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Double Neck Retired


RushBoingo
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i recall the elephant story too. i think it was in the signals tour book.

tangy, you nailed it. I got out my Signals tour book and checked. Here's part of what Alex wrote regarding the equipment he was using for the Signals tour: "In the guitar department I'm down to four; a black one, a red one, a white one and a brownish one. They all have six strings and a long wooden piece sticking out from the body. I also have two acoustic guitars both with six strings, one steel string and the other plastic (or something like that). Both the guitars have rounded bodies to make them impossible to play sitting down. They also have holes all over the sound board which is sort of like a diving board I think. My double neck guitar was recently crushed by an elephant. Too bad." GeddyLeeGenes here again now. I have to admit, I'm kind of proud that I recalled something that I probably last read about 32 years ago!

 

funny the things you remember after those years! i only have two tour books so i had a pretty good chance of guessing right.

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They played Xanadu during Time Machine and he did not have a double neck. I thought they gave those up a LONG time ago, anyway.

 

Never gonna happen again. Deal.

 

Did they really play Xanadu on the Time Machine tour? I don't remember that happening. I do remember Xanadu, including Alex's double neck, in the 2000s... R30 tour if I recall correctly.

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I understand that it hurts alex's back to play it, but still, Xanadu was my last song on my top 5 list to hear live, and now it will be slightly less special to not see his double neck played. One last insult to me was that he gave such a prominent peice of memorbilia to the museum that kept them out 13 years, as I feel the guitar deserves a better home. What does everyone else think.

 

I think that you should realize that the band, their choice of guitars, and everything else related to Rush do not revolve around YOU.

 

"One last insult to me..."? Really?

 

:facepalm: :facepalm:

Edited by Principled Man
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I understand that it hurts alex's back to play it, but still, Xanadu was my last song on my top 5 list to hear live, and now it will be slightly less special to not see his double neck played. One last insult to me was that he gave such a prominent peice of memorbilia to the museum that kept them out 13 years, as I feel the guitar deserves a better home. What does everyone else think.

 

I think that you should realize that the band, their choice of guitars, and everything else related to Rush do not revolve around YOU.

 

"One last insult to me..."? Really?

 

:facepalm: :facepalm:

 

 

 

By all means, Alex should cripple himself just to make the OP happy. :eyeroll:

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I understand that it hurts alex's back to play it, but still, Xanadu was my last song on my top 5 list to hear live, and now it will be slightly less special to not see his double neck played. One last insult to me was that he gave such a prominent peice of memorbilia to the museum that kept them out 13 years, as I feel the guitar deserves a better home. What does everyone else think.

 

I think that you should realize that the band, their choice of guitars, and everything else related to Rush do not revolve around YOU.

 

"One last insult to me..."? Really?

 

:facepalm: :facepalm:

 

 

 

I know their choices don't revolve around me, I am just upset at a broken childhood dream. Xanadu was the first song that kind of moved rush from being a band I was interested in, to a band I would devote too, so from that day it was always kind of the big dream to see the iconic guitar playing at the time my favorite song (now number 3)

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Alex probably has a dozen of the darned things... it's not like he can't afford to own more than one double-neck Gibson.

 

Agreed. He retired the 'original' white doubleneck after a PA horn fell on it while they were opening up for Blue Oyster Cult around 1980. Either he gave, or loaned this one to the RRHOF thinking it would be in safe keeping, or it's one that he owns and never really bonded with.

 

Actually, the brown mahogany one was the Double Neck that got the necks sheared off, then he bought the white one.

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I just remember reading about it in a late 70s Guitar Player magazine. I was lucky enough to she them play Xanadu (complete version) at the Hemispheres concert in 1978.
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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.

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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.
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I hate to disagree, but I know my RUSH- See photo of Double Neck:

http://www.premiergu...son.aspx?Page=3

 

and another article:

 

http://www.cygnus-x1...yer-06.1980.php

 

I owned a White Gibson EDS-1275 from 1979-1991(got married sold it) and I loved the tone and playability of the necks. It didn't seem that heavy to me. I later purchased an Epiphone white double neck around 2009 it was great also, but I didn't end up playing a lot of songs on it (mostly Xanadu), so I sold it.

Edited by RUSHian62
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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.

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Does anyone have a pic of Alex's Double Neck in the RR Hall of Fame?!

 

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.

Edited by andreww
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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

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I saw one at the Mont-Tremblant blues Festival last week. It had all gold hardware on it, including the tuning keys. Looked like the one in the window, NOT Alex's... So maybe they just took one off the shelf for the RRHOF display??? Anyhow, like I've said all along, and even more while that guitar player was playing one in front of me: "It belongs ON STAGE, not in some stupid window display..."
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Here's some info on the Double-neck accident I have just read from that interview with Howard Ungerleider posted today:

 

"Bp: What have been the worst horror stories?

 

Howard: Rochester was my worst horror story. When we played there at the auditorium and the show was about to start and as I called the house lights and the place went dark a huge Big Gulp came over in the air, flipped upside down and doused the complete lighting board and we had to do the whole show that night with just spot lights only because all of my consoles, including the back-up, were flooded with ignorance and a Big Gulp.

 

Bp: What tour was that?

 

Howard: I can’t remember what tour that was, but it was way back then when I had my new Electrosonic board that I loved so much. I had two of them and they were useless after that. I had to get two new ones.

 

Bp: You were probably a little less busy that night if you only had to call spots…

 

Howard: Yes, I was less busy and very upset. I was young and I had a very bad temper when I was young. Aside from that it’s all been pretty good I have to say. There was one year when one of the speakers fell out of the ceiling and sliced Alex’s double-neck in two and missed one of the guys on stage by a few feet. That was horrible"

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I saw one at the Mont-Tremblant blues Festival last week. It had all gold hardware on it, including the tuning keys. Looked like the one in the window, NOT Alex's... So maybe they just took one off the shelf for the RRHOF display??? Anyhow, like I've said all along, and even more while that guitar player was playing one in front of me: "It belongs ON STAGE, not in some stupid window display..."

 

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.

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Does anyone have a pic of Alex's Double Neck in the RR Hall of Fame?!

 

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

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Does anyone have a pic of Alex's Double Neck in the RR Hall of Fame?!

 

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.

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