Mod collection EDS-1275 Double Neck 4+6. Tbird PUs

[Basvarken]

Curious how a Non-Reverse body would look as a double-neck.

That has already been done

[Ken]

Oh, Jeez.  How could I forget that.

[Alanko]

Is the Julian Cope doubler a Gibson one off or a Peter Cook, Dick Knight et al creation?

[Basvarken]

https://www.flyguitars.com/interviews/JulianCope.php

[uwe]

You want BEAD?

No, I want BEADG, I wrote that I wanted the fretless to be a fiver. Back to the drawing board!

It will be the world’s first 11 string bass.

[Basvarken]

Yeah, but you also wrote that want the short scale neck to have the D and G with an octave string.
How do you expect me to take those kind of requests seriously? 

[uwe]

I was perfectly serious. I want the D and G on the short scale to be enhanced by octave strings! It makes perfect sense for the way I approach multi-string playing, I essentially only need octave strings on the D and G, with the E and A they get in the way (rhymes!). You‘ve seen me play, I very much differentiate between what I do on the E and A (relatively simple) and D and G (relatively elaborate, melodic - avoiding root notes - and 'chordy').

That's my life predicament: People never know whether I'm serious or not. 

I want a bass where I can within one song switch between short scale bend-o-mania, the deep notes of a 5er, fretless playing and multi-string sheen. All in one.

Will you take the challenge? If you remember older posts of mine, I‘ve been talking about a bass like that for many years.

And it‘s not that strange, Taylor have just released an 8 string acoustic guitar that features octave strings just on the D and G - where it counts.

[Basvarken]

Alright. So you really are verrückt!

It'll cost more than a few bicycles or Wiedergutmachungsschnitzels.


Someone suggested the fretless should be the upper neck, because it requires more precise finger placement on the fretboard.
I'll go back to the drawing board then. ;-)

[uwe]

(exasperated) Have I ever denied being verrückt? 



The more I think about it, the more I like the concept. This could be a great bass for recording and for trying out new bass arrangements to see what might work best. Obviously, I wouldn't stand on stage with it for 90 minutes or so or play it throughout a full rehearsal lasting several hours. Though I do like the twin neck image, I always thought that classic 1977 Rush pic iconic ...



I'm not dogmatic about whether the 35" or the 30" is the lower one, I wear my basses medium-low, but not punkish ultra-low. Considering that I don't play fretless all the time, I'm actually a pretty precise fretless player after a few minutes of adjustment. Neck heaviness would probably be best averted via a "short on top of long"-concept, but obviously, ergonomics need to step back with a contraption such as this one. Be creative, Holländer!

Showing up with this thing at an audition would mean either:

 (i) the other musicians immediately fall to their knees, exclaiming "We are not worthy!" before you have played a single note, or ...

(ii) show you the door at once - also without you having played a single note! 

I kinda like both reactions.

[Ken]

There is no playing in the practice room!!!

[Basvarken]

Gott im Himmel, what a ridiculous bass!

[morrow]

Looks funky as all heck. Just get a nice old style bevel on those horns.

[uwe]

We're getting there, well-done, Rob. 

Eat your heart out, Rick Nielsen.

Name me one other bass in the world where you can switch between 30" and 35" scale, fretted and fretless, regular and double octave with ease?! Not to mention a six octave B to D#!

World domination would be mine. Utterly.

I could rock out on the short scale and immediately revert to long, massive notes on the extra-long scale with lots of atmospheric glissando and meaw. Do a few melodic fast runs on the double octave D and G and while the guitarist is still turning his head you're back grooving on the low D pretending nothing happened.  They would never catch me.

[uwe]

I've heard you've perfected the art of the sliding pup, Rob ... That would make sense especially on the 5er; the shortie could do with just two fixed pups. One up-front, one more to the middle, don't squeeze it too close to the bridge.

Don't be obsessed with a Gibson (parts) look, functionality comes first. Monorails as bridges are perfectly fine, for instance, let's go with the times.

The necks should have different woods perhaps. Maple on the shorty for a bit more bite, maho on the x-long scale for ultimate growl? Body for both: maho. Different fret board materials too. Why not a snappy maple board on the shorty? Ebony on the fretless.

Four controls, 1 x vol x-long scale sliding pup, 2 x vol short scale (each pup) and a master tone for everything, toggle switch for change between the basses, middle position: both on. That's all I need.

The shortie should have a high E (like in your design sketch), the 5er should have a double octave neck.

Two outputs for feeding them into different rigs? One of them functioning as a mono output for both if solely used.

[uwe]

I'm dead-serious about this. Decades ago I asked the Gibson Custom Shop to do something like that, they declined. It will come back to haunt them.