Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: June 07 2004, 21:11 |
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Some are obviously just for show, and very cool because of it! The sight of something like Prince with his symbol shaped guitar screams so much of rock/pop image-overload that it's fantastic! I wonder if he had the guitar in mind when he changed his name to that thing...
More recently, John Paul Jones has been playing a triple necked mandolin by Andy Manson - with standard, octave and bass mandolin necks (the bass mandolin being something unique to him, different to the mando bass which was popular in the 1920s). He does an act which involves creating loops using it - he'll play a part on one neck, loop it digitally, then layer another part on top. Whether he bought the instrument because he had a need to do that kind of thing, or whether he bought it first and later worked out how to use it, I don't know (more likely the latter - after all, it is a nice toy)!
I've been tempted by the idea of a multi-necked instrument just for the convenience of not having to switch between too many different ones (it makes really quick switches possible too), but they're relatively cumbersome things, practical in some ways, impractical in others (think of the amount of space a triple necked mando-tar in a flightcase takes up!).
Mike (to bring this on topic!) owned a Gibson twin neck guitar/bass for a while. It seems he didn't think too much of it as an instrument, as he no longer owns it (I believe that David Porter bought it). I don't think Jimmy Page thinks a great deal of his either, though of course, the instrument will forever be associated with him, no matter how many people have played them before and since.
There are guitars like the Flying V of course - those are shaped purely for the flash factor (try playing a Flying V sitting down without it slipping off...but of course, who would want to play a Flying V sitting down, apart from perhaps Ant in the Moonlight Shadow video?)...many others follow in its footsteps, all trying to outdo each other in the most extreme styling stakes.
In contrast, there are guitars like the Klein - an extreme looking design, but one created with balance in mind. In its case, ergonomics guided the styling, rather than styling dictating ergonomics.
I'd be more likely to play a Klein than a Flying V (indeed, for a little while now, I've had an instrument in the works of my own design which shares a small amount in common with the Klein), though for certain styles of music, the V has an undeniably cool image.
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], and another funny one, called 'Uncle Dick', which is shaped like a cartoon-like little man, the two necks being his legs. You can see them 
owned a Gibson twin neck guitar/bass for a while. It seems he didn't think too much of it as an instrument, as he no longer owns it (I believe that David Porter bought it). I don't think Jimmy Page thinks a great deal of his either, though of course, the instrument will forever be associated with him, no matter how many people have played them before and since.
