Reader Guitar of the Month: Doubleneck Bass/Guitar

I glued the cracked body back together, and planned to restore a guitar and make it look like my 1985 ZZ, but I wondered about the spare body and neck. Someone suggested making a doubleneck like James Hetfield’s, and since I’m a bass player and also a huge Rush fan, a doubleneck with a bass on top and guitar on bottom sounded fun. “Xanadu,” anyone?

After some mockups, I cut both bodies and glued them together, keeping the Explorer-ish shape. I had some spare parts lying around from other projects, so I used them. Since I was doing this project on a shoestring budget, and didn’t know any professional painters who would work for free, I decided to paint it myself. I found articles about DIY instrument painting using off-the-shelf colors and rattle cans. By this time, it was October, and in typical New England fashion, we had a freak snowstorm. The temperature and humidity were all over the place, and inexperienced me trudged on with painting and sanding, hoping to finish the project before Christmas.