Music Thing: The Triple Neck Guitar
posted October 30th 2004 2:19PM
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out these days. Last Saturday it was the the Chiclet DSP Music Box, this week it's the triple neck guitar:
As a protest against the boring black boxes on display at the AES (Audio Engineering Society) Convention in San
Francisco this weekend, I'm looking at the ultimate example of dumb-ass rock gear excess this week: The Triple Neck
Guitar.
Like spandex trousers, custom-painted Lear jets and decaying nostrils, Twin-neck guitars are a rock essential. The
idea is that you have, for example, a 12-string guitar for the folky bits, then a 6-string for the solo (If you're
playing 'Stairway to Heaven').
But in rock, there's always someone wanting to go one further. And triple-necks aren't new. In 1954 Semie Mosely built
a triple neck guitar in his garage (two guitar necks, one mandolin). Semie later founded Mosrite Guitars, favoured by
the Ramones and Kurt Cobain, who were both disappointingly fond of the single-necked instrument.
Things were very different in the early 70s. When Prog Rock bands started doing things like Rick Wakeman’s ‘King
Arthur on Ice’, excessive times called for excessive instruments. Rick’s bass player got British bass-maker Wal to
build him a three-necked bass/bass/guitar monstrosity, which was later inherited by Chris Squier of Yes. Inevitably,
John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin appeared a couple of years later with a vast semi-acoustic
mandolin/mandolin/bass.
Then punk arrived, and it was a dark time for all multi-necked instruments. Almost a decade passed until, during
the filming of David Lee Roth’s ‘Skyscraper’ video, guitarist Steve Vai took delivery of a new guitar he’d had built.
It had three necks two on the right, one on the left (so he could play two necks at once, sort of). It was the birth
of a new era.
Today, triple neck guitars are still rare, because they’re huge, heavy, expensive and utterly pointless. They’re an
obscene symbol of self-indulgence, like Missy Elliot’s Lamborghini bed, or Snoop’s jewel-encrusted crunk cup.
But a little-known guitar company called Galveston (which specializes in gimmicks Perspex guitars and metal guitars)
has now brought the triple-neck to the masses, mass-producing them and importing a handful into the US. There’s one for
sale here
on eBay for $799.
Triple-necked guitars. Feh.
Those are for sissies. Ric Neilsen (of Cheap Trick) is often seen palying his quintuple-necked guitar.
(http://www.hostwerks.com/~dave/images/rn01.jpg)
Multineck guitars are NOT pointless, they have actual musical reasons to exist.
The most common dual-neck guitars I've seen have 12-string on one neck and a regular 6 string on the other. It is also common to see dual-6 string guitars, each neck is tuned differently, for example, you might have one neck tuned normally, and another tuned for slide-guitar. Triple-neck guitars like the 3x6string you depicted would typically have each neck tuned to a different scale, so the player could switch tunings in the middle of a song without having to pick up a different guitar.
Alternatively, you could use this:
http://www.selftuning.com/perform/index2.htm
You think that's something, this got designed YEARS ago by ID legend Frank Goldstein:
http://www.coroflot.com/public/portfolio_file.asp?t=&order_no=2&user_id=7498
it is no-where as cool as the cheap trick guitar. http://www.cag.lcs.mit.edu/~diego/images/guitars/cinque.jpg
The guitar shown is one of Steve Vai's guitars. I have the single neck version of it, and it is glorious :-)
Owen.
I checked out the selftuner gadget, it's never going to work. You have to strum the strings for a few seconds so it can latch on to the right frequency and adjust the tension of the strings. This would never work in a live performance if you need to switch tunings in the middle of a song. And besides, every guitarist who ever played with a tremelo bar knows that there isn't any way to keep in tune with a moving bridge. Adding a computer controlled mechanically moving bridge to autotune has never worked. Some people I know with Strats who like to whang on the tremelo bar will remove the counter-springs so the bridge locks into place after you let go. The Gibson Bigsby tremelo bar works better, since it has individual cams for each string, which can be adjusted to your strings' diameters. But it still doesn't work, one whang and you're out of tune.
BTW, I noticed these triplenecks have 1 12 string and 2 6 string necks. Should've looked closer.
This is one of the reasons the Variaxes are so great.
First of all, any decent guitarist can play the songs they need without multiple tunings. Folks like me -- thats a different story. I can barely play 3 chords conherently. Thats why equipment like the Variaxe is a godsend. All strings are converted to their base frequencies, and then rebuilt from scratch through resynthesis. They sound f'n amazing. Want a new tuning, flip the knob. No need for pointless double and other guitars.
As for movable bridges...screw that. Pick up a WhammyPedal of some sort. There are several varieties. I use the original WhammyPedal. For more detailed work (less than 100c), the Dano Shiftdaddy is pretty cool. It more emulates bending the neck back than screwing with the bridge. Really only works for certain styles of music though. Hopefully everything will be going digital in the near future so that guitarists can get out of the 20th century and catch up with everyone else...
(musician point of view)
If you saw Steve vai in G3 DVD live in Denver, you'll be amazed how Mr.Vai briliantly played the 3 necks in one of his very creative one piece compositions. He doesn't build something for nothing he design the guitars with a composition in his head, A "plan".
The bottom third neck is actually Frettless neck. with a sustainer pick up in it so produced a violin imitation sound in a rock'ies guitar kind a way.
cheers
That Cheap Trick axe is well known:
http://www.themomi.org/museum/mfa/celebrity_guitars/1981_Hamer_Five-Neck_Elect.html
WOW if ya think a three neck guitar is something. well its not!! i just got cheaper insurence...haha... Anywayz i just saw DAVID LEE ROTH again for the 10 th time through his alusterious life onstage, it was NEW YEARZ 2005 this time. THATZ RIGHT!!! DAVID LEE ROTH at: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS CITYWALK...in Orlando...was a great show. had a blast into the new year with my bro,"DAVE"....this link iz the lastest performance from DAVID LEE ROTH
ROTHRULEZ
I actually have one of these Galveston triple necks. I bought it on eBay a few years ago. Contrary to what some have said, the Galveston is a 12 string on the top, 7 string (extra low B) in the middle, and conventional 6 string on the bottom. The 7 string guitar is favored for playing the aggressive low tuned chunkin' metal stuff.
I would not play it in any live event except as a "spinal tap" type joke because it weighs about 15 lbs.
I have it hanging on the wall halfway up a flight of stairs at my house as an "objet d'art".