# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  Gibson mando/tenor SG custom

## mrmando

Wowsers. Anyone notice this in the Classifieds?

The scary thing is, it's not the only one they made! I have a photo at Emando.com of another Gibson mando/tenor doubleneck. 

Guess I'll go buy another Mega Millions ticket...

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## mandolirius

It does look like a pretty cool thing. The only thing better would be a mando/OM combo.

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## mrmando

Well, you could string the tenor neck as a single-course OM, I suppose.

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## man dough nollij

> Well, you could string the tenor neck as a single-course OM, I suppose.



Isn't a tenor guitar a single-course OM? Eh?  :Confused:

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## Cliff D

Well last night I had a dream: a twin necked Gibson was exchanged for an Alden. I probably haven't woken yet.............

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## em guitars

Elvis used an SG doubleneck in the movie Spinout, but it was a normal guitar neck on the bottom, and a baritone 6 string neck on the top. Coolest SG ever!
 Eric.

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## mrmando

> Isn't a tenor guitar a single-course OM? Eh?


Could be, but from my perspective the standard tuning is CGDA, like a mandola. That's the tuning used by backup players in Texas fiddle music. In other styles of music, players may tune to DGBE (that's what Neko Case does).

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## Daniel Nestlerode

I was seriously drooling on that little teensy picture.  Darn you Stan Werbin!
I can think of so many cool ways to use that instrument, but $13,500 is entirely too much. 

Daniel

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## mrmando

If you're drooling on the small pictures, for heaven's sake don't look at the big ones.

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## journeybear

> Could be, but from my perspective the standard tuning is CGDA, like a mandola. That's the tuning used by backup players in Texas fiddle music. In other styles of music, players may tune to DGBE (that's what Neko Case does).


Holy Wow!!! That's just about exactly what I've been wanting - except the single-string, and, oh yeah, the _price!_ I yi yi!  :Disbelief:  I'm sure tuning pegs and an 8-string nut & bridge and whammy bars could be installed ...  :Whistling: 

Yes, that is my understanding about tenor guitar tuning, too. That's how I tune my National steel tenor - otherwise I just couldn't play it.  :Wink:  Thanks for mentioning Neko Case - glad someone else has heard of her. The only other tenor I've seen played in the last few years is by Ani DiFranco, also steel, but I couldn't say how she tunes it. She uses a _lot_ of open tunings. There's a series on PBS called "Live From The Artists Den" and she uses it in her appearance. Keep an eye on your local listings; it may well come around again. 

I wonder who was the original owner? That's what custom-built implies, it was made specifically for someone.

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## jefflester

I think "wowzers" describes it pretty accurately.  :Grin:

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## UnityGain

Words. fail. me.

I think its lottery ticket time.

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## Paul Busman

Does it come with a free back brace to avoid herniated discs?

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## journeybear

I offered them $1000 and I haven't heard back yet. Wonder why??? I think that's fair. I mean, it's over 40 years old. How much can it be worth?  :Confused:  How much would you pay for a 40-year-old _car_, you know? And that could still drive ...


.........  :Whistling:

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## Daniel Nestlerode

Well heck yeah.  I mean how many people in the world a re looking for a tenor/mando solidbody electric double neck that looks kind of like something Tiny Moore would play on a Texas Swing version of "Stairway to Heaven"?

 :Smile: 
Daniel

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## Jim MacDaniel

That is awesome, but a too rich for my blood.

For that matter, this new no-name for $400 shipped is too rich for my blood as well...

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## journeybear

> Well heck yeah.  I mean how many people in the world are looking for a tenor/mando solidbody electric double neck that looks kind of like something Tiny Moore would play on a Texas Swing version of "Stairway to Heaven"?


Yeah, really! What's the market value of something nobody wants?  :Confused: 

Um, besides me ...  :Redface: 

"It was there I found, beside the Alamo,
A bustle in your hedgerow ...
Don't be alarmed now ... A-ha!"  :Grin:

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## Daniel Nestlerode

> That is awesome, but a too rich for my blood.
> 
> For that matter, this new no-name for $400 shipped is too rich for my blood as well...


Hmmm...  I am partial to Tele's... Looks like it could use just a little work.  New string-through bridge for the guitar, drill the holes through the body, add ferules...

But I don't need a guitar/mandolin.

Daniel

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## Don Stiernberg

Do any of you cats know anything about the slightly more conventional 6-string guitar, 8-string mandolin electrics made by Gibson? We were watching "The Last Waltz" by The Band recently and got to wondering about the one Robbie Robertson played on the video version of "The Weight" with The Staple Singers. Of course you can't hear it in the track, but it looks way cool. How many of those are out there? Any available? At what rediculous fee?Thanks for any info, it's an interesting curiosity...

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## clem

> Do any of you cats know anything about the slightly more conventional 6-string guitar, 8-string mandolin electrics made by Gibson? We were watching "The Last Waltz" by The Band recently and got to wondering about the one Robbie Robertson played on the video version of "The Weight" with The Staple Singers. Of course you can't hear it in the track, but it looks way cool. How many of those are out there? Any available? At what rediculous fee?Thanks for any info, it's an interesting curiosity...


In my experience (having looked at them from time to time), any mando/guitar double neck, whether Gibson or Mosrite (and one Fender) has been around $10K.  All of them are/were "custom orders."  There is a double neck Mosrite (guitar and octave guitar) that could be played as guitar/mando (using the octave neck as a 5 string) but is also close to $10K.

Given those prices, it seems like a MUCH better idea to commission Michael Stevens to build one!  It certainly would be better quality AND the coolest double neck ever built...bar none (including the Junior Brown model). :Cool:  :Wink:

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## mrmando

I'd also check in with Andy Manson and/or John Knutsen if I wanted something like this built.

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## delsbrother

ISO Guyatone.



Uhh... Anyone read Japanese?

Oh, and to add to Clem's list, there are certainly some Carvin mando-guitar doublenecks out there that are cheaper than $10K (though not inexpensive, for what they are).

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## Paul Busman

How's this for a custom mando/guitar idea?
One neck sticking out each end of the instrument. You'd wear it on a waist mounted swivel like the old ZZ Top guys and could spin the instrument around to play the desired neck.
Or, if you were REALLY ambitious, you could learn to play lefty and "simply" use the appropriate hand to play whichever neck was closest to it... :Grin:

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## journeybear

Here are more double-necks than you can shake two sticks at: in Norwegian and translated into English.

Mostly guitars, but then toward the bottom there is Robbie Robertson and his beautiful Gibson mandolin/guitar, and an interesting page from a Gibson catalogue advertising a mandolin/guitar double-neck, though it's really an octave guitar/guitar.

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## journeybear

It gets weirder on pages 2 & 3 ...

You recognize John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin bassist and also mandolinist (he'll be backing up Sara Watkins on Jimmy Fallon Monday night, not sure what he'll be playing). The four-neck is clearly for a one man band - bass, mandolin, banjo, and guitar. There used to be a guy here in Key West who could have played this - he also played fiddle, and all of them well - Gary Blodgett, extraordinarily talented. I sat in with him once, with him and his backing tracks that is. In the middle of "Folsom Prison Blues" he said, "Keep going, I've got to use the bathroom," and left me alone on stage!  :Disbelief:  What could I do? So I kept pickin' away for a couple of minutes till he came back, picked up his fiddle, and we finished it out. Unbelievable. But a lot of bar players here try to go the whole four hour shift without taking a break, to keep the crowd from drifting away.  :Mandosmiley: 

I've got nothing to say about the five-neck.  :Whistling:

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## mandroid

5 necks, to borrow from a mandolin joke, increases the odds that one of them are in tune..  :Wink: 


 :Popcorn:

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## John Rosett

I was in Gruhn's in 1982, and he had a guitar/mandolin doubleneck that was like a blonde L-5 with a mandolin neck added. It was a full-depth guitar with no F holes. Twin humbuckers on the guitar and one humbucker with the outside holes filled with pearl dots on the mandolin neck. It had a rectangular brown case that was as big as a steamer trunk.
Those double neck guitars can be really heavy. Years ago, I was given a 6/12 Moserite guitar. I had the 12 string tuned like Jimmy Bryant did, and was having alot of fun with it. After three gigs with it, my back blew out and I had to sell it to pay the doctor bills!

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## mrmando

Knutsens, Knutsens everywhere:

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## journeybear

> Years ago, I was given a 6/12 Moserite guitar. I had the 12 string tuned like Jimmy Bryant did, and was having a lot of fun with it. After three gigs with it, my back blew out and I had to sell it to pay the doctor bills!


Sounds like "The Gift Of The Magi," but without the love angle. Yes, be careful what you wish for ...  :Whistling: 

Yeah, I really like the look of Leif's double neck. Pretty much exactly what I want, just mandola neck instead of OM. It sounds great, too.  :Mandosmiley: 




> How's this for a custom mando/guitar idea?
> One neck sticking out each end of the instrument. You'd wear it on a waist mounted swivel like the old ZZ Top guys and could spin the instrument around to play the desired neck.


Sorta like this?  :Disbelief:

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## jefflester

> 


I believe I actually saw Marvin "The Mandolin Man" Etzioni perfom with this instrument way back in 1992. He backed up T-Bone Burnette in an opening slot for Toad the Wet Sprocket and 10,000 Maniacs. It was long before I knew much about mandolins and it only had two of the three necks, though, IIRC.

I met Marvin about 4 months ago when he sat in with Steve Wynn.

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## journeybear

> I believe I actually saw Marvin "The Mandolin Man" Etzioni perfom with this instrument way back in 1992.


I would think you'd remember seeing something like this, but OK, it was 17 years ago ...  :Grin: 

I didn't know he played mandolin, nor had an album out by that name. Of course I knew him from Lone Justice, and somewhere else, I think he worked with Sara Hickman a bit. Hold on ... OK, here we go - On Sara's "Misfits" album, a track from 1991 they co-wrote called "Dumptruck," has mandolin on it - wait - no, it's played by Paul Sweeney, snazzy little descending riff.

Still - now I've got to get his CD. Clearly my collection is incomplete w/o an album called "The Mandolin Man" in it! And he's worked with two of my fave singer/songwriters, and that's good enough for me.  :Mandosmiley:

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## jefflester

> I would think you'd remember seeing something like this, but OK, it was 17 years ago ... :


I was in the balcony quite aways away. He definitely had a doublenecked instrument.




> Still - now I've got to get his CD. Clearly my collection is incomplete w/o an album called "The Mandolin Man" in it! And he's worked with two of my fave singer/songwriters, and that's good enough for me.


Unfortunately, there is actually very little mandolin on it. Just a song or two.

You can hear his performance with Steve Wynn here. Though not all that well, since it was a bar gig without a good mix, and Marvin's amp was on the other side from where I was. Marvin is probably best heard on "Harvey Haddix" or "Manhattan Fault Line."

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## journeybear

> Unfortunately, there is actually very little mandolin on it. Just a song or two...


Too late - I just bought all three of his rekkids ...  :Redface: 

Hey - he's got Maria McKee and Victoria Williams singing on them, so they/he can't be _all_ bad.

I may have to start a new thread - Songs With "Mandolin" In The Title or Songs That Mention Mandolin. Prolly been done but ... Once you get past the obvious two ... First one I remember is "The Mandolin Man and His Secret" by Donovan from "A Gift From A Flower to A Garden." Oh yeah - new thread ...  :Whistling:

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## jefflester

> Too late - I just bought all three of his rekkids ... 
> 
> Hey - he's got Maria McKee and Victoria Williams singing on them, so they/he can't be _all_ bad.


Ain't the internet great. Instant gratification!

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## jefflester

> Unfortunately, there is actually very little mandolin on it. Just a song or two.


And maybe that's a bit of (what's the opposite of hyperbole?). I haven't listened to it in ages, but I do remember being disappointed in it not having more mandolin.

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## jefflester

> I may have to start a new thread - Songs With "Mandolin" In The Title or Songs That Mention Mandolin. Prolly been done but ... Once you get past the obvious two ... First one I remember is "The Mandolin Man and His Secret" by Donovan from "A Gift From A Flower to A Garden." Oh yeah - new thread ...


How does that Dylan song go?
"Hey mister mandolin man, play a song for me, I'm not sleepy and there ain't no place I'm going to"  :Laughing: 

Okay, I'm done for the evening.

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## journeybear

> ... I do remember being disappointed in it not having more mandolin.


Yeah, same applies to life in general ...  :Wink:   :Grin:   :Laughing:   :Crying:   :Whistling:

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## mrmando

Check out this bad boy from Tulsi Guitars in India: 

The middle neck has 8 tuners but it doesn't look to me as though the strings are paired. Easy enough to fix. Notice the harp-strung or zither-strung section next to the bass neck.

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## crazymandolinist

> I offered them $1000 and I haven't heard back yet. Wonder why??? I think that's fair. I mean, it's over 40 years old. How much can it be worth?  How much would you pay for a 40-year-old _car_, you know? And that could still drive ...
> 
> 
> .........


1969 VW Beetle's go for about 15 grand in moderate condition. I absolutely went gaga over that thing. I knew it would be expensive but my goodness that's expensive, do I buy a car, or that? Imaculate condition, too. Wow. Has Gibson or anyone else made an accurate looking SG mandolin? I was thinking of making one in red and was hoping the demand was high enough.

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## Jim MacDaniel

> Knutsens, Knutsens everywhere...


Wow -- Marvin's axe is pretty neat. Are those separate necks & bodies detachable for use as standalone single-necks? I always thought that something based upon these Copacabana Guitars designed by Eero Aarniomake would a nice detachable double-neck as well...

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## journeybear

Believe it or not, Elvis with a doubleneck!

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## mrmando

What's scary about the Gibson SG mando/tenor doubleneck is that evidently they built more than one: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Rare-1...item48489f2e0b

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## Soundfarmer Pete

Here`s one of my doublenecks in action.....

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## mrmando

That is really nicely done and tightly arranged. 

So, Peter, ever built a tenor/mandolin doubleneck? Would you ... ahem ... consider it?

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## Mike Black

> What's scary about the Gibson SG mando/tenor doubleneck is that evidently they built more than one: 
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Rare-1...item48489f2e0b


Wow!  My first thought was that it had to be the same one, but then noticed that this one had different fingerboard and headstock inlay.  And chrome hardware.

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## Soundfarmer Pete

> That is really nicely done and tightly arranged. 
> 
> So, Peter, ever built a tenor/mandolin doubleneck? Would you ... ahem ... consider it?


I ...ahem....would certainly consider anything (as long as it`s not illegal or immoral....not worried about fattening)  :Whistling:  .....

I think Rarefolk are an awesome bunch.....wish they`d play in the UK!

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