andreww

I do. And notice anything funny about this guitar? http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1243619!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.c...yer_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Now look at the classic doubleneck Two different guitars. Note the gold hardware on the HOF model. It has different knobs and personalized gold truss rod covers as well. Here is one of his with the gold truss rod covers and same knobs as the one in the RRHOF picture. He's been known to 'tinker' with his guitars, changing pickups and such. http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn108/hetfieldinn/LIFESON1.jpg As I said, That is a guitar that Alex used recently, but it is not the one he played in the 1980s. http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7hkhs6QWm1r4a47uo1_500.jpg Look specifically at the spacing of the tuner pegs on the 12 string neck. That was a change Gibson made many years ago. The HOF guitar has the same spacing on the 6 & 12 string headstocks, indicating that it is a newer model.

Anybody that doesn't start their list with La Villa is nuts. After that my favorite bits are... 1. Descending 12 string power chords at the start of Xanadu 2. Spirit if Radio intro/chorus 3. Harmonic bits of Red Barchetta

It looks to be the exact one he is playing in the youtube clip I posted. I have no doubt that its a stage used guitar, but just not the same one that rush used in the 80s. My guess is that Alex's white ES355 is not the actual famous guitar from the 80s either.

I am now positive it is not the same guitar. Note the length of the 12 string headstock. The HOF doubleneck is the modern long headstock while the vintage lifeson doubleneck has the short headstock. http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx257/andreww1962/ScreenShot2013-07-23at12333PM_zps2c888d78.png http://images.wikia.com/rush/images/4/4e/Gibson_EDS-1275_Doubleneck,_White.jpg

I do. And notice anything funny about this guitar? http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1243619!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_960/image.jpg <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r5uj3wTTuv0?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Now look at the classic doubleneck http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/images/books/guitar-world-11.1981/guitar-world-11.1981-2.jpg Two different guitars. Note the gold hardware on the HOF model. It has different knobs and personalized gold truss rod covers as well.

Again, the article you posted is inaccurate. First off, the can't even get the guy's name right, its Gordie Johnson, not Eric. Secondly, the guitar was returned to Alex, not stolen from Johnson. However you do bring up the intriguing possibility that maybe there was only ever one doubleneck (the red one), which was damaged, repaired and refinished in white. There are many variances on the EDS1275s, most notably the headstock lengths, tuners, tailpiece positioning, knob type, and color. Aside from the color, everything else matches up nicely between the two guitars. The next thing I would normally check is the pearl pattern on the inlays as they are like fingerprints, but I can't find a really decent pic of the red guitar.

Well being a native Toronto boy, and having seen them in their hometown dozens of times as well as in several US cities, I feel that I'm fairly qualified to comment on this one. First you have to understand that in Toronto the band will always have a large number of friends and family at the shows, which undoubtedly gets the boys pumped up. Also, the crowds are generally a little more in to the band, kind of a homegrown sense of pride thing. The band tends to feed off that energy a little bit as well. But overall its kind of an energy in the building more than what you see on stage, and my guess is that looking at a video of a Toronto vs US show, you wouldn't notice a difference. The guys have always played enthusiastically wherever I have seen them.

Gonna give away my age, but it was Bastile Day.

What a great show! Was it as good as my last, or any previous experiences with the band? No. But the band was really tight, the lighting and special effects were phenomenal, and the crowd was really in to it. The song selection was okay (I knew every song but for a couple of CA tracks) was okay, but I felt they could have thrown in a couple of tunes from the first three albums to please us old-timers. The Clockwork Angles section of the show was simply too long. I know some of you guys will defend that part of the show, but I was bored and for the most part the audience was sitting on their hands for that segment. Even the band seems to realize this as it was very obvious that the lights and special effects were turned up a notch or two during thats part of the show. Almost like they thought that "we can bore them with the music if we can keep them entertained with lights & pyro". But whatever, they played for about 3hrs, they can play what they like!. I wasn't really impressed with Alex's selection of guitars for this tour. The white ES355 being the only exception. The black les paul custom, what seems to be his main guitar now, isn't exactly a pretty guitar. He also used a brown flamed Les Paul and a gold top. Nice guitars but I preferred the sunbursts he was using on previous tours. The black custom is just too hard to see against his all black outfit. And, I would prefer Alex to use real acoustic guitars rather than emulators. I always thought those times when he switched between acoustic and electrics were exciting parts of the show. With the lack of 70s tunes, Alex's ripping guitar solos were a lot fewer than they used to be. But nonetheless, it was an awesome show and it was so glad to see the guys on stage again!

Thanks guys! Just getting ready to head out now (were driving down to hamilton early and squeezing a round of golf in first). See everybody at the show!

So I first got in to rush in about 1975 or so when I discovered All the Worlds a Stage. From that point in my life my musical world revolved around the band. Being from Toronto I had plenty of opportunities to see them, and I took every opportunity to do so. I saw every tour from Kings to Signals, many times seeing multiple shows. Then life kind of got in the way, marriage, house, kids, bills, etc. and I drifted away from the band. Well tonight will be a reunion so to speak when I see them in Hamilton (no Toronto date on the tour thus far). Not being familiar with any material written after the mid 90s, am I going to be disappointed?

That article is incorrect. http://news.2112.net/2011/11/big-sugars-gordie-johnson-and-alex.html

And btw, I've got one of these guitars and can attest to the fact that they are very uncomfortable to play. Its neck heavy, so the headstocks naturally want to dive towards the floor, so you kind of have to hold the neck up which is tricky, especially whilst soloing. Its also very heavy at about 13 lbs. and any more than a song or two will cause your neck and shoulder some grief. The surprising thing about doublenecks is how few songs the are actually fully utilized in. Jimmy Page may be the best known doubleneck player, but he only fully uses it for one song, Stairway to heaven. He uses the 6 string part for Rain Song, the 12 string for Celebration day, and a few other tunes he will use one neck or the other. But Stairway is the only song that really requires both necks. Same thing with Don Felder's doublenck, a one trick pony. Alex used his on Xanadu originally and I believe he used it for Passage to Bangkok at some point, but I cant't recall any other numbers.

Just to shed a little bit of light on Alex's doublenecks. Alex first started using the brown eds1275 at the end of 1976 or early 1977. I believe he used them on the UK tour prior to A Farewell to Kings. I saw the band in August of 77 and Alex was still using the brown one at that point, and probably continued to use it until the Tour of the Hemispheres when he started playing the white model. On several occasions I have heard Lifeson speak of the "speaker horn incident" but he was never very specific about which guitar it was. The biggest hint would be the "sat on by an elephant" comment in the 1980 Signals tour book. That tour marked the first time since 77 that Lifeson had abandoned the doubleneck. I would guess that "elephant" means "speaker horn" in Alex lingo. So I strongly believe that it was the white doubleneck that was damaged in 1979. It was repaired at some point and returned to action later in the 80s and continued to see at least limited action until the mid 90s. It was at about this point in time that Alex generously gave the white doubleneck to an up and coming guitarist, Gordie Johnson of the band Big Sugar. http://antsbasement.com/images/GuitarPage/pics/GordieJohnson/gordie.jpg Gordie used that guitar almost elusively on Big Sugar's 96 album "Hemi vision" I believe, and used it on the video for "Digging a Hole". By 1998 Johnson was getting a little paranoid caring for a instrument that he thought belonged in the hall of fame rather than in a case underneath the bed of his small Toronto apartment, so he returned it to Alex. I believe Alex used it one more time in about 2004, but I don't recall seeing it since. If anything else need clarification let me know, I can ask one of Alex's guitar techs if he knows any more about it.