Carvin #1-MS Professional Double-Neck. Photo courtesy of
Dave Isaac/Hollywood Vintage Room. |
In their 1959 catalog, the Carvin Guitar company
introduced two doubleneck models.
The #4-BS Professional Doubleneck featured
dual 25-1/8" necks; one a six-string guitar,
the other what would amount to be a (very)
short-scale bass. The #1-MS was a guitar and
mandolin combination with one 25-1/8" scale
guitar neck. The body was maple and similar
in shape to their other guitars. The electronics
on the Carvins were a bit unique. Each unit
had two P-90-style pickups on the guitar and
a single pickup for the bass and mandolin,
respectively. Whereas many other doubleneck
models would have had a switch to select
which neck you were playing, the Carvin used
the pickup selector to do this job. Position 1
of the pickup selector would be the bridge
pickup of the guitar. Position 2 would be the
guitar’s neck pickup and position 3 would be
the single pickup of either the bass or mandolin.
Carvin continued to offer the #4-BS and
#1-MS throughout 1964 when they redesigned
the pair. Carvin offered the doubleneck option
throughout the ‘60s, and continued to help
players satisfy their doubleneck cravings consistently
throughout the years, making them
one of the longest-lasting and most prolific
producers of doubleneck guitars and basses.
For the 1961 model year, Gretsch introduced
one of the more unique multi-neck offerings
ever to come from a major manufacturer. The
Bikini was actually three units, a guitar (6023), a
bass (6024), and a doubleneck bass and guitar
(6025). The concept was that you could use one
body and slide in either a bass or a guitar neck.
To make things slightly more complex, the
body also folded down the middle on a piano
hinge, becoming known as a “butterfly.” A
player also had the option of combining separate
butterfly back components to make a doubleneck.
The guitar was 25-1/2" scale and the
bass was 29-1/4" scale. Electronics, pickups,
tone and volume controls were self-contained
in each respective neck shaft. The guitar was
a good idea in theory but not in practice, and
was difficult both to produce and to operate.
Throughout the rest of the 1960s and
1970s, Gibson was the only major manufacturer
to consistently offer an electric
doubleneck. Mosrite kept the Joe Maphis
doubleneck in its catalog up until the latter
part of the decade, and Rickenbacker
occasionally produced guitar and bass
doubleneck combos. Other manufacturers
produced doublenecks only as a custom
order. By and large, the doubleneck moved
into novelty status with only Jimmy Page of
Led Zeppelin using one to any effect. Rick
Nielsen famously paired with Hamer on a
number of extreme multi-neckers, and in
the 1980s some metal bands made use of
the shock factor of the instrument to add
to their visual appeal. In the late 1990s
and early parts of the 2000s, retro appeal
brought back some doublenecks into the
realm of “guitar geek” status.
Some of the most enlightening moments
in guitar learning have come for me at the
Museum of Making Music. Located at NAMM
headquarters in Carlsbad, CA, the Museum
not only preserves the history of the music
instrument industry but teaches the history
of music instruments to the public. I was
lucky enough to work at the museum doing a
number of things, none more gratifying than
giving tours to youngsters. Once while giving
a tour to a group of Brownies—girls between
the ages of seven and nine—I walked up to
a case holding an incredibly rare Bigsby doubleneck
built for J.B. Thomas. It’s a beautiful
piece with a maple top and one regular-scale
guitar neck and one mandolin neck. I asked
the Brownies the question, “Now why would
a guitar have two necks?” The girls were
silent until one of them, in a whisper quiet
voice, said, “So you can rock
and roll?”
A great answer, and probably not too far
from the truth.
Make sure to read the companion piece, "Those Daring Young Men and Their Doubleneck Guitars: A Brief History of Multi-Neck Players" in this issue!