Electric 12-Strings
Two equally important and iconic 12-strings with contrasting tonal advantages
“ The Fender Electric XII was by far the most recorded electric 12-string guitar. Everybody from Jimmy Page to Glen Campbell, Joe Perry, Joe Walsh, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan and Tim Buckley played them. In fact, pretty much every 1960s or 70s record with electric 12-string guitar that wasn’t The Beatles or The Byrds was recorded with a Fender.
“The Fender XII was available in sunburst and any custom colour that was available in 1965. This Sonic Blue is the only one I’ve seen, but I have heard about others. It’s from earlier in 1965 and it’s a very original guitar. By late 1965 they had changed from Klusons to the ‘F’-stamped Schaller tuners. It’s common to see midto late-1965 necks that were drilled for both sets of tuners. Look closely and you’ll see one set of holes was never tapped for screws, but people often assume the tuners have been swapped.
“The 1965 necks were unbound with pearloid dots and a white pickguard. Later that year Fender added fretboard binding, and rectangular blocks replaced the dots in 1966. Some very early XIIs have pearloid pickguards, but these may have been prototypes. They never had mint ’guards, but Fender began putting tortoise ’guards on sunbursts and blondes.
“They remained in the catalogue until 1970, but I’ve never seen one made after 1968. They introduced polyester finishes that year, but every Fender XII I’ve seen had nitrocellulose lacquer. To ask around $300 for a guitar that was only going to be used once during a set was a lot of money at the time. People stopped buying them and the Electric XII was discontinued at the same time as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar.
“After cutting down the hockey stick headstock, Fender used the leftover necks and bodies to build the Custom and Maverick. They had to fill in the rear holes and paint the backs black so nobody would see, but they never really took off.
“Even by Rickenbacker standards, the 366 model is a truly unique guitar because it has a comb-like device that dampens the second set of strings. Some people call them ‘convertibles’ because you can use one as a six-string or a 12-string. They were available in the most common Jetglo, Fireglo and Mapleglo colours, and although I haven’t seen one in another colour, I’m sure Rickenbacker could have done that and probably did.
“The comb pulled six of the strings out of the way and muted them, but you still hear a plunking sound. It adds weight, and when you release the comb, the strings will always be out of tune. The 366 has the same crushed pearl shark-tooth inlays as the 360, and all the other appointments are the same. A lot of people take the comb off t
