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Stupid Question: Double Neck Rickenbacker


JohnRogers
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If they bring back 'Xanadu' for R40, do we get the double neck back in service?

 

There was an interview at some point in the 80's where Geddy said he would never bring back the double Ricky.

It's simply too heavy and uncomfortable.

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At the very end of Xanadu, when Alex is playing those "from heaven" passages on his 12 string, Geddy actually uses a guitar pick ( ! ) and plays the descending line on his "guitar" neck .... it is a magical ending to a classic song

I've been seing these guys live since Moving Pictures and don't recall seeing it. Some where this got asked, if they play A Passage to Bangkok and Xanadu will the double neck rick come out?

 

They both used them last on the Moving Pictures tour. I'm glad I got to see it. It was so iconic at the time.

 

Alex used a doubleneck on the CP tour.

 

ETA:

 

And on R30

https://youtu.be/i3SSpmlPSI4

 

Hence her use of the word "both".

 

Thank you. :)

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If they bring back 'Xanadu' for R40, do we get the double neck back in service?

 

There was an interview at some point in the 80's where Geddy said he would never bring back the double Ricky.

It's simply too heavy and uncomfortable.

 

No doubt. I'm sure that thing has got to tip the scale at around 20 lbs. He said he's already having to have a trainer due to the shoulder issues from lugging a bass around all of these years. It's very doubtful something that heavy would be played, even for one song. Personally I'll just be glad if they play Xanadu again.

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I'd love to see that black double Ricky! I think I heard it's an ultra rare model..
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I'm betting on no double neck for Al even if they play Xanadu for R40. There's ways he can mimick the 12 string sound with effects. Really it doesn't matter to me...the double neck thing is kind of gimmicky IMO. I just want to hear Xanadu regardless of their choice of gear.
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I wonder what guitar Alex will use if they do play Xanadu; I highly doubt we'll see his double neck

probly his les paul with piezo's...i think the piezo's can give him an acoustic sound for the 12 string parts. Whatever he chooses, I'm sure he'll figure it out.

 

he's been relying on the les pauls for most of the last 2 tours. he's sort of developed that axxess model to be a swiss army knife guitar.

Edited by 2112FirstStreet
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IIRC, Alex's double-neck is currently at the hands of the RRHOF, or at least at the time of the induction it was. I'm not even sure if it's still there or they gave it back to him. IDK what happened to Geddy's black doubleneck but as of 2013, the white doubleneck is currently at the Hard Rock Cafe vault which is closed to the public.

 

Here's a picture of the white doubleneck as it appears in the Hard Rock Cafe vault.

 

http://www.rushisaband.com/images/201308/2823.f.jpg

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Just that screenshot alone is enough to prove Geddy as a total badass!!!

Is there any doubt aboot such matters? :)

 

Geddy lost his badassness somewhere back in the 80s. Dropping the Rick is tied in there with significance.

Agreed. But the Fender brought it back.

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With the Rick you hear the tone of the Rick but unfortunately with the Fender you are hearing nothing of the natural tone of the instrument, just a noise manipulated by technology!

 

I assume you're talking about the speaker simulators and the DI's? Rics have a very distinctive tone, but he did split the bass and treble pick up to different amps.

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As stated modern technology can transform an ordinary six string electric into,acoustic,bass,12 string or any sound you like all in a small box.I use to have a double 12/6 guitar ,a Ibanez copy of the Jimmy Page model.It was a very cumbersome instrument to play not to mention keep in tune.Now i have one of those boxes that transforms my six string.It would be great to see the doubles of Alex and Ged back on stage one more time but then we would have to bus in Neil's wind chimes,tubular bells,gongs,etc( which can all be triggered by a drum pad these days).I believe the double Ricks were custom orders and were not something that you could walk into a store and grab off the rack.Anyway Rick Neilson has the Rush guys all necked out with his Hamer 5 neck monster.
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As stated modern technology can transform an ordinary six string electric into,acoustic,bass,12 string or any sound you like all in a small box.I use to have a double 12/6 guitar ,a Ibanez copy of the Jimmy Page model.It was a very cumbersome instrument to play not to mention keep in tune.Now i have one of those boxes that transforms my six string.It would be great to see the doubles of Alex and Ged back on stage one more time but then we would have to bus in Neil's wind chimes,tubular bells,gongs,etc( which can all be triggered by a drum pad these days).I believe the double Ricks were custom orders and were not something that you could walk into a store and grab off the rack.Anyway Rick Neilson has the Rush guys all necked out with his Hamer 5 neck monster.

 

I don't know anything about guitars or these little boxes but I'm trying to wrap my brain around how something can make a guitar sound like it has twice as many strings..??

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Technology has come along way since the days of Xanadu and Rush have always embraced it,they get plenty of real estate in music mags.The little boxes i talk about are basically sound effect devices which alter the sound of the guitar signal.Back in the days of Hendrix there was basically wah,distortion,octavier.Nowadays there is so many effect devices it would be bewidering to novice let alone a musician like me.Two of my amps have these effects built in.(they are called modelling amps).With a flick of a switch my electric sounds like an acoustic.Listen to Nobody's Hero live.For twelve string effect using a advanced version of the octavier you play a single note on the guitar which passes through this effect and out comes notes which are high or lower as well as the original note thus creating the 12 string sffect.The list goes on and on.Alex has come a long way since straight amp and guitar.Look at the video on the making of Snakes and Arrows and see him in the studio with a stack rack of effects units
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As stated modern technology can transform an ordinary six string electric into,acoustic,bass,12 string or any sound you like all in a small box.I use to have a double 12/6 guitar ,a Ibanez copy of the Jimmy Page model.It was a very cumbersome instrument to play not to mention keep in tune.Now i have one of those boxes that transforms my six string.It would be great to see the doubles of Alex and Ged back on stage one more time but then we would have to bus in Neil's wind chimes,tubular bells,gongs,etc( which can all be triggered by a drum pad these days).I believe the double Ricks were custom orders and were not something that you could walk into a store and grab off the rack.Anyway Rick Neilson has the Rush guys all necked out with his Hamer 5 neck monster.

 

I don't know anything about guitars or these little boxes but I'm trying to wrap my brain around how something can make a guitar sound like it has twice as many strings..??

modern technology my friend.

 

Al's Les Paul model with the Piezo pickups allow him to make the Les Paul sound like an acoustic. In years past he would have an acoustic mounted on a stand. That along with his almost endless amount of gizmos and effects to alter his sound would allow him to closely resemble the 12 string electric. For mortals such as myself, I hit my stereo chorus pedal when playing softer more acoustic-y parts so it takes more sound 'space' like a 12 string would. But I'm sure Al has more tools to do that than my simple stereo chorus box.

 

Bottom line is that Al doesn't have to use the double neck to be able to produce the 12 string electric sound. And it probably would be easier to stomp on a switch that to switch necks all the time in the song. Al's a pro...I have confidence he can figure this out.

Edited by 2112FirstStreet
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Alex said years ago that when Roland bought the chorus effect on their amps he felt naked when not using it.This would be about the time of 2112 /AFTK.
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As stated modern technology can transform an ordinary six string electric into,acoustic,bass,12 string or any sound you like all in a small box.I use to have a double 12/6 guitar ,a Ibanez copy of the Jimmy Page model.It was a very cumbersome instrument to play not to mention keep in tune.Now i have one of those boxes that transforms my six string.It would be great to see the doubles of Alex and Ged back on stage one more time but then we would have to bus in Neil's wind chimes,tubular bells,gongs,etc( which can all be triggered by a drum pad these days).I believe the double Ricks were custom orders and were not something that you could walk into a store and grab off the rack.Anyway Rick Neilson has the Rush guys all necked out with his Hamer 5 neck monster.

 

I don't know anything about guitars or these little boxes but I'm trying to wrap my brain around how something can make a guitar sound like it has twice as many strings..??

 

A chorus pedal will do a pretty good job of it. What it does is duplicate the tone that goes in it, so it sounds bigger. Alex is known for his chorus pedal sound. It fattens up the tone.

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Just that screenshot alone is enough to prove Geddy as a total badass!!!

Is there any doubt aboot such matters? :)

 

Geddy lost his badassness somewhere back in the 80s. Dropping the Rick is tied in there with significance.

 

Ged was always too nice to be badass :)

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I would rather Geddy backed off a little with all the stuff he runs his Fenders through, it sounded better on MP and CP without all the effects!

 

I agree. It sounds way too distorted now.

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He plays loads of different Fenders now including the fretless Jaco Pastorius model and they all have almost exactly the same synthetic tone!

 

The amps have more influence on tone than the basses.

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