I had the urge to invite a multi necked chordophone to Ukulele Corner incorporating the Pony Guitar Sanctuary. I don't know what they are like to play but they look like they are good to pose with, (and not having played one before I am curious about them). There aren't that many about though, and most of the ones I see for sale are Guitar based, (either a 6 string electric Guitar with another chordophone, Bass, Mandolin even Ukulele, or the 6 string plus another Guitar option, Baritone, 12 string, 7 string, even electric / acoustic). When I went looking though I couldn't find any real 2nd hand bargains; I did see a nice electric-acoustic but it was a bit expensive. So the only other option was to look at new and there are a few Chinese made and branded ones out there that are not that expensive, (so they are probably ponies; but it is the Pony Guitar Sanctuary) . The one I liked best was the Harlem V 6 /12 double-neck, not quite a Gibson V copy, but still more distinctive than most, (though for some reason only available in Black) The only problem, as far as I was concerned was that it was branded by Gear4Music with their naff name and even naffer logo - but I could always paint over it or try and remove it, (I have read you can do this with Brasso?) still it did put me off buying one straight away. I thought "Gear4Music are a big chain so there is no rush to get one. I could wait until I had a lottery win, or possibly see something better?" so I waited.

And I did win the lottery last week, (only a free ticket, but its still a win and who knows maybe that ticket will win a fortune?..

And patience is not a virtue of mine!)

It's here now and it's a bit of a beast! Well it's a lot of a beast actually; it's quite heavy, clearly very solid and the shape is a little awkward to play sitting down, particularly the 12 string neck. I am having trouble with the bridge pickup on the 12 string too. I'm not entirely sure how you are suppose to switch between necks, it says on the publicity specifications the is a switch for this but I can't find one? I can get some switching between necks though, (though clearly only one at a time will play), if I turn down the volume on the 6 string neck the 12 string bridge pickup works and if I turn down the volume on the 12 string neck or switch to the neck pickup(?) the 6 string pickups work. If I leave both necks turned up, the one that was working last will work?? I have contacted the distributors about this and am waiting to see what they say, I had better not try and get rid of the Gear4Music logos yet though in case I have to send it back.

Well I have heard back from G4M and the only problem is the design. It looks like, (and I thought) the upper switch is for switching between pickups on the top neck, but though the knobs are for the top neck, it's not. This is the switch for switching between necks and it does have a mid position where both necks work? The bottom switch will switch pickups on whatever neck is live, (and if you put both switches to the mid point then all four pickups are live)