Bigsby
Doublenecked Electric®
Made out of the finest
materials, with its curly maple body, violin type
tailpiece, deep right hand cutaway and uniquely
carved headstock, this guitar is a sight to behold..
This
legendary doublenecked guitar was originally made
for a legend himself, a Nashville session guitarist
named Grady Martin. Paul
Bigsby (d. 1968) made a name for
himself in 1947 or 1948, when he built what might
have been the first truly modern solidbodied electric,
based on a design by his friend Merle Travis.
Travis was seeking an instrument that could duplicate
the sustain of an electric lap steel guitar.
He sketched a model for Bigsby,
and the result- you guessed it, was the Bigsby
Doublenecked Electric.
The short second
neck was meant to be used like a mandolin, and
it carries 5 strings, tuned BGDAE from low to
high. The lowest B was added to extend the mandolin's
normal bass range down into the middle of the
guitar's range. This guitar, however, was too
ahead of its time, and as a result only about
a dozen were ever made, and its presence faded
with time. Although Paul Bigsby was one of the
pioneers of solidbodied electric guitars, his
work is little known today.
Instead, he is more
remembered for his patented vibrato system, which
were also featured on early Gibson and
Gretsch models. Besides that, he was also
an important figure in the development of the
modern pedal steel guitar.
The original Bigsby/Travis
guitar now lies in the collection of the Country
Music Hall of Fame.
Click on the image
for a complete view of the guitar.
