Though some players find electric 12-string guitars fussy, finicky, and precious, they can be very practical and functional if, at the most elemental level, the design is solid. They have to be tuning stable, be extra playable to overcome the intrinsic challenges of 12-strings, and have clear, balanced pickups that can communicate all the additional harmonic information in a way that doesn’t turn your signal into mud. That’s why I’ve always believed a Telecaster to be an ideal 12-string platform. Not least because it has the added bonus of feeling familiar to so many players. That light, compact body profile is just one more way that you can make an electric 12-string feel less alien.
Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen uses a lot of electric 12-string these days—primarily to add a greater sense of orchestration and space to the band’s dense sound and current three-guitar configuration. It’s a role that would seem to fit a Telecaster-based 12-string to a “T.” But it was a fortuitous sequence of events that led to the signature Squier Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII reviewed here.
Initially, Van Leeuwen wanted a double-neck 6-and-12-string Jazzmaster for the job, a model that he now owns and uses. At the time, though, that massive instrument required six months in the Fender Custom Shop to build—and a Queens tour was looming. Custom Shop master builder Paul Waller proposed a solution in the easier-to-execute form of a single-neck Telecaster 12-string.
For the most part, that’s the template for the instrument you see here. And this Squier edition delivers in a way that would make Waller proud. It sounds fat and clear, the build is near-flawless, it feels natural and easy under the fingers, and the $599 price makes it approachable for players that don’t consider 12-string their primary instrument. But this is also an electric 12-string that serious 12-string players will dig, and I suspect many of them won’t hesitate to play this guitar in lieu of fancier, pricier, or vintage instruments that are safer at home.
Copper Chimes
One of the cool things about Van Leeuwen’s embrace of 12-strings is that he’s the kind of player that proves the instrument’s utility outside canonical, jangly applications. But that doesn’t mean you can’t put this guitar straight to work in a Byrdsian pop band. The basic tone profile, you won’t be surprised to hear, is quintessentially Telecaster. The bridge pickup is punchy and bright, with a just-right midrange that adds body without being overbearing. The neck pickup is mellow and twilight dark, with just enough air and brightness to add vital detail and a trace of daylight.
Compared to other 12-strings, the Van Leeuwen model’s Telecaster voice situates it in a distinctive place. The pickups sound and feel hotter than a Rickenbacker’s toaster tops, which means the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII lacks some of the headroom that a Rick makes available for high and high-mid harmonics and the addition of heavy compression. At full guitar volume that means output from the Telecaster’s bridge pickup feels less aerated, and a touch more claustrophobic than a vintage-spec Rick.
This isn’t unique to the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII—with the exception of some lipstick pickup-equipped Danelectros, most 12-strings sound more forceful and brawny than a toaster-top Rick, and that includes vintage Fender Electric XIIs and the Van Leeuwen’s Squier stablemate, the Paranormal Jazzmaster XII. In isolation, I’d hardly call it a problem, though. You can conjure a lot of a Rickenbacker toaster top’s extra oxygen by attenuating the Van Leeuwen’s volume a touch. And when paired with a clean Fender amp, the Telecaster’s neck pickup sounds spirited in a way that serves R.E.M.- and Smiths-flavored folk rock and power pop in a satisfying and very addictive way. The other pickup combinations are super useful, too. In the middle position I added vibrato, delay, and reverb to fashion clear, ethereal Slowdive-isms that sound beautiful in strummy rhythm contexts, and that a mix engineer would have little trouble nestling in a blend of other big spacey tones. The Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII’s neck pickup, meanwhile, demonstrated its own superpower when standing in for rich acoustic rhythm guitar. I love using this technique with other 12-string types to lend a breeziness and size to rhythm-guitar arrangements. But the neck pickup on the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII might be better suited to the role than any other electric 12-string I know.
“The bridge pickup is punchy and bright, with a just-right midrange that adds body without being overbearing.”
The Verdict
There aren’t a lot of new electric 12-string options out there in the world these days, and there are fewer still at the accessible end of the price spectrum. The guitars that do inhabit that market space, like Squier’s own $429 Paranormal Jazzmaster XII and Danelectro’s slightly more expensive 12-strings, are great values. But the Troy Van Leeuwen Paranormal Telecaster XII has the goods to be at the top of the heap among this company. Our test instrument was tuning-stable and built to a very high standard of quality. The 1.6875" nut width makes it extra playable. It’s also super stylish. Most importantly, though, it proved comfortable and full of sonic range and versatility—two critical attributes that stand to give this electric 12-string enduring appeal rather than mere sugar-rush novelty.
