precision Bass but with smaller Mustang-style coils. These are mated to a 4-way lever switch allowing individual pickup selections or two different phase combinations. The bridge is a marvel of Leo Fender's engineering prowess; it strings through the body with 12 intonation-adjustable saddles and is generally considered the best unit of its kind. This guitar dates to 1966, the year the great majority of Electric XIIs were made. The neck heel is dated February 1966; the pots are coded to the 17th week of that same year and one of the pickup coils is hand dated '66 as well. The neck is chunkier feeling than some of these we have had, but still quite comfortable. With all the original engineering involved, Fender somewhat missed the boat a bit on the electric 12-string fad and by the time the "Electric XII" was ready to market in quantity in late 1965 it was Rickenbacker that had already reaped the bulk of benefit of the Byrds' and Beatles' popularization of the sound. For all that, the solidbody Fender is a very good design and an excellent-sounding stage or recording instrument, albeit without exactly capturing the Rick's trademark jangle. Led Zeppelin, the Velvet Underground, The Move, The Kinks, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band, and many others have made classic recordings with this model, and its full potential is perhaps still untapped.   Overall length is 42 7/8 in. (108.9 cm.), 14 in. (35.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). This is a generally very nice example of this unsung Fender gem, with some typically 70/80s internal re-working but only very minor wear overall. The sunburst body finish has so much fade that on first look we thought it might have been refinished, but no, the finish is original with really only light handling wear. The bold "target" sunburst is almost completely gone with only some dull red around the black edges; under the pickguard it is still bright and bold! For some reason the finish was very carefully sanded out of the neck cavity; there was a theory back in the day this would improve neck/body contact. This was neatly done with some light touch up around the edges; whether it actually made any difference to the sound of the guitar we can't say. This body also has a more common internal modification: the application of metallic shielding paint to all the electronics cavities, in this case under the metal shielding plates Fender installed. There is also a heavier copper shielding foil under the pickguard, which is the only non-original part on the guitar being a well-done repro from the '80s. There are only small dings and dents to the body finish, it is mostly quite clean; these are largely concentrated on the edges. The back of the neck is quite clean as well with a bit of wear to the wood along the treble edge and a few small dings. There is minor checking to the headstock; the decal is mostly intact except the "E" is missing from the model name and it now reads a funkier 'LECTRIC XII. Beyond the pickguard the rest of the hardware is all original shows only some typical minor wear. This guitar was very neatly refretted long ago with wire slightly taller than '60s Fender spec. Someone really want to a lot of trouble several decades back to optimize this guitar as a player, then seems to have not actually used it a lot; it appears have simply not have been played that much. There's a lesson there somewhere. At any rate now decades on this is a lovely package of 1960s timeless jangle from Fullerton, about the best playing one we have had housed in the original black Tolex Fender HSC. Overall Excellent - Condition.