The original Electric XII employed a unique split pickup design and had a 4-way pickup rotary selector allowing for neck, neck & bridge in parallel, in or out of phase, and bridge only options as opposed to the Alternate Reality version which sports a standard 3-way toggle switch for pickup selection.

It also used a string-through-body design similar to a Telecaster to help increase sustain.

Unlike its competitors' electric 12-string models which were simply existing 6-string guitars with six extra strings, the Fender Electric XII was a purpose-built 12-string designed to capture a part of the folk-rock market.

The bridge has an individual saddle for each string making precise intonation possible.

The Electric XII was not particularly popular during its run, and by 1969, it was dropped from the Fender line before being reintroduced as a part of the Alternate Reality series in 2019.