Fender Electric XII
Encyclopedia
The Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string
electric guitar
, designed for folk rock
ers. Instead of using a Stratocaster
-body style, it used one similar to a Jaguar
/Jazzmaster
body style. It was also a departure from the typical "Stratocaster"-style headstock
, instead featuring a long headstock nicknamed the "hockey-stick" headstock. The Electric XII used a unique split pickup design and had a 4 way pickup selector allowing for neck, neck & bridge in series, neck & bridge in parallel and bridge only options. It also used a string-through-body design similar to a Telecaster to help increase sustain.
Designed by Leo Fender
, the Fender Electric XII was introduced in late 1965 with the bulk of the production taking place in 1966 before it was discontinued around 1970. Unlike its competitors’ electric 12-string models which were simply existing 6-string guitars with six extra strings, the Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string designed to capture a part of the folk-rock market. The bridge has an individual saddle for each string making precise intonation possible.
The Electric XII was not particularly popular during its run, and by 1969, it was dropped from the Fender line. The body overstock was used for the Fender Custom
(aka Fender Maverick).
Some notable users of the Electric XII were Pete Townshend
, who used it extensively on the album Tommy
, folk-rocker Tim Buckley
, and Jimmy Page
, who used it on Led Zeppelin
's famous Stairway to Heaven
on the studio recording and on Jeff Beck
's, Beck's Bolero
. Pye Hastings used one during the early days of prog-rockers Caravan
, notably on their seminal album For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night in 1973. Johnny Winter
also used one briefly (strung as a regular six-string) during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lou Reed
and Sterling Morrison
purchased matching Fender XIIs before the sessions for the Velvet Underground's eponymous third album in 1968. Chad Taylor
of LIVE
prominently used a lake placid blue Fender XII both on stage and in the studio, most notably to write and record the single Run to the Water
, as well as several other tracks on the band's platinum album The Distance to Here
. Krist Novoselic
of Nirvana
also played the Fender XII while he was in Sweet 75
. The Verve
guitarist Nick McCabe
used a Fender Electric XII for live performances on the band's 2008 comeback tour, notably on 'Space and Time' from their 1997 album Urban Hymns
. You can also see Gustavo Cerati
of Soda Stereo
with a Fender XII in the videos of "En la ciudad de la furia" ("In fury's city") and "de Música ligera" ("of light music"). Tom Petty
used a white Fender XII for the first half of his 2006 North American Tour instead of his signature Rickenbacker
12-string. Eric Clapton used it for the recording of "Dance the Night Away" with the band Cream in 1967. John Paisano, the "official" guitarist of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass used the Fender Electric XII extensively. It is best heard in the intro of their recording of "Wade in the Water
". The guitar is also seen played by Steve Bartek
on the Oingo Boingo Farewell DVD/video. Jason Mozersky of Relentless7
also uses an Electric XII.
Twelve string guitar
The twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar...
electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, designed for folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
ers. Instead of using a Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
-body style, it used one similar to a Jaguar
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...
/Jazzmaster
Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as an upmarket sibling to the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed at jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s...
body style. It was also a departure from the typical "Stratocaster"-style headstock
Headstock
Headstock or peghead is a part of guitar or similar stringed instrument. The main function of a headstock is holding the instrument's strings. Strings go from the bridge past the nut and are usually fixed on machine heads on headstock...
, instead featuring a long headstock nicknamed the "hockey-stick" headstock. The Electric XII used a unique split pickup design and had a 4 way pickup selector allowing for neck, neck & bridge in series, neck & bridge in parallel and bridge only options. It also used a string-through-body design similar to a Telecaster to help increase sustain.
Designed by Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...
, the Fender Electric XII was introduced in late 1965 with the bulk of the production taking place in 1966 before it was discontinued around 1970. Unlike its competitors’ electric 12-string models which were simply existing 6-string guitars with six extra strings, the Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string designed to capture a part of the folk-rock market. The bridge has an individual saddle for each string making precise intonation possible.
The Electric XII was not particularly popular during its run, and by 1969, it was dropped from the Fender line. The body overstock was used for the Fender Custom
Fender Custom
The Fender Custom was a short-lived model released by the CBS-owned Fender in 1969. Essentially a six-string Fender Electric XII, the Custom was an attempt to sell off unused factory stock instead of simply writing it off. The guitar was made with unused parts from Electric XII guitars, including...
(aka Fender Maverick).
Some notable users of the Electric XII were Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, who used it extensively on the album Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
, folk-rocker Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...
, and Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, who used it on Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's famous Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
on the studio recording and on Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
's, Beck's Bolero
Beck's Bolero
"Beck's Bolero" is a short, rock-based instrumental piece heavily influenced by Maurice Ravel's Boléro, recorded in May 1966 by Jeff Beck with Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Keith Moon on drums...
. Pye Hastings used one during the early days of prog-rockers Caravan
Caravan (band)
Caravan are an English band from the Canterbury area, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the Canterbury scene, blending...
, notably on their seminal album For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night in 1973. Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
also used one briefly (strung as a regular six-string) during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
purchased matching Fender XIIs before the sessions for the Velvet Underground's eponymous third album in 1968. Chad Taylor
Chad Taylor
Chad Taylor is a guitarist in the bands The Gracious Few and Live. Live have sold over 20 million records, including the 8x platinum album Throwing Copper.-Biography:...
of LIVE
Live (band)
Live is an American rock band from York, Pennsylvania, composed of Chad Taylor , Patrick Dahlheimer , and Chad Gracey . Lead singer and principal songwriter Ed Kowalczyk left the band in November 2009....
prominently used a lake placid blue Fender XII both on stage and in the studio, most notably to write and record the single Run to the Water
Run to the Water
"Run to the Water" is a song by alternative rock group Live, which was released in 2000 as the second single from their 1999 album, The Distance to Here.-Australian CD single:#"Run to the Water" – 4:27#"The Dolphin's Cry" – 5:08...
, as well as several other tracks on the band's platinum album The Distance to Here
The Distance to Here
The Distance to Here is the fourth studio album by the band Live, released in 1999. It debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling 138,000 copies in its first week and was certified Platinum by the RIAA on November 19, 1999.-Track listing:...
. Krist Novoselic
Krist Novoselic
Krist Anthony Novoselic II is a Croatian-American rock musician, best known for being the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. After Nirvana ended, Novoselic formed Sweet 75 and then Eyes Adrift, releasing one album with each band...
of Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
also played the Fender XII while he was in Sweet 75
Sweet 75
Sweet 75 was a band formed by Krist Novoselic in 1994 after the death of Nirvana band member Kurt Cobain. The band released one album before splitting up in 2000.-History:...
. The Verve
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
guitarist Nick McCabe
Nick McCabe
Nick McCabe is a musician best known as the lead guitarist of The Verve.-Early life:Nick McCabe was the son of a bus driver and has two older brothers, Alan and Paul...
used a Fender Electric XII for live performances on the band's 2008 comeback tour, notably on 'Space and Time' from their 1997 album Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns is the third album by English rock band The Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Recordings. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year...
. You can also see Gustavo Cerati
Gustavo Cerati
Gustavo Adrián Cerati Clark is an Argentine rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He was the frontman, lead vocalist, lead guitarist and lead songwriter of the Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, one of the most influential bands of latin rock music. In the early 90s, with...
of Soda Stereo
Soda Stereo
Soda Stereo were an Argentine rock band who are recognized as one of the most influential and important Latin American and Ibero-American bands of all time...
with a Fender XII in the videos of "En la ciudad de la furia" ("In fury's city") and "de Música ligera" ("of light music"). Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
used a white Fender XII for the first half of his 2006 North American Tour instead of his signature Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
12-string. Eric Clapton used it for the recording of "Dance the Night Away" with the band Cream in 1967. John Paisano, the "official" guitarist of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass used the Fender Electric XII extensively. It is best heard in the intro of their recording of "Wade in the Water
Wade in the water
"Wade in the Water" is the name of an African-American spiritual first published in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J...
". The guitar is also seen played by Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek, born in Garfield Heights, Ohio on January 30, 1952, is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor and orchestrator.-Early career:...
on the Oingo Boingo Farewell DVD/video. Jason Mozersky of Relentless7
Relentless7
Relentless7 is an American rock band formed in 2008 by singer/guitarist Ben Harper. The current members are Harper , Jason Mozersky , Jesse Ingalls , and Jordan Richardson .-History:...
also uses an Electric XII.