Completed Fender XII build.

[N0_Camping4U]

Had some requests to show off my Fender XII build. I built this a couple of years ago but never got around to posting pictures of it.

Sounds and plays absolutely perfect through my 1961 Showman

Enough blabbin' - here's the pix.

[unreal77]

OFF THE HOOK

[TeenageShutdown!]

Proper pornography.

[vistavision]

That is phenomenal.

[daysleeperjeff]

Gorgeous! How much would you say you spent on this project...if you don’t mind sharing.

[armyofbees]

beatutiful! love the gold and that birdseye neck! well done!!

[mefgames]

That's a beauty !! Looks like you went all out with the bound neck and pearl inlays. Thanks for posting !!

[N0_Camping4U]

Hey everyone. Thank you for the nice comments. This was my dream guitar even before I owned a guitar. I'm a bassist first

I only own this Fender XII, and a Jaguar. These two satisfy all of my needs. I couldn't be happier. It's my favorite instrument.


As for price, and details:




The body and pickguard was made by the MAN - Jazzprod. He's on here. He can do anything. He painted and fixed up my old Jazz bass, check it out: viewtopic.php?t=99875
I think he did body and pickguard for 500.

MJT did the finish and matching headstock. Curiously, they said they'd do the matching headstock for free if they could put it on their website... and they never did. That was 300.

Warmoth did the neck, they're the only folks that would do it to all my specification. USACG was a pain in the ass when I contacted them. I don't like them. I know Warmoths blocks aren't vintage accurate, that wasn't a deterrent to me at all. I basically balled out here on the neck. Top tier 3A birdseye, dark braz board, binding, bone nut, real pearl blocks, raw satin finish. I think this was about 700-800.

Curtis novak did the pickups. I got the normal and the 'fat' this was 260.

Bridge, tuners, strings, cloth internals etc probably ran another 100 or so.

All in with shipping everything I'd say I was around 2,000 dollars. I have absolutely no regrets. I love this damn thing.

Thank you for Jazzprod who was a big big help (and who is building me a LPB Bass VI right now ).... (And who I want to talk with about doing a type 1 Marauder build one day....)

Happy to answer any other questions. Thank you again everyone <3

[wproffitt]

That is pretty awesome. If I ever have a XII, I’ll probably go this route. What bridge are you using here?

[kgbAttack]

Beautiful! Congrats!

[StevenO]

That looks really wonderful. Great job!

[JVG]

Totally awesome!

Is that a Gotoh bridge with a separate metal surround? Where did you get that from?

Cheers!
J.

[N0_Camping4U]

Totally awesome!

Is that a Gotoh bridge with a separate metal surround? Where did you get that from?

Cheers!
J.

Good eye. It is a surround plate for a Gotoh bridge - I got that here: https://store.factionguitars.com/produc ... ound-plate
The bridge works perfectly. An old friend of mine has a real-deal Fender XII... And I know this sounds bogus but even he agrees mine feels and plays better than his. He has actually been tossing around the idea of building one so he can get a custom color on it and then sell his vintage burst... In a blind-folded taste test, you'd never be able to pick out which one is vintage and one which isn't. They sound that similar.

[46346]

Holy Hockey Stick! that neck! the maple...
i remember when you got this started way back... and now this made my morning.


tell me about the Novak Fat pup - where do you have it and what's it like?

[N0_Camping4U]

Holy Hockey Stick! that neck! the maple...
i remember when you got this started way back... and now this made my morning.


tell me about the Novak Fat pup - where do you have it and what's it like?

It seems like forever ago I started but it was maybe 2 years or so ago. I haven't seen many people complete a build of theirs. Maybe 1 or 2 people.

I got the Novak Fat just because he recommended it and I was kind of in a 'no expense spared' mindset.

As I mentioned earlier, an old friend of mine has a real deal vintage Fender XII, and ours sound very very similar. I'm not sure exactly how much the Novak Fat has to do with it, but it must do something. When I had both in my hand they were noticeably different looking in the windings aspect.

The Fat pickup goes in the bridge pickup, so that's where I mounted it.



Side note: I have flat wound strings on my Fender XII. I started with rounds, then went half-n-half... Now it is entirely flat wounds and I truly think that is the way to go. I've read it sounds more vintage and jangly... And I truly think it does. I get a pack from Pick of the Ricks that they hand assemble to emulate the old style 12 strings. After I put that 12 string pack on - there was no turning back. I highly recommend picking those up. They make packs once every couple of months, but they only make 50 or so and they immediately run out. I missed getting them twice even with the email notification on