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Thread: Did Hackett ever play a double neck?

  1. #1
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Did Hackett ever play a double neck?

    This is of little importance I know, but I was just thinking: I don't recall ever seeing a photo of Steve Hackett playing a double neck guitar. Unless my memory loss is worsening? Am I wrong?

    This is just something that was bugging me, and this is the best place to find out one way or another. It's rare to see Steve Howe with one too, although I know he certainly played one live in the 70s on numerous occasions. I almost wonder if he could even hold one now (although I've personally witnessed Pete Trewavas play one and it was 3/4 the size of him!)...
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  2. #2
    I don't believe he has. He was asked about it when he was interviewed in Guitar Player back in the early 80's. He said that he's "small" and therefore everytime he's picked up a doubleneck, he's nearly fallen over, was more or less how he phrased it. I guess his point was the instruments are heavy, and difficult to play comfortably.

    As for Howe, yeah, he used that white Gibson EDS-1275 during the 70's when doing And You And I. Apparently, at least on the Close To The Edge tour, he used it for Starship Trooper, but I'm not sure how often he did that. Notice that on the Live In Philadelphia video from 79 he plays Starship Trooper on the ES-175.

    I think Howe said that eventually got the doubleneck got knocked over one night during a tour. It had to be repaired quickly so that it would be ready for the next show, and as a result it wasn't done quite right. He then said that by the time he got the instrument fixed "properly", he realized that And You And I "had" to be played on acoustic, which is why in later years, he's done just that (except for the lap steel and six string electric bits, of course).

    In his guitar collection book, there's also pictures of two other doublenecks Howe owns, both of which are of the earlier design that Gibson used when they first introduced their doubleneck models (almost like a double cutaway Les Paul style shape, and I believe also with acoustic chambers inside), before switching to the more common SG shape. One is a six string/12 string and the other I think has either a mandolin neck or an octave six string neck (ie a six string guitar tuned an octave higher, as if capo'd at the 12th fret) in addition to a conventional six string neck.

  3. #3
    Dont think so, Rutherford did tho!
    & Squire uses a triple neck!

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    Dont think so, Rutherford did tho!
    Presumably that's the reason why the OP asked the question in the first place.

    And actually, Rutherford had several doublenecks, all of them custom built. He had one joined a Rickenbacker 4001 bass and a Rick 12 string that he had bought as conventional single neck instruments, which he used on the Selling England By The Pound tour (as seen in the Shepperton film). Then he had the Rick 12 string/Micro-Frets 6 string bass doubleneck that he used on the Lamb tour, followed by a sunburst finish 12 string guitar/6 string bass instrument with slotted headstocks for the Trick tour (you can see him playing the sunburst one in the Genesis In Concert film, and right at the very end as they're walking off there's a glimpse of the Rick/Micro-Frets instrument). I believe all three of those were crafted by a luthier named Dick Knight.

    Then for the Wind And Wuthering tour, Shergold built him the modular doubleneck that he used for the next few tours, which allowed him to swap the guitar necks in and out, and also to use each instrument as a single neck instrument. The only time I've ever seen him using one as a single necked instrument was in the concert footage that was shot during the Duke tour, where you can see him using one of the 12 string instruments (identifiable by the controls being on the upper horn, above the strings). You usually see him using a 12 string neck on the doubleneck, but on the Three Sides Live video, he's swapped in the six string neck that Shergold built for the instrument.

    Then for the Mama tour, Strata built him a headless doubleneck, with a four string bass and six string guitar configuration. I don't think he used a doubleneck on the Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance or Calling All Stations tours.

    And I've forgotten the specs of the doubleneck he used on the reunion tour. I believe this was another mutant constructed from two instruments. The guitar neck I think was from a Gibson EDS-1275, but I forget what the bass was.

    One thing that I find interesting about Rutherford's doublenecks is they're virtually the only guitar/bass doublenecks I've ever seen where the bass on the bottom neck. It seems to me that would be a much more comfortable configuration to play. But every other such instrument I've seen, from the Gibson models from the 60's to the Rickenbacker instruments that Geddy Lee used to play, they've all got the bass on top, which seems to me like a weird place for it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    & Squire uses a triple neck!
    Which apparently originally belonged to the bassist in Wakeman's solo band. The original tripleneck, I believe, Squire ended up giving to the Hard Rock Cafe, then he had to borrow it back when it was decided that Yes would do Awaken on the Union tour. He then later had a replica built so he wouldn't have to borrow the original again.

    I've always wondered if Squire had already constructed the parts in Awaken that needed multiple instruments (both fretted and fretless four string instruments plus that sort of baritone 12 string guitar part) beforehand and said "Oh, I'll figure out a way to deal with it onstage" or if it was only after the arrival of the three necked instrument that he said "Ah, ha! I have to come up with something to legitimize using such an instrument!".

    And for the record, on Topographic Oceans, I think it's on side two, Squire used both fretted and fretless basses, and such had to use a stand similar to the one that Howe mounts his Coral Sitar on (or used to, I believe the last couple times I saw Yes, he was using one of those "virtual guitars" in it's place). I believe he had a Guild fretless that he had on the stand in the photos I've seen, and he used his usual Rickenbacker for the fretted parts. I wonder if that's not the real reason they dropped side two at some point in the tour, "Look, mates, I can't keep doing this, standing in one spot playing a bass on a stand. It's alright and fine for Steve to do that, but it's not working for me. So let's drop that one. I think playing the entire album is making the audience restless anyway".

  5. #5
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    & Squire uses a triple neck!
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post

    And actually, Rutherford had several doublenecks, all of them custom built.

    Which apparently originally belonged to the bassist in Wakeman's solo band. The original tripleneck, I believe, Squire ended up giving to the Hard Rock Cafe, then he had to borrow it back when it was decided that Yes would do Awaken on the Union tour. He then later had a replica built so he wouldn't have to borrow the original again.
    Squire's bass is a 70s Wal before Wal got famous in the 80s by Geddy ( I personally dont care for Wal basses but I would play that just for a goof )I believe the top neck is a 6-String Mandocello (of which 8-string is the norm) ...I had always thought that Ruthorford had a double-neck Wal in his arsenal but cant find a pic



    John Paul Jones had a triple-neck but it was a 6-, 12-string guitar, and mandolin



    of course, there is Rick Neilson


    and somebody with way too much time on his hands


  6. #6
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Great posts GuitarGeek, thanks! ... although Hackett may be too 'small' (as he puts it) to play a double neck, I should reiterate that I've seen Pete Trewavas (an even smaller guy) play a massive double neck when Marillion plays "A Few Words For The Dead".

    As for that last photo in the post above, check out this video at the 2:13 mark. Makes me laugh out loud every single time I see it! (Yes, we're really straying from Hackett now!)

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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Great posts GuitarGeek, thanks! ... although Hackett may be too 'small' (as he puts it) to play a double neck, I should reiterate that I've seen Pete Trewavas (an even smaller guy) play a massive double neck when Marillion plays "A Few Words For The Dead".

    As for that last photo in the post above, check out this video at the 2:13 mark. Makes me laugh out loud every single time I see it! (Yes, we're really straying from Hackett now!)

    It this what they call HAIR-metal?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    Squire's bass is a 70s Wal before Wal got famous in the 80s by Geddy ( I personally dont care for Wal basses but I would play that just for a goof )I believe the top neck is a 6-String Mandocello (of which 8-string is the norm) ...I had always thought that Ruthorford had a double-neck Wal in his arsenal but cant find a pic

    Ian Waller (that was his actual name) was "famous" way before Geddy every played his instruments. People like Mick Karn, Percy Jones and several other English bassists were using his instruments in the early 80's. If I recall correctly, Geddy didn't start using a Wal until around the time of Power Windows and how used one for a couple albums before switching back to playing Fenders. I've never heard of Rutherford playing Wal instruments.

    As for the top neck on the tripleneck, I had the impression it was the bottom half of a baritone 12 string, tuned ADG, with each pair in octaves. A mandocello would be tuned CGDA, with the pairs in unison, I think.

    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    John Paul Jones had a triple-neck but it was a 6-, 12-string guitar, and mandolin
    Built by Andy Manson. Andrew's bother Hugh builds the basses that Jonesy has been using using for the last couple decades. Reportedly, Andy went to see Zep at one of the Earl's Court shows in 75, and noticed Jonesy "scrambling" to change instruments during the acoustic set. So he built the triple neck in secret, then presented it to Jonesy who bought it immediately. Jonesy then kept the instrument a secret until he could bring it to a band rehearsal, just so he could see the face on Page's face when he saw the instrument. Page eventually had a similar instrument built (which you can see in the Page & Plant TV special that MTV aired back in 94 or whenever it was). Jonesy also has a triple neck, which I think combines a mandolin, mandocello, and an 8 string bass:

    johnpaul-triple.jpg

    Andy Manson also built a four necked acoustic instrument for a musician in London named Pat...something. I remember seeing the instrument pictured in the June 83 issue of Guitar Player (article was entitled "Radical Acoustics"). It combined six string guitar, 12 string guitar, mandolin, and tiple. I figured the guitarist in question was some top flight acoustic player or a folk musician or maybe a studio guy, but he turned out to be mostly an amateur guitarist. I remember Googling his name some years back (after re-reading the GP article for the first time in probably a couple decades) and finding out his main professional musical activity was as a teacher. Man that was disappointing.

    I also recall the doubleneck and tripleneck Ovation instruments that Richie Sambora used onstage with Bon Jovi during the mid and late 80's. He used the doubleneck for the Slippery When Wet tour, as far as I can tell, mainly so he play that Al DiMeola style acoustic guitar solo at the beginning of Wanted Dead Or Alive, then swap to 12 string for the song proper (and then, if I remember correctly, he'd switch to electric for the second half of the song). The next album after that, there was a song where he played mandolin, so he had Ovation build him an instrument that added an mandolin.

    I remember Richie said the Ovation people had to send someone to Germany to study with some luthier so they'd be able to deal with all the tensions created by having so many strings on the tripleneck instruments (they built him two, a white one and a black one). Somewhere on Youtube, there's a video of Wanted Dead Or Alive, I think recorded at that big festival in Russia that Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Ozzy, etc all played at around that time, where he does a bit of a solo on the mandolin neck, then does a bit of solo on the six string neck, then switches to the 12 string for Wanted Dead Or Alive proper.

    Hamer's actually built Rick Nielsen three different five neck guitars. The first one was the red one he plays in the She's Tight video, which had a 12 string neck and four six string necks: two Les Paul style bridges and tailpieces, one with a Maestro Vibrola whammy bar, and the fourth was fretless. The second one, built in the early 90's, is the chess board finish guitar, where the whammy bar was a Kahler, with Fender style bridges on the other necks. Then early in the 21st century, they built him on that replaced the fretless neck at the bottom with a mandocello.

    And then there's the Zemaitis metal front doubleneck. Did we ever figure out what song he actually played this on:

    doubleneck.jpg

    As for Michael Angelo, I remember seeing that Nitro video on MTV back when that song first came out, and I just thought "OK, this guy's gone too far". I think it was the first time I saw someone doing all that tapping stuff and instead of being impressed, I was kinda nauseated. When I think about that one, I start to understand the whole anti guitar solo and anti virtuosity thing from the 90's onwards. Oy!

    German guitarist, luthier and instrument inventor Hans Reichel at one point had a doubleneck with the necks going in opposite directions. I think that's the instrument he used on the Guitar Solos 2 record. Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of him playing it, only pictures of him playing a later doubleneck, which had a slightly more conventional configuration (well, none of Reichel's guitars were "conventional" but this one at least had the two necks configured like most doublenecks).

    And speaking of Marillion, Steve Rothery has been known to sometimes use a Steinberger 6 string/12 string doubleneck, and I think I read that Rik Emmett used one too, for awhile when he left Triumph.

    I've also seen photos of Neal Schon from late 70's playing a Peavey doubleneck that had an octave 12 string, which he used as a faux mandolin, if you will, on a song called Precious Time (I think that's the right song).

    And there's also photos of Pete Townshend playing a Gibson EDS-1275 doubleneck with The Who in the late 60's, though I've never been able to ascertain if he ever actually played the 12 string neck, or if he was just using for "showman" purposes. He eventually swung the guitar around broke off the 12 string neck. There's photos of him playing the instrument with just the six string neck on it.

  9. #9
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Ian Waller (that was his actual name) was "famous" way before Geddy every played his instruments. People like Mick Karn, Percy Jones and several other English bassists were using his instruments in the early 80's. If I recall correctly, Geddy didn't start using a Wal until around the time of Power Windows and how used one for a couple albums before switching back to playing Fenders. I've never heard of Rutherford playing Wal instruments. --EDIT----
    Excellent post, and thanks for the info. I love learning stuff like this. I only quoted the above because I should have clarified that Wal became "more of a household name" due to Geddy. My syntax error - I am well aware that Wals were popular before Geddy. As a matter of fact, I was going to add that the only difference I remember between the original and the one Squire had redone later was the pickguard: the "newer" one is plastic as I recall, while the original is leather

    Also, the Peavey double-neck that Schon had was a production model called the Hydra.......it was also used by Jeff Cook of Alabama. For the most part, its two Horizons in a double-neck configuration, with one a 12-String and the other a 6-String. Cook also had a 6/6 model, one of which was set up for slide. The body style changed on later models (pointier - like the Tracer)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post

    Also, the Peavey double-neck that Schon had was a production model called the Hydra.......it was also used by Jeff Cook of Alabama. For the most part, its two Horizons in a double-neck configuration, with one a 12-String and the other a 6-String. Cook also had a 6/6 model, one of which was set up for slide. The body style changed on later models (pointier - like the Tracer)
    The Schon doubleneck had an octave 12 string, like a 12 string capoed at the 12th fret. I think there's photos of him playing that guitar on the Captured live album. It was similar the Mosrite doubleneck that Joe Maphis made famous in the 60's:

    Joe-Maphis2.jpg

    This was in the late 70's that Schon was playing this instrument. I think Jeff Cook didn't start using the Peavey guitars until the mid 80's. Before that he played Fenders and Music Man guitars, including a pair of custom made Music Man doublenecks.

    And then there's Stan Whittaker's double PRS doubleneck, which I believe was one of the first guitars Paul Reed Smith ever built (or at least, one of the first he actually sold):

    Stan-with-double-neck-1-300x215.jpg

    Stan told me that in the early or mid 90's, Paul called him up and said he wanted to buy the doubleneck back. As far as I can tell, Stan's always used PRS guitars (judging from the photos I've seen of him from the 80's and 90's), but I guess at this stage, he had already made up his mind he wanted a couple new ones, so they made an arrangement whereby Stan relinquished the doubleneck in exchange for a couple new guitars (which I believe are the instruments he played when Happy The Man played at NEARfest).

    And speaking of Paul Reed Smith, Journey, and doublenecks, I believe Jonathan Cain had a PRS doubleneck that he used onstage with Journey in the early 80's. PRS also built the elaborately inlayed doubleneck that Al DiMeola played on the cover of one of his recent albums, something like this:

    prs_doubledragon.jpg

  11. #11
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Chris, your knowledge of this stuff never ceases to amaze and impress me.
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  12. #12
    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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    And then there is Junior Brown with his Git-Steel
    Junior_Brown_Photo_Ron_Baker.jpg
    Yours for only $14,500 usd. http://www.juniorbrown.com/purchase-guitsteel
    Not likely that Hackett played one of these either.
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    I actually have both double & triple necks myself and they are tricky to get to terms with when playing the lower neck(s). The double is an EPi version of the 1275, but the triple is a 4.6.12 configuration by Tao guitars. It is very very heavy but never fails to raise a smile when you bring it off the stand, especially if you've already unleashed the double neck at some point beforehand - as if 2 isn't enough, here comes the ultimate in prog rock gear excess! I call it "the beast", for obvious reasons. It's not the nicest thing to play but I wouldn't swap or sell it.

    Much respect to Mr Squire for still wrestling with one on a regular basis, even if it is just for one song. 408.jpg155.jpg

  14. #14
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Oooh! Guitar porn! Nice stuff, Marti!
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    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    This is of little importance I know...
    Au contraire!

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    Member Camelogue's Avatar
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    I did hear he did a discount double check.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Bails View Post
    Oooh! Guitar porn! Nice stuff, Marti!
    Thanks. Plenty more where that came from, but not really the thread for it

  18. #18
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by martiprog View Post
    Thanks. Plenty more where that came from, but not really the thread for it
    Go for it! OP's permission.
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  19. #19
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by martiprog View Post
    I actually have both double & triple necks myself and they are tricky to get to terms with when playing the lower neck(s). The double is an EPi version of the 1275, but the triple is a 4.6.12 configuration by Tao guitars. It is very very heavy but never fails to raise a smile when you bring it off the stand, especially if you've already unleashed the double neck at some point beforehand - as if 2 isn't enough, here comes the ultimate in prog rock gear excess! I call it "the beast", for obvious reasons. It's not the nicest thing to play but I wouldn't swap or sell it.

    Much respect to Mr Squire for still wrestling with one on a regular basis, even if it is just for one song. 408.jpg155.jpg

    I have one myself (exactly like the one in this pic)



    ...Mine is not made very well. The bass part is "OK - passable", the guitar is not too hot....Its poorly designed as my hand will hit the tops of the guitar keys when playing bass below the third fret.

    I use it in a sequencer-based duo/trio that I gig with on off-nights, many weekday nights, where I play bass 75% of the time and guitar on 25% of the sets...Theres one or two songs that the I go back and forth ("Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, for example, I play bass through, then the sequencer pickjs up the bass in the solo and I play the guitar solo, then I go back to bass)
    Last edited by klothos; 12-02-2013 at 01:46 PM.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    I have one myself (exactly like the one in this pic)



    ...Mine is not made very well. The bass part is "OK - passable", the guitar is not too hot....Its poorly designed as my hand will hit the tops of the guitar keys when playing bass below the third fret.
    Perhaps another good reason for putting the guitar on top?

    I've never quite understood what the point of the guitar/bass doublenecks was supposed to be. I know Geddy Lee used his to play rhythm guitar during the guitar solos in Xanadu and A Passage To Bangkok, with him playing bass pedals during those bits.

    And Mike Rutherford also used a similar approach, though he of course didn't necessarily relegate himself to only playing rhythm guitar under the guitar solos (and I think the bass pedals and electric rhythm guitar playing only came into it because Ant had left the band and the initially attempted to go forward as a quartet).

    But Gibson was making these instruments back in the early 60's. Who were they thinking were going to play such an instrument at the time? Bass pedals as we know them didn't really exist back then, unless you cannibalized an electric organ. Maybe someone thought there was gonna be a glut of organ trios, where the bassist was a "guitarist turned bassist" who would want to occasionally slip in a guitar solo here and there. Or maybe they were expecting a quartet with both a guitarist and a keyboardist, and the bassist would play rhythm guitar during the guitar solos. Presumably in either case, the keyboardist was supposed to cover the bottom end while the bassist was playing guitar.

    Either way, I'd still love to know why virtually everyone puts the guitar on the bottom on their bass/guitar doubleneck. As I said before, it seems awkward. I'd think if the bass was on the bottom, it'd be put it in the position where it would normally be in on a single necked instrument. And I would reckon it'd be easier to adapt to having the guitar higher than usual than adapting to having the bass in that position. I remember a bassist friend of mine suggesting that you have to "hunch forward" to play the guitar neck on those instruments.

  21. #21
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post

    I've never quite understood what the point of the guitar/bass doublenecks was supposed to be. I know Geddy Lee used his to play rhythm guitar during the guitar solos in Xanadu and A Passage To Bangkok, with him playing bass pedals during those bits.
    This is the only sub $350 instrument I own and, not to sound like a gear snob, it really is a cheap imported POS. The sequencer based duo/trio does give me legitimate reasons to use it (its best feature is that it saves "dead time" between songs from having to switch out instruments) and it does get gawks from those who dont know any better but I would never use it in any situation that didnt warrant it and I would NEVER bring it to a blues jam

  22. #22
    Hackett played a fair amount of 12-string in the studio, but they obviously made a decision to streamline the live versions so that only Rutherford played 12-string (except when Tony would also pick up a 12-string, like on "Entangled").

    It's also worth noting, based on the 1976 Genesis In Concert video, that a fair number of songs had the bass guitar replaced with bass pedals in the live version, so that Mike could play the 12-string parts that perhaps Hackett played in the studio.

    That video gave me a new appreciation for Rutherford, BTW. I didn't start listening to music until the 1980s, so my impression of Rutherford was only of the comparatively dumbed-down stuff he did in that era. He seemed to focus more on overall writing and less on contributing innovative guitar or bass parts after Duke.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    Hackett played a fair amount of 12-string in the studio, but they obviously made a decision to streamline the live versions so that only Rutherford played 12-string (except when Tony would also pick up a 12-string, like on "Entangled").
    Hackett played acoustic 12 string when they played Supper's Ready live, at least. I'm guessing he probably 12 string on Stagnation and White Mountain when those songs were played live, as well.

    I'm not exactly sure which songs Hackett played 12 string on in the studio. I think in general, when you hear two 12 string guitars going together, it was Mike and either Ant or Steve (depending on the era). So I would assume things like For Absent Friends, Can Utility And The Coastliners, and Ripples is Mike and Steve (obviously, you can see Steve playing 12 string in the Ripples video).

    If I remember correctly, Tony played 12 string on The Cinema Show, Supper's Ready, The Musical Box, and Entangled. Anyone know where he's playing guitar on Trespass?

    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    It's also worth noting, based on the 1976 Genesis In Concert video, that a fair number of songs had the bass guitar replaced with bass pedals in the live version, so that Mike could play the 12-string parts that perhaps Hackett played in the studio.
    Which songs did they replace the bass guitar with bass pedals on that? I kinda have the impression that was done with the Father Tiresias verses in The Cinema Show, but I think that might have been because Rutherford played both 12 string and bass guitar on the studio version. I'm not sure how often that kind of thing happened.

    Also keep in mind there's probably lots of overdubs on the studio records that couldn't be replicated by just the five of them onstage.

    Quote Originally Posted by profusion View Post
    That video gave me a new appreciation for Rutherford, BTW. I didn't start listening to music until the 1980s, so my impression of Rutherford was only of the comparatively dumbed-down stuff he did in that era. He seemed to focus more on overall writing and less on contributing innovative guitar or bass parts after Duke.
    I think what happened was Mike got more into playing guitar than bass. And I think as a result a lot of stuff came out of stuff that was written with him standing at a set of a bass pedals, rather than playing bass guitar. No Reply At All is the only one I can think of where it really sounds like he was playing bass guitar in rehearsal. That's what happens when there's only three guys in the band, and one of them is doubling on two instruments.

    As for the guitar playing, I think Mike generally kept the guitar playing as high quality as it always had been. I always liked what he played on things like Behind The Lines, Duke's Travels, Abacab, Dodo/The Lurker, Second Home By The Sea, Mama, etc. I also like that guitar part he plays during the first part of Domino.

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Which songs did they replace the bass guitar with bass pedals on that? I kinda have the impression that was done with the Father Tiresias verses in The Cinema Show, but I think that might have been because Rutherford played both 12 string and bass guitar on the studio version. I'm not sure how often that kind of thing happened.

    Also keep in mind there's probably lots of overdubs on the studio records that couldn't be replicated by just the five of them onstage.
    I can't remember exactly, but Rutherford plays very little bass on the songs included in that video--the caveat, of course, is that the video is not the entire show, and there are enough spots where they added the cheesy video cut-ins, that it's tough to say exactly when Mike is playing bass. I only recall seeing him play bass during one song. It must have been Tony who was playing the bass pedals on stage, because Mike is moving around too much to do it.

    The possibility of overdubbing is why I'm very cautious about assuming who played which guitar parts in the studio, except for the quirky little lead parts that are obviously Steve. Any of the 12-string parts could have been either of them (or both of them).

    However, the first two albums with Hackett were obviously done on tighter budgets and timelines (based on the sound and on Steve's interviews), so they may not have had as much time to go back and overdub multiple parts.

    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I think what happened was Mike got more into playing guitar than bass. And I think as a result a lot of stuff came out of stuff that was written with him standing at a set of a bass pedals, rather than playing bass guitar. No Reply At All is the only one I can think of where it really sounds like he was playing bass guitar in rehearsal. That's what happens when there's only three guys in the band, and one of them is doubling on two instruments.

    As for the guitar playing, I think Mike generally kept the guitar playing as high quality as it always had been. I always liked what he played on things like Behind The Lines, Duke's Travels, Abacab, Dodo/The Lurker, Second Home By The Sea, Mama, etc. I also like that guitar part he plays during the first part of Domino.
    My take is that Mike was always more into guitar, since he played so much of it onstage even during "the prog years." He came up with many solid guitar and bass parts after Duke, just nothing very innovative or unusual. Mike & the Mechanics, in particular, was just some dirt simple stuff, and you'd think his own project would feature more of, well, him. That's why I think he became more interested in writing and less interested in being a musician, per se.

  25. #25
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    As for the guitar playing, I think Mike generally kept the guitar playing as high quality as it always had been.
    Oh, no. I don't agree here at all.

    He played some interesting parts, but he's nowhere near the guitarist that Hackett is.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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