New XII project

[Taylorplayer]

Some of you might have noticed I bought Glimmertwin's 66 Electric XII husk

So like everyone else with a XII project, I've been surfing and reading everything I can about the things. Truely I had no idea what I was getting into, assuming things like the bridge were going to be reasonably painless to buy.

The plan is that my fiance is going to freehand paint the body and match the headstock, then I'll have it cleared in nitro

So it's been interesing so far. Last night I won a Squire Venus XII on eBay and some parts (the hardest ones) will come from that. Here's my progress.

XII Parts List

Neck : Vintage 66 Neck Purchased, might have to explore other options due to charing
Body : Vintage 66 Body Purchased
Pickups : Seymour Duncan Pickups sourced from Squire Venus XII, see what they're like, thinking toward Novaks
Decal : Decal found but not purchased
String Retainer : sourced from Squire Venus XII
Neck Plate w/screws : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, Plan for 'F' Type plate
Strap Buttons : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, Plan for Dunlop Straplocks
Control Plate : Control Plate found but not purchased
Control Knobs : White-Witchhats sorced, Possibly temporary, other plans for Flat-Top tele knobs
Switch Tip : Waiting to head back from forum member, additional tips found.
Pickguard : Planning a pickguard from Chandlerguitars.com
Volume pot : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, see below
Tone Pot : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, see below
Rotary Switch :
Output Jack : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, see below
Capacitor(s) : Temporary Items sourced from Squire Venus XII, see below
3 Piece Bridge : Sourced from Squire Venus XII
Machine Heads : Thinking of canibalizing a Fender Villager or Shenandoah, or a locking tuner upgrade

So can anyone help me with the electronics side of things? I plan to just go ahead and buy CTS pots or better, but I don't know the Values needed. Same as the Caps, can anyone steer me in the right direction? Switchcraft is the only jack I'll use and It'll be sourced at the same time as the pots.

Has anyone found a suitble replacement for the original Rotary Switch? I know there's companies like mouser and stuff, but did anyone determine exactly which part to use?

All the help is appreciated

[mjet]

So like everyone else with a XII project, I've been surfing and reading everything I can about the things. Truely I had no idea what I was getting into, assuming things like the bridge were going to be reasonably painless to buy.

You didn't see the dozens of posts with people desperately searching for XII bridges and/or trying to get copies made? It's pretty much the biggest obstacle facing the XII project.

[Taylorplayer]

no,, I didn't reasearch it before I bought... well played huh? I just assumed that because the Venus and the Statocaster XII shared the bridge, they'd be more available..

oh well, I have the bridge now.

[mjet]

Only the older Strat XIIs and the Venus XII (which was made only for a year or so) had those. The recent production Strat XII models use the stock Gotoh 12-string bridge that looks a bit like a regular rectangular Strat hardtail bridge:



Getting individual parts from Fender Japan is something that I don't think anyone has cracked. It's pretty much an eBay-only play, unfortunately. There are plans afoot to get some bridges made but there are several parts and it takes a bit of time to get it done.

[Taylorplayer]

yeah... I was watching a few older Strats for the bridge in the UK.

But the Venus was cheaper and I wanted the pickups too. I'm happy so far.

I'm in Ireland for a year or two, If I was home, I'd be willing to look at having the bridge machined and cloned. But I'm simply not portable enough here. My car is in storage back home in Canada.

[glimmertwin]

Congrats - your well on your way!