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Wally's Guitars: Part 3


Raspbernie

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I remember the time when Wally got this gem. As I approached the Chesterland Hulaballoo entrance, there was this brick planter outside and Wally was outside playing his new guitar. I went and sat beside him and he told me, and showed me his new pride & joy. At that point in my life, I'd never seen a guitar with 2 necks! Then he went on to play a couple riffs while I was seated next to him. The one I remember was the decending steps of "Something In The Air" by Thunderclap Newman (they didn't play that song as a group, however!!!) Whenever I see that guitar, I recall that memorable meeting.

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Eric Carmen said:

This has always been my favorite of all Wally's guitars. The sound of the six-string is pure AC/DC. This was the guitar I wrote "Go All The Way," "Ecstasy," and "I Can Remember" for.

The guitar aside, these are three incredible songs, written by an incredible songwriter, and and played by an incredible guitarist.

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The doubleneck is his pride and joy and it is sooooo heavy. Although there have many other doublenecks made by Gibson and other manufacturers however, this one was designed to Wally's spec's that include the necks being about 1" closer together than any others and location of the toggle switches. This gives Wally some advantages when he plays switching from neck to neck. Unfortunately, it makes it a bear to restring taking sometimes up to 3+ hours if my fingers start cramping up. The only thing Gibson did not do is make the necks a little longer as we had asked. If I remember correctly it took Gibson almost a year to deliver after it was ordered. It has always been one of my favorites.

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I've played this guitar a few times {under Wally's supervision of coarse!!} and I can tell ya,, it is quite a jem! There's something very special about this guitar, especially when Wally plays it. Songs like "Ecstacy" & 'Go All The Way" when he switches the six string neck to the 12 string. There's a special sound to the 12 string neck, not quite like the Rickenbacker 12,, but more of a jangle sound with more "meat' to it due to the humbucker pickups. Perfect example,, check out some of Jimmy Page's performances with his doubleneck in the movie "The Song Remains The Same". That guitar thru those old Marshall Plexi amps. Great sound!!

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On a good day with minimal finger cramping about 1 1/2 hours to restring and tune with finger cramping up to 4 hours. This includes maintenance like deep cleaning, lubrication etc. If I do it during a rehearsal it takes all night because of all the interruptions. I normally do a complete restring and cleaning the day before the last rehearsal (show run through) to a show run. This allows Wally to really stretch out the strings before a show, but yet they are still pretty fresh for the show. Depending on how much he uses it in a show determines if I do a complete restring or just a partial (high E & B strings) for the second night. However, 2 show maximum before a restring. The guitar gets pretty sweaty during the shows and really needs the neck, frets and body cleaned.

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