Multi-neck Guitar - Hybrids

Hybrids

Multiple neck "guitars" have also been made which include other stringed instruments among the alternate necks. Country guitarist Joe Maphis famously played a double-neck Mosrite instrument that had a regular 6-string neck on the bottom and an "octave guitar" for the top neck. This was a 6-string neck tuned an octave higher than the standard guitar, that both extended the range of the instrument, and allowed Maphis to play mandolin-like sounds. Between 1958-1968, Gibson made an instrument of this type which it called the "Double Mandolin" (Gibson EMS 1235). Hybrids with a 6-string guitar neck and a true 8-string mandolin neck were also made (e.g., the 1971 Dawson Electric guitar/mandolin). And Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones has a triple-neck electroacoustic instrument, custom made for him by luthier Andy Manson, which features (from top to bottom) 8-string mandolin, 12-string guitar, and 6-string guitar necks.

Pro Electric has produced a quadruple-necked instrument some have called the "ultimate blugrass axe," not entirely without sarcasm. This solid-body electric instrument combines 6-string guitar, 4-string bass, 8-string mandolin, and 5-string banjo necks into one (heavy) package.

Canadian country music star Steve Puto owns a five-neck instrument that includes guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle necks—with a harmonica mounted on the fiddle body, for good measure. Puto says he found the instrument (which bears no maker's name) in 1973 in a friend's music shop, and he played it regularly on his TV show (The Lonesome Steve Show) in the 1970s.

In 2011, the National Guitar Museum unveiled the "Rock Ock", which it calls the world’s largest fully playable multi-necked stringed instrument. The 8-necked guitar weighs 40 pounds, has 154 frets, 51 strings, and 8 necks. The eight instruments are a mandolin, ukulele, 6-string, fretless bass, standard bass, 12-string, baritone guitar, and a 7-string. The guitar was designed by noted artist Gerard Huerta (responsible for the iconic AC/DC logo, among others) and built by Dan Neafsey of DGN Custom Guitars. The guitar hardware was supplied by Mojo Musical Supply while the instrument itself was commissioned by The National GUITAR Museum. The instrument has been used in live performance and can be seen on YouTube.