This isn't a NGD post, strictly speaking, but it will have some of that and a lot more.
My girlfriend got me one of the new Squier XII's as soon as they were available sometime in June. It arrived shortly after and since then (when not moving, raising a puppy or just busy with life in general) I've been playing it as well as planning and executing mods on it. Since a lot of us (here and elsewhere) seem interested in these guitars (and a select few especially interested in potential mods) I thought I'd share my experience (and show off my guitar).
I'd wanted an electric 12-string for a long time, due in large part to my love of Tom Petty. The situation which wasn't helped by a couple of acoustic ones (the first - an old Goya - wasn't bad but I didn't "bond" with it for whatever reason; the second - a Sigma - has been lovely and only needs a little attention to make it even better).
Aside from music that I love, I also really enjoy 12-string guitars for writing; something about the octave effect on the 4 lowest courses and the slight phasing effect I get from tuning the strings in each of the highest two slightly off from each other fills things out in a way that strongly suggests melodies, bass lines and other parts aside from what's actually being played.
The trouble was deciding which electric 12 to go for. Pretty much anything vintage was out due to expense, questions about integrity/reliability or both. Rickenbakers of any age are also too expensive for me. There's at least one Gretsch model that might have been doable but that I wasn't 100% sure I was into; I couldn't say why as I'd like a 6-string Gretsch someday. There's also at least one Epiphone floating around, but I knew I wanted my electric 12-string more jangly than you'd normally expect a humbucker-equipped guitar to be).
A 12-string Stratocaster was a real possibility; they seem well-liked, can be had for reasonable money, they jangle and I love Strats. However, I already have a (6-string) Strat and I don't generally like "repeating" guitar types in my collection (my Tele/Esquire and Jazzmaster/the eventual subject of this post notwithstanding).
Then came the Fender Alternate Reality Electric XXI's. I liked the look and sound of these and didn't mind the differences between them and the originals. I even spent a couple of hours playing one at Guitar Center and would have gone home with it if the manager had been willing to come down some (or if I'd been willing to be more financially irresponsible). I left without it that day and they were discontinued shortly after, with used examples being hard to come by at less than 150% of their original price.
All the while, I'd been intensely manifesting a Squier Electric XII. It had to happen eventually, right? They'd done virtually every other Fender guitar/variant at that point (and some others Fender hadn't), and bee recognized more and more as being able to turn out a great guitar (and not just "for the price"). I even signed the petition at the Offset Guitars forum (who knew/konws if the would/did work, but it couldn't/didn't hurt!).
So suffice to say that I was delighted when I saw the announcement for the Jazzmaster XII. No! It didn't have XXI-style pickups. Yes! It looked of Jazzmaster than XII. But it looked good, and whatever ended up not seeming good seemed like it would be easy enough to deal with. In an important, eternal lesson in your partner almost certainly knowing/listening more than you think they do, my girlfriend got on Reverb and ordered one in the finish I preferred:
Here's the NGD portion of this post: Right out of the box, there was nothing to complain about. It was even in tune (not that it would really mean anything if it wasn't, but it is a nice surprise). The guitar felt solid and well put-together, held tuning well and was reasonably well-intonated. The contouring on the body (especially where the forearm sits) seem a bit sudden or sharp, which I think shows in the above picture. Not problematic, but not as sexy as usual (and my Vintage Modified Jazzmaster shows that Squier can manage that.
The action was a touch high over the high frets even with the low-E saddle as low as it could go, so I wound up inserting a small shim into the neck cavity, but if for some reason this were a universe where that wasn't a thing I could have made do nicely.
I'm no expert on nuts, but aside from the aforementioned solid tuning, open chords are in tune and I don't even think about string spacing.
The second closest I can come (more later) to a complaint on this guitar's stock condition is the tuners. As I said, they hold well, and they look good, too. However, turning the keys feels a little rough on some of them, and I can feel something like a seam or ridge along them which makes them feel a bit cheap. But it's not terrible, it's not visually apparent and they work fine.
Acoustically, the guitar rings loud and clear, and for the first few days that was how I played it while I dialed in most of the set-up. When I finally got a chance to plug it in I knew that at least some modification was going to happen.
To be fair, I sort of expected it. My major complaint about this guitar is the pickups, particularly the bridge pickup which is pretty hot and not at all what I (or, I think, most players) want from my electric 12-string. Resistance is not the whole story, but as a comparison, the bridge pickup measures about 11k while, as far as I know, traditional, vintage-style Jazzmaster pickups are more 6k-7k. I also don't believe these are "Jazzmaster pickups", strictly speaking, but more on that later.
The 3-way selector toggle is a little stiff, but it works well and it seems the "good kind" rather than the "cheap import kind". The volume and tone controls work well, though I felt the tone control was a little too subtle for me.
...
Even before I got the guitar I knew I'd be doing some mods, mostly the get the guitar closer to a "real" XII in terms of aesthetic and function, as well as to fix/change whatever I didn't like about the guitar.
Once I had the guitar in hand, my "for sure" mods included a 4-way rotary switch, a bridge surround, XII-style pickups and a metal control plate.
That didn't last long.
The metal bits are available from Faction Guitars, but they wound up being a no-go for me. The first apparent problem was the control plate, in that the lower control bout of the Jazmaster-style pickguard on my guitar curves down, away from the body, while the traditional XII's curves back up slightly, toward it. See below:
I don't mind filling and drilling mounting holes, but I was concerned that the XII plate wouldn't properly cover the routing on the Squier.
No problem, however! I'll just use a Jaguar control plate! Gosh I felt smart.
I also wondered if the guitar would come routed for a JM/Jag-style rhythm circuit, sort of how Esquires might come with Tele neck pickup routing, or Teles and Strats that don't come stock with humbuckers routed to fit them, either to appease players by making a common mod easier, or as a money-saving gesture (even if it's not used it'll be covered up, so just rout them all rather than having different plans for different models).
Alas, this was not the case. See this pics I found on Reddit showing the guts and routing:
These pics probably also show my next problem: the bridge surround plate.
This is a simple metal plate (found on the Alternate Reality XII) that's just meant to show as much chrome on the body of the guitar as the original XII bridge did. See below:
Compare these with the pic of my Squier XII above.
There was a concern among myself, others I talked to on threads here, and other threads I read elsewhere that the plate may not fit between the bridge and the larger Jazzmaster pickups (and covers) the Squier comes with. Even if I replaced the pickups with XII-style ones like I intended, there was a question as to whether the routing for the JM pickups would make the area between the bridge and the rout too thin.
Still, the only way to answer a question is to answer it, so I ordered the plate. More on this later.
The pickups also posed a mild challenge. It turns out you can buy the ones used in the Alternate Reality XII, but these are subject to a minimum order of 60 or so, so that was out. Used ones are hard to come by, and vintage ones are stupid-expensive.
I considered some G&L z-coils, as it seemed I could remove them from their covers and use traditional XII covers on them, but as you can see below, it looked like I might have to file down the bobbin somehow to get them to fit:
Continued in the next post...
