Fender Electric XII sounds great

[akpasta]

[Nickmag01]

If the pickups are stock and from 66 they could be dead. Ive bought/had multiple pickups go dead on me due to being left next to speakers (BAD IDEA AS SPEAKERS ARE MAGNETIC) and general old age and corrosion/wear. If you dont care about resale value you should get new Pickups. Ive also heard the Wampler 30 something pedal can give a chimey vox tone on the clean channel if thats what you are going for and dont want to change pickups. Anyway, best luck -Nick

[Mikeo]

I have 4 Rickenbacker guitars.

3 of them with the modern Rick pups and a recent purchase has the toaster pups.

 

I can work with both style of pick ups.

 

One of the Ricks I have is a 330 12 string.

 

They don't automatically do the Rickenbacker jangle thing.

 

 

 

I have thought about adding a Jangle Box, however I have not. I get my tone from a Fulltone II, by pushing the thing just ever so slightly into the cusp of distortion. I also use a Barber Tone press to compress the sound a bit.

 

They make a few jangle boxes

 

http://www.janglebox.com/

 

[video=youtube;a1_j2oxanys]

 

Although I am not interested in purchasing you guitar, I hope this helps.

 

I had a Danelectro RI back in the 90's, didn't like it at all. It's very toy like.

 

The amp is another key to the Rick sound. Fenders Blackface amps work nicely, I use a Dr Z Maz 18 from time to time. All the Ricks I own have slightly different neck, the new 350 is very thin and wider than my others. The 620 is fat and narrow, and it takes me a minute to get used to it. The 330-12 is a bit fatter than my standard 330

 

Another key to the sound is not over playing, make the the guitar do some of the work, pick the individual strings, more on the gentle side, but meaningful.

 

I'm a fan of the Tom Petty, The Smiths, The Railway Children, The Church, REM, The Smithereens who used Marshall amps.

 

[video=youtube;fgGLKN9E888]

 

[video=youtube;rQo0cR1onRM]

 

[video=youtube;KR2_gmhoZn4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2_gmhoZn4

 

[video=youtube;HzFxhmuxUvw]

 

[video=youtube;oI95tu8BMwU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI95tu8BMwU

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thatsbunk]

I have a Dano 12 string as well & agree with you on the toy like feel. It's not that important to me though as I only play a couple of songs with it when we gig.

 

It is jangly as all get out though. I think a lot of it has to do with the lipstick pickups.

 

I'd maybe consider getting a new pickguard for the guitar & load it up with some cheap lipsticks from GFS or the like & save the original pickguard & pickups if you decide to sell the guitar later.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have a Ric 6 string, which I like quite a bit, but you're right - their 12 string necks can be pretty narrow unless you get something like a 660/12, which has a wider fretboard on it.

 

I always wanted a 12 string Rickenbacker to go along with my 6 string. Back in 1998 I wound up getting one of the first generation Danelectro DC-12 reissues. It pretty much cured my Ric 12 GAS. I've used that guitar on numerous recording sessions, as have several other musicians, and none of us have ever considered it, or called it a toy guitar. It's a budget guitar, but it's more than capable of professional results.

 

Now on to your Fender Electric XII. They're classics for sure, and much more valuable on the used / vintage market than your DC-12. Like the DC-12, the neck is wider than what you'll find on most Ric 12's (except for the previously mentioned 660/12), and easier to play because of that. The classic example of what they "sound like" is the studio version of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven - the 12 string electric on that is a Fender Electric XII. It comes in at around 2:25 or so with strums, then arpeggios at about 2:50. The sound is not particularly bright or jangly (it gets a bit moreso at about 3:13 when the doubletracked Electric XII comes in), but it's definitely not "crunchy" or breaking up. Yours should sound very similar - if not, there might be a problem somewhere.

 

Like many 50-60 year old vintage guitars, yours needed some love - the setup, new frets, etc. But it's possible it has some other electronic issues too.

 

First of all, I'd have a tech take a look at the electronics, or if you're handy, you can DIY. Are the pots crackling on it or scratchy sounding when you turn them? If so, they should be cleaned - spray a bit of Caig DeOxIt into them (from the back/ side opening near the solder lugs) and turn them up and down several times to distribute it. Then use a DMM to measure the DC resistance of the pickups. If one is significantly lower than the other, or if they're both really low, they might need to be rewound. That's definitely not a DIY job unless your hobby is winding pickups... if that needs to be done, have it done by someone who really knows what they're doing. Curtis Novak sells replacement Electric XII pickups for $120 each if you'd rather go that route, or he can rewind yours.

 

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with your pickups, pots or wiring, but it's possible, especially considering the age of the guitar. I'd want to make sure that's all good first before moving forward.

 

The pickups used on those guitars are not very high output, but they do have a few interesting aspects. They're "split" - two coils. But unlike the split P-Bass pickups, they have the same magnetic polarity on each coil, so they're not hum cancelling - as with the Danelectro, you can expect some noise. However the switching is a four position switch that runs the pickups alone or together in series, or in parallel. The in-parallel setting is going to usually sound more "jangly" than the in-series combination. That's the second switch position - the one next to the bridge-alone setting. The "in between" switch setting closer to the neck pickup alone is the one where they're in-series.

 

For jangle, stick with either the bridge alone, or the bridge and neck in parallel. If it's crunching up, and there's nothing wrong with the pickups, then turn down. While a slight bit of edge or slight breakup when you really dig in is okay, high gain isn't desirable for a jangle sound. However, lots of compression is. That will definitely help with your lack of sustain issues. You definitely want to use a compressor if a "jangle" sound is what you're going for. Both the Byrds and Beatles used compression extensively - especially on 12 string electrics.

 

The other big component that a lot of people overlook is treble boost - it's another very important part of that sound, and something the Beatles used by the bucket full. A treble boost pedal in front of the compressor can be tried, or you can try your graphic EQ, set to boost the treble. It's not the same thing, but it may get you into the ballpark. But ideally, you'll either want a Janglebox, or a modified Dynacomp with the treble boost mod. The Dynacomp uses a treble boost before the compression stage, then a comparable treble cut after it - that's done to reduce noise. By removing the capacitor that cuts the treble post-compression, the pedal gets much brighter sounding. I've done the mod to one of my Dynacomps, but I can't give you the details since they use different circuit boards and not all of them are wired up the same, but information about the mods is easily found online. If you can't solder, a tech can do the mod fairly easily, or even install a switch that lets you switch back and forth between the modded and stock circuit.

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

I'd maybe consider getting a new pickguard for the guitar & load it up with some cheap lipsticks from GFS or the like & save the original pickguard & pickups if you decide to sell the guitar later.

 

That won't work unless you route the body of the guitar for the new pickups to fit - I'd definitely not recommend doing that to a vintage Electric XII.

 

 

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[mrbrown49]

Have you tried adjusting the pickup height? It won't cure all your problems, but frequency issues are sometimes a result of improper height adjustment, usually way too close.

[thatsbunk]

oh... nevermind.

[akpasta]

still sounds great!

[akpasta]

Thank you for your response. Those bands are basically the sound I am going for as well.

 

Which would you say is your favorite Rick 12 string? Is there one you'd recommend?

[akpasta]

Yup, i've messed with that as well :-)

[akpasta]

Thank you for this suggestion. I just dropped the guitar back at the shop to test the pickups

[Mikeo]

I just remembered about this thread.

 

I only own a 330-12. I am very happy with it. The Rick modern pick ups are a bit different than the vintage toaster pick ups.

 

Try a Model 360/12C63 , if you can find one. 330-12's and 360-12's are easier to find

 

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Rickenbacker/360-12C63-C-Series-12-String-Electric-Guitar-Fireglo-1274034491782.gc

 

Used

On Reverb

 

https://reverb.com/p/rickenbacker-360-slash-12c63-fireglo-2017

[akpasta]

What's the difference between the 360/12c63 and the regular 330/12 and 360/12?