This just might be the most unusual looking instrument I have ever made. It’s a double neck bouzouki for Donal Lunny - a Twozouki. Donal had the idea; he mentioned it to Andy Irvine, who recommended me. The conversation probably went like this –

Donal - “Andy, (Showing Andy a scrap of paper with strange markings on it), do you know anyone completely mad who might be able to make this for me?” Andy – “Oh, certainly, that would be Roger”. Thanks Andy.

Two necks, with different scales, and two different tunings to avoid having to use a capo. The central “horn” is to take a strap that balances the instrument properly. Donal wanted the soundhole design, I wanted the head design. Compromise reached.

I needed something appropriate for the tailpieces, and a harp style worked very well, although maybe a little too much Guinness found its way into the design. The harps are “handed” to fit the curves, sawn and filed from 2mm brass then gold plated. I do like a bit of metal work from time to time. Metal doesn’t argue with me as much as wood.

The Twozouki has twin Headway Pickups, phantom powered via two EDM 2 units. I decided that having the necks join the body with angled joints would look rather clever. They do look good, but it wasn’t easy to get the neck alignment right. A tiny adjustment to one aspect of the joint threw all the other alignments completely out in ways that I hadn’t anticipated, so it was a “challenge”. Serves me right for not thinking it through, but to be fair to myself, if I did spend more time in planning, I’d never get anything made, at some point I just have to “jump in” and work things out as I go along. I think it was worth the effort though.