Double Neck Guitar

One of the classic images of a Rock Guitarist like Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin is the sweaty thrash of a solo played on a Double Neck Guitar, one foot on the speakers at the front of the stage.  Although the twin necked guitar has its roots in rock or heavy metal, the double neck guitar can be used for many different sounds.

The most logical and common combination of the 2 necks is to have one strung as a 12 string whilst the other is a normal 6 string guitar.  A good example of this function is the Gibson EDS-1275, used by classic rockers such as Page, on classics such as Stairway To Heaven.  The ability to quickly change from 1 style of music or sound to another was the hallmark of this type of electric guitar.  The production of the Gibson EDS1275 was stopped in 1980 and was made for over 20 years.  The EDS-1275 features a mahogany wood body, maple necks, rosewood 20-fret fingerboards on each neck each of which are made from solid maple, vintage Gibson tuners, a 3-way selector and a tune-o-matic bridge.

Epiphone also have a copy of the Gibson EDS-1275 available, the Epiphone G-1275 which is substantially cheaper and will probably suit those who want to get a double neck guitar to see what they are like.

Custom builds of double necked guitars are also common.  You could have 1 neck as a fretless guitar and the other as a normal guitar or perhaps have one neck set as a different tuning style to produce a different sound when needed.  It was not uncommon for some guitarists to request models that had more than 2 necks!  Steve Vai has a custom built 3 neck guitar made by Gibson and is a one off design.

Quad necked and special quintuple necked guitars also exist but are seldom used in real world situations and are mainly for show.

You can also buy a double neck bass guitar which follows the similar design idea.  One neck with a certain tuning or one fretless and one not.  There even exists a guitar with 1 neck that is a normal electric guitar and one neck that is a normal bass guitar!