I played my first electric XII at GC today!

[RumorsOFsurF]

I went in to Guitar Center today to poke around.  I finally played the sunburst Electric XII that they have had forever.  With a little tuning, it sounded great through a floor model Super Reverb RI!!  They want $2400 for it, and they claim it is a 66'.  The knobs are the only thing that appear to be blatantly incorrect...But the finish is beautiful and the thing sounds amazing!
I should have written the serial down!  It's a shame to see such a nice vintage instrument in the corporate whorehouse!




I really want one!!

[DB]

Looks pretty good, and the black witch hats are still available as NOS I believe.  Sounds like a pretty fair price if it looks as good as the photos and plays well.  Do yourself a favor and part with some cash 

DB

[daydreamdelay]

if you happen to know where those correct NOS witch hats are kindly point me in the direction! 


looks nice from what I can tell by those pics, man that little bit of GC looks exactly like the one here.. I have no idea why I'd be surprised by that though.

XII -> Super Reverb 

[mezcalhead]

XII through 4x10" Fender amp must be jangle heaven .. which makes it even more surprising that those are the first pics I've seen of you not smiling!

Justin, that also seems to have a really dark pickguard like yours .. ?

[Marc]

Yes there was a batch of dark XII pickguards in '66..... like this minty example......

http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDetail ... tem=855911

these XII's are relatively speaking cheap - a mint condition full scale no issues vintage fender for $3k????

[fenderjapan]

I'm really into '66 picguards, dark red and a white edge around the guard 

[Amber]

The XII bodies look smaller than Jazzmasters and Jags I've seen. They aren't though right?

[Marc]

they are the same size but more rounded at the foot of the body where the strap pin is.

[Amber]

Must be the pickguard shape that throws me off. I'd like to build hardtail 6 strings XII offset with a JM sized headstock.

[daydreamdelay]

wow yeah from the pic it looks that way and the one at Action is nearly identical 

must have been a VERY dark batch!

[i love sharin foo]

I don't know if this is the case or not, but my '66 Jazz has a darker guard. It has a lot of figuring still, but the basic color is more of the purplish maroon color that these pictured XIIs have. My XII is also a '66, but the guard is the older nitrate and looks the same as my '62 and '64 JMs. Maybe they made the first year or so using nitrate until it ran out, then switched to the vinyl material. I don't recall off hand though if I have seen any later XIIs that have nitrate guards. That could sink this theory immediately.

Justin

[daydreamdelay]

well my current JM and XII and past JM and XII were all 66's

the black one from 3/66 had a dark guard with a lot of figuring in the red but not the yellow chunks


current sunburst from 9/66 is a slightly brighter red with lots of yellow chunks


recently sold XII from 2/66 has the brighter red with yellow chunks


current XII from 6/66 .... GAH!   is a deep blood red with almost nothing going on aside from a few odd glow spots

[Orang Goreng]

Are those post-'65 tortoise guards still made of celluloid? Or did they change to vinyl (or whatever they used) like the white ones?

[i love sharin foo]

Are those post-'65 tortoise guards still made of celluloid? Or did they change to vinyl (or whatever they used) like the white ones?

To the best of my knowledge, they are vinyl.

Justin

[Marc]

there were plenty of nitrate tort guard around in 66.... the sunburst one I have from 66 is def nitrate - has the 'green' middle band and has shrunk/warped some. I just think they used them up slowly.... they probably ordered more which were the dark vinyl type and put them in the 'pickguard pile' over the remaining nitrate ones which then showed up again later on when stocks were low. My theory anyway.