Those Daring Young Men
and Their Doubleneck Guitars
Steve Howe
Steve Howe, guitarist extraordinaire of Yes, is
another white EDS-1275 user. He also owns
two other Gibson doublenecks, an EMS-1235
in black, and a very old doubleneck antique
harp guitar. Howe used the white 1275 extensively on tour in the seventies on songs like
“And You And I,” and “Starship Trooper.”
The guitar has been retired from live use.
Mike Rutherford
Mike Rutherford of Genesis owns quite a
few doubleneck instruments. His first was a
Rickenbacker 4001 joined to a Rick 360/12 that
was used on the Selling England tour. He then
switched to a Rick 360/12 with a Micro-Frets
Signature baritone neck built in, which proved
to be troublesome onstage. Both guitars were
built by luthier Dick Knight, who then built
Rutherford a 12-string with a baritone 6-string
neck, which also proved to be unstable. Finally,
Rutherford went to Shergold instruments, and
owns five or six in various combinations of 6/12
and 4-string bass/12-string.
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee of Rush have
both used doubleneck instruments onstage
and in the studio. Lifeson’s original EDS-1275
was broken by a falling speaker horn at a gig
at Nassau Coliseum in the late 1970s, but
was repaired and repainted afterward. Lifeson
gave the guitar to Eric Johnson as a gift, but
it was stolen within weeks. Lifeson has since
replaced the 1275 with another that he has
used only in rehearsals as of this writing.
Rik Emmett in 1982 with his Ibanez Artist doubleneck. Photo by Neil Zlozower.
exist. Some have theorized that Townshend
smashed the guitar, which was broken lengthwise, repaired with an off-center body joint,
and possibly refinished. This repair caused
the necks to have a slight “V’ shape.
went out to Los Angeles, where they were
recording The Who Sell Out.
According to whotabs.com, a fascinating
and exhaustive source of information on the
band’s equipment over the years, this guitar
made its first appearance at the Anaheim
Convention Center on September 8, 1967.
It was the band’s second-to-last date on that
tour after a four-day break, so Townshend
may have bought it in California during that
time. Or, it may have been purchased at
Manny’s in New York City before the band
Don Felder
Another well-known proponent of the EDS-
1275 is Don Felder, formerly of The Eagles
and now a bandleader and solo artist in his
own right. Felder used the guitar live on
“Hotel California.” His Gibson is finished in
white and has custom wiring with double
input jacks that allowed him to run the
12-string neck through a Leslie speaker while
running the 6-string neck into his amps and
pedalboard. Felder also used a capo on the
12-string neck.
Rik Emmett
Rounding out the “Canadian Team” is Rik
Emmett, formerly of the band Triumph, and
now a very successful solo artist. Emmet also
favored the Gibson EDS-1275 and other
doublenecks during his days with the band.
Rik was kind enough to email some comments
regarding his use of doubleneck guitars: “I
have owned eight doublenecks in my day, all
6 and 12 configurations. The first was a cherry
red bolt-on Ibanez Gibson copy, which was
covered in silver reflective mac-tac and was
first used in a band called Act III. I also used
it in the very early days of Triumph, but soon
acquired a white Gibson, and used it from 1976
to about ’ 78 or ’ 79. Then, I got an Ibanez Artist
in wine red, and used that until about 1984.
Dean made me a doublneck around 1983, but I
was not happy with it, so I traded it in on some
other gear. Yamaha made me a white custom
SBG doubleneck, which I used from 1984 until
about 1989. That white Yamaha was on the
