Rush fans like myself are champing at the bit as we wait for the release of Geddy Lee's new memoir, “My Effing Life,” on November 14.
Helping with the wait is a new book — “Rickenbacker Guitars: Pioneers of the Electric Guitar,” by authors Martin Kelly and Paul Kelly. It releases tomorrow, but one can buy the Kindle version now (Hat tip Ed Stenger, Rush Is A Band).
Geddy is covered in the chapter titled, “Geddy Lee and Rickenbacker Double Necks.” The authors begin by pointing out that the twin-neck guitars began coming out when Stratosphere introduced them as early as 1956. Gibson got in the game two years later, followed by Danelectro in 1963.
As the book notes, Jimmy Page was the first rock guitarist to give wide exposure to the instrument. In 1971, he showed off his Gibson EDS-1275 (cigarette optional) on the song “Stairway to Heaven” (Yours truly recalls seeing it in the 1976 concert-flick, “The Song Remains the Same” and was very fortunate to see Zep in 1977).
The authors then write about Geddy, followed by their interview with him. We offer the below selected transcript.
Included in the chapter are three photos, a perhaps never-before-seen one of Geddy and Alex, both playing double necks in what looks like the “A Farewell to Kings” tour; a black and white of Geddy's Rickenbacker; and a color one. (By the way, a strong case could be made that the quintessential image of prog rock is a photo (not the one in the book which has Geddy in the forefront) of Geddy and Alex with their double necks).
Authors:
Geddy Lee, bassist and lead vocalist with Rush, is the most famous exponent of Rickenbacker double neck guitars, having been drawn first to the 4001 bass.
Lee:
Chris Squire was the one who really made me want to get a Rickenbacker. I bought my first (a 1973 Jetglo 4001 ML6222)) from Long and McQuade which was the Primo store in downtown Toronto. I used to go in there and they had a few Ricky‘s hanging on the wall and I would just drool over them. But when we got our first record deal and the advance came through, Alex, Neil and I went down there and had the shopping spree that every child dreams of. It was just the greatest day ever as I’d looked at those basses for so long and just couldn’t afford one.
The idea for the double neck came earlier though, around the time of “A Farewell to Kings.” The music we were starting to write was getting more layered and more proggy, we were getting into the idea of using a Minimoog and bass pedals.
Up to that point everything we recorded was with a view to being able to reproduce it accurately live so we’d held back on doing a lot of overdubs, as there were only the three of us on stage.
When we were working on “Xanadu,” we put a rhythm guitar behind Alex‘s solo and realised that we were going to miss that live, it’s just not going to sound as rich. So why don’t I get a double neck and I can play that and I can fill in the bottom end on these new bass pedals then I’m now using all the time. So that’s why I went after the double neck to give the band’s sound a bit more richness when we needed it. The more the merrier for me, the more toys I can play with the better.
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