I’m old, so I’ve seen a lot of guitarists (from Jimmy Page to Rick Nielsen to whoever) pull out a double-neck guitar during a live show.
But do any bands other than The Raspberries use a double-neck guitar as consistently as Wally Bryson does/did? He’s stated in interviews that he bought his first Gibson double-neck back in the 60s. And live clips from the early 70s show him using a double-neck pretty consistently throughout entire concerts and in TV appearances. He certainly did as recently as 2007 (Live on Sunset Strip).
Are there other bands where a double-neck is basically on-stage continuously/consistently?
Besides Jimmy Page, the only fairly regular use of multi-necks by a famous band I can think of is Cheap Trick; sometimes two on stage at once (guitar and bass). I’ve see video of Alex and Geddy of Rush pulling the same stunt.
I saw The Moody Blues a dozen times in the 80s/ 90s. I’m pretty sure John Lodge played one during a song or two every time. (I assume one neck was a bass as he was/ is the bassist).
This post came out of conversation I was having where some friends were discussing bands that have two drummers. It is a “memorable” characteristic associated with a band. I mentioned The Raspberries as an example of a comparable characteristic (i.e., having a lead guitarist use a double-neck throughout the show). A couple friends said that this was different since lots of double-necks are used by classic bands. I responded by asking them to name another band where this was the norm. Wasn’t trying to be argumentative or anything. The Raspberries were a four-person band and didn’t have the luxury of one guitarist playing 12-string and another one or two playing 6-string.
Slash of GnR always breaks out the double-neck SG for “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” And as of whenever I saw them last (2017 I think) he still was. But he uses about a half dozen different guitars during a show.
I was unaware of that since my exposure to The Raspberries is 100% from records and radio. The only reason I can think for a musician to use one throughout is economics; they couldn’t afford the number of musicians on stage necessarily to replicate their recordings live or (inconceivably) could not afford two or more one necked instruments that could be swapped between songs. A multi-necker only makes sense for a song or two that require a quick instrument change; otherwise, it’s just stagecraft (“Look at me! I’m a virtuoso!”. )
Yeah, they’re really awkward to play, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting or standing, neither neck is ever in a comfortable position. And, obviously, it’s much heavier than a normal guitar. Slash tends to just stand in one spot with it, whereas he’s normally running all over the stage.
Wally Bryson apparently bought his Gibson several years before The Raspberries were even a thing. A lot of their singles use both 6-string and 12-string, but I don’t know for sure if the studio recording sessions used separate guitars for each recording track. But he definitely used the double-neck in live performances and switched from one neck to the other multiple times during each song. Check out the 2007 performance videos on YT and you can see. I don’t really think it was intended to be a gimmick.
Aanndd…I’m always upfront about being wrong. A quick review of earlier (1970s) videos of live performances shows that Bryson often switched away to a different (6-string) guitar for certain songs. The double-neck appears to be “essential” to “Go All The Way,” but optional for many other songs.
