Fender Electric XII

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Fender Electric XII
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Manufacturer	Fender
Period	1965-1969
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Woods
Body	Alder
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Rosewood
Hardware
Bridge	{{{bridge}}}
Pickup(s)	2 split single coil pickups
Colors available
Sunburst (standard), Apple candy red, Lake placid blue

The Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string electric guitar, designed for folk rockers. Instead of using a Stratocaster-body style, it used one with a Jaguar/Jazzmaster body style. It was also a departure from the typical "Stratocaster"-style headstock, instead featuring a long headstock nicknamed the "hockey-stick" headstock. The Electric XII split pickups which allowed the lower strings to be heard and featured fairly simple electronics. It used the traditional Fender string-through-body shape to help sustain.

The Electric XII was not particularly popular during its run, and by 1969, it was dropped from the Fender line. The body overstock was used for the Fender Custom (aka Fender Maverick).

Some notable users of the Electric XII were Pete Townshend, who used it extensively on the album Tommy, folk-rocker Tim Buckley, and Jimmy Page, who used it on Led Zeppelin's famous Stairway to Heaven on the studio recording. Johnny Winter also used one briefly (strung as a regular six-string) during the late 1960s and early 1970s as well as Krist Novoselic played the Fender XII while he was in Sweet 75.