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Geddy Lee's custom doubleneck Rickenbacker.


Grand Designs

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Weight of the double-neck is one issue. The advent of digital technology in the form of sequences and trigger devices is another reason. I believe Geddy cited both in the "Contents Under Pressure" book as well as mentioning that the double-neck was the first ever for Rickenbacker and especially built for him.
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QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 21 2005, 06:15 PM)
You mean this...

http://www.stthomasu.ca/~pmccorm/research/glee4080JG.jpg

XANADU.................This double next is in the rock n roll of fame..

correct me if i'm wrong! He also used it for the TREES.

correct me if i'm wrong!

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QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jan 23 2005, 04:11 AM)
I was exaggerating a little but this is the second time you've done it.  Maybe its because we both have Celtic names on the Forum.

No offence taken - there are far worse people to get mixed up with biggrin.gif

I've tried to figure it out but can't. Oh well, I'll chaulk it up to a huge 'brain-fart', or maybe I was drunk trink38.gif wacko.gif , or maybe it's just all the MEDS! Actually, I think I had just answered Madra on a previous post and just plain screwed up! fing.gif I told them it was way too early to remove the restraints, but the voices in my head said "let em do it!"! doh.gif laugh.gif

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QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 22 2005, 09:03 PM)
QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jan 22 2005, 06:23 PM)
QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 22 2005, 01:03 AM)
QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jan 21 2005, 06:32 PM)
If I remember right, I think that Ged's was one of, if not the, first double necks that Rickenbacker made.

I think you're right Madra. I remember reading that somewhere. And that Geddy doesn't even have it any more! He gave it to a friend who has it now.

Just out of curiosity, why do you always get me and madra mixed up?

doh.gif

Would "because I'm aparently an idiot" due as an answer??!! confused13.gif

I actually have no idea! unsure.gif Didn't even realize it! laugh.gif You said always... how long have I been doing that Slain? I'm so sorry! I can't even figure out HOW I could have done that! sad.gif I promise you, I'll pay more attention.

I can't say I haven't done that myself laugh.gif sorry guys smile.gif

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Geddy disliked his double-neck Rickenbacker. In an interview for Sounds magazine, he said "There's something in the basis of the instrument that's totally illogical". I think he sold it quite a few years ago, I saw it at a music show once.

 

Oh, just dug out my scan of that interview:

 

http://groover.kicks-ass.net/images/geddy_sounds1979.jpg

 

 

 

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QUOTE (Slim @ Jan 23 2005, 04:30 PM)
Geddy disliked his double-neck Rickenbacker. In an interview for Sounds magazine, he said "There's something in the basis of the instrument that's totally illogical". I think he sold it quite a few years ago, I saw it at a music show once.

Oh, just dug out my scan of that interview:

http://groover.kicks-ass.net/images/geddy_sounds1979.jpg

Is there a way that you could enlarge that interview? For some reason, it appears minimized, therefore, making it unreadable. I'd really appreciate it if there was a way that you could fix it. Thanks!

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QUOTE (Grand Designs @ Jan 23 2005, 01:41 PM)
QUOTE (Slim @ Jan 23 2005, 04:30 PM)
Geddy disliked his double-neck Rickenbacker.  In an interview for Sounds magazine, he said "There's something in the basis of the instrument that's totally illogical".  I think he sold it quite a few years ago, I saw it at a music show once.

Oh, just dug out my scan of that interview:

http://groover.kicks-ass.net/images/geddy_sounds1979.jpg

Is there a way that you could enlarge that interview? For some reason, it appears minimized, therefore, making it unreadable. I'd really appreciate it if there was a way that you could fix it. Thanks!

It's at size 1300 x 1603.

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QUOTE (Grand Designs @ Jan 23 2005, 04:41 PM)
Is there a way that you could enlarge that interview? For some reason, it appears minimized, therefore, making it unreadable. I'd really appreciate it if there was a way that you could fix it. Thanks!

Well I'll admit the text is somewhat small, sorry about that but it should still be just about legible - unfortunately that's the only copy I have apart from the original paper.

 

I wonder if your browser is auto-shrinking the image to fit its window? I know Firefox does that on occasion - however, you should be able to defeat that behaviour somehow if that's what's happening. If using Firefox, just do a left-click when you see the magnifying glass cursor (with a + in the centre)

 

Cheers

Slim

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QUOTE (Slim @ Jan 23 2005, 08:52 PM)
QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 23 2005, 07:21 AM)
Just a regular 6 string guitar and 4 string bass. smile.gif

Nope - it was a 4-string bass and 12-string guitar smile.gif

I'm not a guitar player so anyone else please jump in and correct this assumption if I'm wrong, 'cause I'm just going by what I see in pictures. In looking at the set of pictures that's in the MP tourbook, shown below, you can see Alex's double neck right below Geddy's. Alexes has a 6-string and a 12-string... I can clearly see the string keys (is that the right term? confused13.gif ), 3 per side on one neck, 6 per side on the other. Geddy's only was 2 per side on one, and 3 per side on the other. So unless you can put 2 strings per "key" (and maybe you can... I don't know for sure), doesn't that mean it's a 6-string? I'd assume you'd need to tune each string individually, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I really don't know 100%, it was just a logical assumption on my part. Somebody will set us both straight here shortly, I'm sure! laugh.gif

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v411/bsg2112/Rush/movpicmontage03.jpg

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QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 23 2005, 09:47 PM)
QUOTE (Slim @ Jan 23 2005, 08:52 PM)
QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 23 2005, 07:21 AM)
Just a regular 6 string guitar and 4 string bass. smile.gif

Nope - it was a 4-string bass and 12-string guitar smile.gif

I'm not a guitar player so anyone else please jump in and correct this assumption if I'm wrong, 'cause I'm just going by what I see in pictures. In looking at the set of pictures that's in the MP tourbook, shown below, you can see Alex's double neck right below Geddy's. Alexes has a 6-string and a 12-string... I can clearly see the string keys (is that the right term? confused13.gif ), 3 per side on one neck, 6 per side on the other.

The keys (or 'tuning pegs' or 'machine heads') on a typical Rickenbacker 12-string headstock have an unusual arrangement - six are arranged 'sideways', like a typical electric guitar, the other 6 are arranged 'backwards', if you will, at a 90 degree angle to them, like a classical guitar.

 

The visual effect is quite similar to a 6-string headstock until you examine more closely. I've just found a pic which illustrates this very nicely [note: this isn't Geddy's instrument but a pic of a single-neck Ricky 12-string I've dug up on the net to illustrate the headstock design]

 

http://www.digitalvideo.com/guitars/images/rick4.jpg

 

The guitar neck of Geddy's black doubleneck was definitely a 12-string. However, the white doubleneck pictured in the MP tourbook would appear to be a different instrument (look at the guitar headstock - it's a different shape, similar to the bass headstock), and does appear to have a 6-string guitar neck! smile.gif

 

I didn't know he'd had two, but unless he had the black one modified to a six-string as well as refinished in white, it looks like it.

 

Cheers

Slim

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QUOTE (Grand Designs @ Jan 24 2005, 08:26 AM)
Huh! Now that's really interesting! I never knew that Rickenbacker pegs were arranged like that. Also, I now realize that the guitar portion of that doubleneck is for sure a 12 string. I always figured it was a typical 6 string.

Looks like six strings but they are so long that they had to bring them back to the headstock rofl3.gif

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Wow Slim, thanks for the awesome pic. That's realy cool! I didn't know they ever put tuning pegs on the back?! confused13.gif Well, I thought it looked like a six string, and I see what you mean about the headstock being different. Thanks for all the great info. new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

So knowing all that now, if you had a pair of custom doublenecks made, would you have one of each, or would you have one, and a back-up? See, now I'm thinking two of the same. So maybe it is a 12 string. Now I want to know unsure.gif laugh.gif

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QUOTE (afansince74 @ Jan 25 2005, 01:07 AM)
Wow Slim, thanks for the awesome pic. That's really cool! I didn't know they ever put tuning pegs on the back?! confused13.gif Well, I thought it looked like a six string, and I see what you mean about the headstock being different. Thanks for all the great info. new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif
So knowing all that now, if you had a pair of custom doublenecks made, would you have one of each, or would you have one, and a back-up? See, now I'm thinking two of the same. So maybe it is a 12 string. Now I want to know unsure.gif laugh.gif

thanks smile.gif

 

I'm pretty sure the guitar part of the white doubleneck is a six-string, though. I've seen that headstock design used on 6-string Rickenbackers, but never on a 12-string, and on careful inspection of the photo in my MP tourbook, I can't see slots in the headstock for the other 6 strings.

 

I think Geddy must have decided that a 6-string would be a bit more versatile (more suitable for Bangkok, perhaps) as well as easier to keep in tune! It's also just possible I suppose that it's the same guitar, modified with a new neck as well as a refinish, but I doubt that.

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QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jan 21 2005, 06:32 PM)
If I remember right, I think that Ged's was one of, if not the, first double necks that Rickenbacker made.

I think that's correct. I don't own the Contents Under Pressure book so I don't know if it's mentioned, but I learned back in '85 that Geddy helped design this instrument with Rickenbacker. I believe it was dubbed the Rickenbacker 2001.

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QUOTE (war2112 @ Jan 25 2005, 11:06 AM)
I think that's correct. I don't own the Contents Under Pressure book so I don't know if it's mentioned, but I learned back in '85 that Geddy helped design this instrument with Rickenbacker. I believe it was dubbed the Rickenbacker 2001.

Rickenbacker definitely already made a doubleneck before Geddy got one, because the black one was a modification of an existing model, with a 12-string neck in place of the usual 6-string. I don't think he can have helped much with the design, because it's clear from the interview in 1979 that he really disliked some aspects of it, for example the use of the same volume and tone controls for the bass part as the guitar part, which he called "totally wrong" smile.gif

 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he helped design the white doubleneck though; since he was unhappy with the black one, it makes sense that he'd want to improve on it.

 

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