Gibson Double Neck EDS-1275

The Gibson Double Neck EDS-1275 is ridiculous. It’s way too heavy, inconvenient, and so freakin’ cool you’ll probably never own one.

I probably won’t either, but a man can dream, right?

The Gibson double neck was produced as a hollow body guitar between 1958 and 1962. They never made too many though, because demand for these monsters was never very high, even now. This guitar soon changed to a solid body, and were popular in the 70′s (thanks Jimmy Page!).

The 80′s can be blamed for a lot of things (awful hair, awful music, awful clothing for example) including the discontinuation of the double neck and the fall in popularity of the Les Paul. It wasn’t until the 1990′s that Gibson started producing the the double neck again… this is also when the Les Paul came back and guys in rock n’ roll generally stopped wearing make-up.

1. Jimmy Page

2. Slash

3. John McGlaughlin

Check out Slash playing the Doubleneck on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”

Playing the Gibson Double Neck EDS-1275

First off, this thing is heavy. Of course, you’d expect that for a guitar this size, so that shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.

But if you plan to play gigs with this, bring a backup so you’re not killing yourself. Playing this guitar is weird because there is so much going on: 4 pickups, 3toggle switches, 2 necks, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The toggle switches can be a little tough to get to. In terms of the feel of the neck, though, this is a very well made guitar and it plays beautifully. You can even have both necks sounding at the same time, which can result in some crazy droning tones that you sure couldn’t get from any other guitar.

The pickups, neck, body, and and fingerboards are standard Gibson fare: Alnico humbuckers, maple necks, mahagony body, and rosewood fingerboards.

Watch out for solos, it’s tough to get past the 17th fret because of the way this thing is put together. The EDS 1275 is clearly not a first guitar or a beginner’s guitar, but you knew that.

However, if you’ve got a sizeable guitar collection already and are really looking for something to make your buddies jealous, I can’t think of a better axe to get.

Did You Know?

They called Jimmy Page’s EDS 1275 “The Aerial” (brit for antenna) because the guitar picked up so many radio frequencies! Page’s guitar tech, Tim Marten, added a ground connection between the jack and the 6-string tailpiece to kill the hum.

Gibson Double Neck EDS-1275 Specs

(click to enlarge)