“Some might be thankful they only made one because Gibson didn’t waste any more wood”: Meet the obscure ’60s Gibsons that prove double-necks were a thing before Stairway to Heaven

[LEFT] 1966 EMS-1235 with full-scale four-string tenor neck and eight-string mandolin neck. Right: 1961 EMS-1235 with a regular six-string neck and an octave six-string neck.

The Polaris White one is a 1961 EMS-1235 with a regular six-string neck and an octave six-string neck, and its most interesting and unusual feature is the Bigsby on the octave side.

Gibson made these with Venetian and Florentine cutaways, but this one is Venetian. It is a hollow-bodied guitar with a carved spruce top and a flat back, and all three pickups are [Patent Applied For units]. There’s a single layer of white celluloid binding on the back and white/black/white around the top.