Fender Electric XII patent #s
- bessieboporbach
- PAT. # 2.972.923
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Fender Electric XII patent #s
I don't know how interesting this is going to be to anyone here, and it probably won't come as news, but I just looked up the patent numbers on the original Fender XII headstock decal. It turns out the numbers refer to:
1. Round-lam fingerboard (illustrated with a Musicmaster, including bridge cover), dated 1963
2. Offset body design (the famous "seated player" illustration; depicted guitar has what looks like a J-bass pickup in the neck, something else in the bridge, a covered vibrato and otherwise resembles a Strat), dated 1958
3. Split-coil pickup -- interestingly, a 4+2 design (not the 3+3 used on the guitar -- illustrated by what looks like a J bass!), filed 1961.
+, underneath, "PAT. PEND."
The new Alternate Reality XII omits the 3rd number, and instead offers another patent # -- a design revision to #2, this time depicting a normal Jazzmaster, dated 1958.
I, at any rate, found this interesting.
1. Round-lam fingerboard (illustrated with a Musicmaster, including bridge cover), dated 1963
2. Offset body design (the famous "seated player" illustration; depicted guitar has what looks like a J-bass pickup in the neck, something else in the bridge, a covered vibrato and otherwise resembles a Strat), dated 1958
3. Split-coil pickup -- interestingly, a 4+2 design (not the 3+3 used on the guitar -- illustrated by what looks like a J bass!), filed 1961.
+, underneath, "PAT. PEND."
The new Alternate Reality XII omits the 3rd number, and instead offers another patent # -- a design revision to #2, this time depicting a normal Jazzmaster, dated 1958.
I, at any rate, found this interesting.
- Pacafeliz
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Thank you COVID
i love delay SO much ...that i procrastinate all the time.
- bessieboporbach
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
lol, true
That being said, I found the round-lam patent most interesting of all. The application implies that the reason for the heel adjustment (as opposed to the neck adjustment used by competitors was because Leo thought the truss rod should NEVER need to be adjusted by the purchaser.
The dude may have been the greatest genius in the history of modern guitar design, but he sure did keep getting truss rods wrong...
- FEXII
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Where do you look up patent numbers?
- bessieboporbach
- PAT. # 2.972.923
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Google Patents lets you look at a lot of original materials. Here's the offset body patent:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2960900A/en
- BoringPostcards
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Heel adjust doesn't bother me at all. The necks on my Fenders only need occasional adjustments, and I use that time to take off the neck to oil, clean and check on other things.bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:54 amlol, true
That being said, I found the round-lam patent most interesting of all. The application implies that the reason for the heel adjustment (as opposed to the neck adjustment used by competitors was because Leo thought the truss rod should NEVER need to be adjusted by the purchaser.
The dude may have been the greatest genius in the history of modern guitar design, but he sure did keep getting truss rods wrong...
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.
- Embenny
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Yeah, I humidify my guitar room during the winter and since I don't change string gauges, I find my guitars easily go a half decade or longer without needing adjustment to the relief once they're acclimated and set up (I don't bother doing a full setup until I've had a guitar at least a month or two, to make sure it's fully acclimated).
The artist formerly known as mbene085.
- algeriet
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Heel or bust.bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:54 amThe dude may have been the greatest genius in the history of modern guitar design, but he sure did keep getting truss rods wrong...
- bessieboporbach
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
It is really interesting that very few other manufacturers did it this way on electric guitars, and pretty much nobody does it this way anymore. Leo simply did not want the customer adjusting the truss rod and felt he had no business doing so; heck, he didn't even think a truss rod of any kind was necessary at first, let alone an adjustable one.algeriet wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:10 amHeel or bust.bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:54 amThe dude may have been the greatest genius in the history of modern guitar design, but he sure did keep getting truss rods wrong...
Leo's idea (according to the patent) was that the guitar should be set up at the factory -- with flatwound 12s, of course -- and then left that way.
I believe the Harmony Stratotone guitars, and others of that type during that time, either did not have truss rods or didn't allow adjustment, so Leo wasn't the only one with this prejudice.
- algeriet
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Very similar to how FC Hall refused to pay to license the truss rod design (was it Gibson?) and opted instead to utilize their own design which was the double truss rod that you need to loosen then adjust the neck by physically moving it and finally then tighten the truss rods. Anything to save a quarter!bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:29 amIt is really interesting that very few other manufacturers did it this way on electric guitars, and pretty much nobody does it this way anymore. Leo simply did not want the customer adjusting the truss rod and felt he had no business doing so; heck, he didn't even think a truss rod of any kind was necessary at first, let alone an adjustable one.algeriet wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:10 amHeel or bust.bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:54 amThe dude may have been the greatest genius in the history of modern guitar design, but he sure did keep getting truss rods wrong...
Leo's idea (according to the patent) was that the guitar should be set up at the factory -- with flatwound 12s, of course -- and then left that way.
I believe the Harmony Stratotone guitars, and others of that type during that time, either did not have truss rods or didn't allow adjustment, so Leo wasn't the only one with this prejudice.
Here's a cute pic of the boys in question:
- bessieboporbach
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
That actually sounds like a decent system -- many manufacturers advise the user to "help" the neck in a similar way before locking down the setup. I just saw a video from Strandberg that gave that advice.algeriet wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:01 amVery similar to how FC Hall refused to pay to license the truss rod design (was it Gibson?) and opted instead to utilize their own design which was the double truss rod that you need to loosen then adjust the neck by physically moving it and finally then tighten the truss rods. Anything to save a quarter!bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:29 amIt is really interesting that very few other manufacturers did it this way on electric guitars, and pretty much nobody does it this way anymore. Leo simply did not want the customer adjusting the truss rod and felt he had no business doing so; heck, he didn't even think a truss rod of any kind was necessary at first, let alone an adjustable one.
Leo's idea (according to the patent) was that the guitar should be set up at the factory -- with flatwound 12s, of course -- and then left that way.
I believe the Harmony Stratotone guitars, and others of that type during that time, either did not have truss rods or didn't allow adjustment, so Leo wasn't the only one with this prejudice.
Here's a cute pic of the boys in question:
- algeriet
- PAT. # 2.972.923
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- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:29 am
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Re: Fender Electric XII patent #s
Well it's terrible, and that's all I have to say about that!bessieboporbach wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 9:35 amThat actually sounds like a decent system -- many manufacturers advise the user to "help" the neck in a similar way before locking down the setup. I just saw a video from Strandberg that gave that advice.