(Credit:
Dolphin Music)
Let's take a moment to praise that oddest of instruments: the doubleneck guitar. Popularized by Jimmy Page, it's essentially two guitars in one--in his case, a 12-string (used to play the thick chordal strummy parts of "Stairway" and other Zeppelin songs) and a 6-string (used on other parts, particularly solos). I've recently stumbled across some used Danelectro models, including an unusual combination of regular and baritone. (A baritone is tuned a fifth lower than a standard guitar and is often used on old country recordings...think Johnny Cash walking along the train tracks and you'll hear it in your head.)
But in my mind, Junior Brown is the undisputed master of the two-in-one guitar. He's a monster rock/country/rockabilly guitarist from Texas who got sick of switching back and forth between regular and steel guitars. One night, in a dream, he saw a combination of both, so he set out to build it himself. The result: see for yourself.
Every time I read a guitar-porn article like yesterday's piece on Les Paul sunbursts in the L.A. Times, I'm reminded of the scene in Spinal Tap when Marty DiBirgi (Rob Reiner), the "documentary" maker, gets a guided tour of Nigel Tufnel's (Christopher Guest) guitar room. At one point, Marty notices a guitar that has never been played, and Nigel quickly shoos him away from it: "Don't touch it!...Don't point. It can't be played."
I'm sure these original sunbursts sound great, but I'd never know--I've never seen anybody play one live. (Jimmy Page's sounds pretty good in the Led Zeppelin DVD.) The folks who are rich enough to collect them aren't gigging musicians, I guess, and the musicians who have one are probably too afraid to get them ripped off on the road.
I think of instruments the way a wine collector once explained expensive wines to me: a $500 Bordeaux might not be objectively "better" than a $100 Bordeaux, but each is unique, and sometimes you can only get that exact taste from that exact bottle. With guitars, the price disparity is even greater: I've seen hacks try to work their way around brand new $3,000 axes at Guitar Center, and one of the best guitarists I've ever played with coaxed remarkable sounds out of a 40-year-old Danelectro Silvertone. Those guitars were considered cheap starters, and originally sold exclusively through Sears, and they go for about $300 on eBay these days.
- prev
- 1
- next
