Stairway to Heaven…
One of Only 4 Double-12's Made in 1966

This custom-built double-neck (conventional six-string neck in the lower position combined with a twelve-string neck) weighs just 10.50 lbs. Both necks have a nut width of 1 9/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches and both have a quite thick neck profile. Solid mahogany body with bevelled edge (16 1/2 inches wide and 1 3/8 inches deep), two one-piece mahogany necks, and bound rosewood fretboards. The conventional guitar and the twelve-string necks have 20 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Each headstock with "Gibson" logo inlaid in pearl and two-layer (black on white) truss-rod covers with "Custom" engraved in white. Serial number ("849036") impressed into the back of the headstock of the Twelve-String guitar. Individual Kluson Deluxe 'double-line' tuners with double-ring Keystone plastic buttons and "D-169400 / Patent No." stamped on the undrside. Four "patent-number" humbucker pickups. Each pickup with a black label ("Patent No. 2,737,842") on the underside and with outputs of 7.40k and 7.53k on the six-string guitar and outputs of 7.49k and 8.61k on the twelve-string guitar. Black plastic pickup rings. The pots are dated "137 66XX" (CTS 1966). Two five-layer(black / white / black / white / black) plastic pickguards with bevelled edges, the one on the six-string guitar side with seven screws, the one in the middle with eight screws. Each of the pickguards engraved in white with 'Humming Birds and Flowers'. Four controls (one volume and one tone for the two pickups of the conventional guitar and one volume and one tone for the the two pickups on the twelve-string guitar) plus a three-way pickup selector switch for both of the necks in the center of the guitar and a three-way neck selector switch on the treble horn of the pickguard of the conventional guitar. Gold plastic bell-shaped with metal top knobs. Each guitar with Gibson "patent-number" Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge, both with nylon saddles. Maestro vibrato tailpiece with 'Walrus Tooth' arm and three screws on the six-string guitar and a non-adjustable bar tailpiece with three screws on the twelve string guitar. The original strap buttons are positioned on the heel of the twelve-string guitar and on the lower edge. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. When we took the guitar apart we noticed that under the Maestro Vibrato tailpiece there were three additional screw holes where it is evident that this custom built guitar had been pre-drilled for the standard non adjustable bar tailpiece usually found on EDS-1275's. We have absolutely no doubt that the Maestro Vibrato was fitted at the time of production in 1966. There is a miniscule amount of belt buckle wear on the back (nothing through to the wood and also a mark on the back where the guitar has probably sat for an extended period on a guitar strap in the case. There is some fine checking on the top and a few small and insignificant surface marks on the edges. With all that said, this great rarity - the first mid-sixties EDS-1275 that we have ever seen, is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in the original Gibson black rectangular hardshell case with yellow/orange plush lining (9.00). This guitar at 10.50 pounds is considerably lighter that the three other EDS-1275's that we have handled (1958: 11.80 lbs; 1975: 12.60 lbs; 1975 11.20 lbs).

According to Larry Meiners's Gibson Shipment Totals 1937-1979 (p. 20), just four ES-1275 Double 12 guitars were shipped in 1966, out of a total of sixty EDS-1275s shipped between 1962 and 1967. The actual breakdown is as follows: (1962: 2), (1963: 6), (1964: 10), (1965: 5), (1966: 4), (1967: 33). The shipping figures for the final years (1968 & 1969) are not available.

"At the end of 1962 the original thinline double necks were phased out and superseded by solid bodies patterned after the ultra-thin SG design pioneered on Les Paul guitars. Notwithstanding the change in body style, double necks continued to be built to custom order only and few were shipped during the 60s before being (temporarily) withdrawn from the Gibson catalog" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 196).

"On the SG-styled double necks, and unlike the thinline models, the two necks share the same individual volume and tone controls and pickup selector switch…Notwithstanding the change of body style, double necks remained built to custom order only. Mid-60s catalogs indicate that they dould be ordered with 'your own choice of double neck equipment'. In other words, any neck combination was possible" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 196).

From the 1963 Gibson Guitar and Bass Catalogue (p. 15): "These fine products of the Gibson custom department offer the unique crafting and individual attention which is found only in custom-built instruments. Gibson's custom department has long been famous for the special models built to the individual specification of top artists in all phases of the music business. Whatever they sought in a guitar, the Gibson custom department was able to achieve it. This same special treatment is given to the double electric guitars because they are in reality all custom-built instruments. Each receiving that special individual treatment…The Double Twelve combines the conventional six-string guitar with a twelve-string neck., thus enabling the player to tune either in thirds or an octave apart for reinforced resonance and unusual tonal effect. Has two slim, fast, low-action necks of one-piece mahogany, Rosewood fingerboards, pearl inlays. Adjustable Tune-O-Matic bridges.Twin, humbucking pickups on each neck with separate tone and volume controls. Three position toggle switch. Neck selector switch to activate either neck" (at http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/gib63p15.php).

In the early to mid-sixties the SG-style 'double-twelve' guitars proved somewhat less popular than the previous thinline versions. Only twenty-seven 'double-twelve' guitars were shipped between 1962 and 1966, as opposed to fifty between 1958 and 1962. The six instruments recorded in 1962 include both styles as the (2) earliest solid bodies were shipped at the end of that year. The limited number of 'double-twelves' produced in the sixties probably explains why their shipments ceased to be recorded after 1967 even though they were cataloged and built to special order until 1970. The 'double-twelve' was re-introduced in late 1974 and the shipping totals between 1974 and 1979 show that eleven hundred and forty-five 'double-twelves' were shipped between late 1974 and 1979.

"The complex structure of "Stairway" stimulated Page to get a special instrument that could accommodate its varied parts, and he chose an unusual twelve- and six-stringed double necked Gibson for its live performance. Of course the song can be played on a single set of strings (the similarly patterned "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" had been presented with the Telecaster, with the volume turned down for the "acoustic" sections), but Page wanted a more faithful approximation of the piece's chiming textures and ordered a custom-made EDS 1275 6/12. "They were really good about that because they weren't making them anymore," he said. [Bluesman] Earl Hooker played the first one I saw. I always wanted one but you just couldn't get them." (Hooker's was shown on the cover of his album Two Bugs and a Roach [recorded in Chicago, November 12-15, 1968], while Elvis Presley, bizarrely, was seen sporting a Gibson double-neck in his 1966 movie Spinout.) The cherry-red body had a sonic identity all its own, making it not just two guitars stuck together but a single eighteen-stringed piece of craftsmanship. "When you just play the six-string neck," Page pointed out, "all the other strings start ringing in sympathy like the strings on a sitar… It can sound like a harp… A tangible display of his multitalented guitar techniques, the double-neck became Page's most iconic axe and prompted numerous other players to show off with EDS-1275s of their own: The Eagles' Don Felder [for Hotel California], Rush's Alex Lifeson, and Page's old tutor John McLaughlin. Serial number 911117, it remains in Page's care and has been valued at £50,000, although it is more accurately priceless". (George Case. Jimmy Page. Magus, Musician, Man. 2007. pp. 109-110).