Meet The Beast, A Six-Neck Guitar That's Going Up for Auction

The Beast guitar, designed by Gary Hutchins
(Image credit: Future)

Rick Nielsen's iconic five-neck guitar's got some company.

The Beast – a backbreaking six-neck monster of an electric guitar designed by Gary Hutchins – has been put up for auction by the Gardiner Houlgate firm. Inspired by Nielsen's five-neck, the appropriately named Beast features (from top to bottom) twelve-string, six-string with tremolo, five-string bass, four-string bass, seven-string with tremolo, and six-string hardtail models.

Its single solid body is over three feet wide and boasts a Metallic Red finish. Each of its necks is made of rosewood, and the guitar weighs in at a whopping 37 pounds.

The guitar's numerous pickups, meanwhile, are controlled by two three-way toggle switches that select the model, plus two more three-way switches and two master volume and master tone controls.

The Beast guitar

(Image credit: Future)

For his part, Hutchins describes his creation – which has been displayed by the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Museum of Comedy in London – as “the guitar that should never have been made.”

The Beast can be bid on now, with a starting bid of £1,500 (~ $2,080).

For more info on the guitar, or to bid, stop by gardinerhoulgate.co.uk.

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Jackson Maxwell
Associate Editor, GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.com

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com and GuitarPlayer.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.