What was Jerry Garcia's favorite guitar?

Wolf was among the more than two dozen guitars that Garcia played throughout his career and left behind when he died on Aug. 9, 1995. It's also the most singular — considered Garcia's first-ever custom guitar and arguably his most beloved.

Which guitar did Jerry Garcia play the most?

1957 Fender Stratocaster

Purchased from a Phoenix pawnshop for $250 in late 1970, Graham Nash gave this Fender Strat as a gift to Jerry for playing on a number of his songs.

What kind of guitar does Jerry Garcia play?

Jerry Garcia's guitars that were designed and hand crafted by master luthier Doug Irwin. Five guitars include Wolf, Wolf Jr., Tiger, Rosebud and Eagle. These legendary guitars were used live on stage with the Grateful Dead over the span from the 1970's to 1995 when Jerry unexpectedly passed.

What were Jerry Garcias guitars called?

Doug Irwin is a luthier, best known as the designer of 5 custom guitars for Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. The guitars he built for Garcia included Eagle (Alembic), Wolf,Tiger, Wolf Jr. (headless) and Rosebud.

What guitar did Jerry use on live dead?

1969 - 1970

And a Martin 00-45, used in the Aoxomoxoa/Workingman's Dead studio sessions and later '69 live shows, and apparently in the early 1970 acoustic sets as well.

20 related questions found

Was Jerry Garcia a good guitar player?

Jerry's unique tone, proclivity for beautiful melodies and amazing technique is why he is considered one of the best and most influential guitarists to ever play.

What is Tiger guitar worth?

Tiger -- a guitar Garcia played for 11 years -- went for $850,000. The other guitar, called Wolf, sold for $700,000. The buyer's commission pushed the price paid for Tiger to $957,500 and the price of Wolf to $789,500.

Who owns Jerry's Tiger guitar?

Tiger has resided in the private collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay ever since he purchased it for $850,000 in 2002, but this summer he's loaning it out for a special series of shows honoring Jerry Garcia.

Where is Jerry Garcia Tiger guitar?

Irsay still owns the guitar, and at one time it was on display at the Colts Headquarters in Indianapolis, but today it resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Tiger has only made one on-stage appearance since Jerry's death.

What guitars did Grateful Dead play?

Garcia began playing electric guitar with the Warlocks, before the band changed its name to the Grateful Dead. He used an inexpensive cherry-red Guild Starfire. He played that instrument for several years and used it on the band's early recordings.

How much did Jerry Garcia's guitar weigh?

The tiger inlay was included with the guitar, which also featured different wood types sandwiched together in an arrangement playfully called a “hippie sandwich.” Weighing 13.5 lbs, Tiger is a notably heavy instrument, but it was one of Garcia's favorites.

What guitar amp did Jerry Garcia use?

But the prize lot at the auction was number 36, Jerry Garcia's personal McIntosh MC2300 solid-state, 300W-per-channel stereo power amplifier from the Wall of Sound.

How much is Jerry Garcia's guitar worth?

The musician's custom-made Wolf guitar, which he played for more than two decades, sold for $1.9 million at a charity auction in 2017. FILE - Late Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia's custom-made “Wolf” guitar sold for $1.9 million at auction in 2017 to benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Does Jim Irsay own Jerry Garcia's guitar?

Jerry Garcia's one-of-a-kind "Tiger" guitar was purchased by Irsay at auction for $957,000 in 2002. Garcia's death in 1995 brought the Grateful Dead era to a close, but his band mates Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart perform together as Dead & Company.

What guitar effects did Jerry Garcia use?

His mainstay effects included a Mu-Tron III (his original sold on Reverb in May 2015), a Mu-Tron Octave Divider, a Vox (sometimes Colorsound) wah, and an MXR Analog Delay.

Who owns Wolf guitar?

Wolf was then sold again in 2017 to HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan for $1.9 million, making it the third most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. Today, both Wolf and Tiger reside at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Who owns George Harrison's guitars?

George Harrison's SG was purchased for $567,000 at a Christie's auction in 2004 by Colts owner Jim Irsay. Irsay also owns the Vox Kensington prototype guitar made for the Beatles in 1966 and John Lennon's 1963 Gretsch 6120 Guitar.

Does Doug Irwin still make guitars?

Doug Irwin is a luthier who designed and built five historically iconic custom guitars for Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. The five guitars include Eagle, Wolf, Wolf Jr., Tiger and Rosebud.

What guitar sells the most money?

1. Kurt Cobain's 1959 Martin D18E ($6,000,000) Topping our list of the most expensive guitars ever sold is yet another acoustic, but not just another acoustic – Kurt Cobain's 1959 Martin D18E.

Who made Jerry Garcia's Wolf guitar?

For millions of passionate Grateful Dead fans, there is only one “Wolf”, Jerry Garcia's legendary guitar. Customized by luthier Doug Irwin, and labeled “D. Irwin 001”, Wolf was delivered to Jerry and first appeared in a 1973 New York City performance the Grateful Dead gave for the Hell's Angels.

How much did Wolf sell for?

Jerry Garcia's famous Wolf guitar sold at auction for over $1.9 million Wednesday, AP reports. “Wolf” was Garcia's go-to instrument for over two decades. The Grateful Dead singer-guitarist first wielded the instrument during a 1973 show for the Hell's Angels in New York City.

How did Jerry Garcia get good at guitar?

My step-father put it in an open tuning of some kind and I taught myself how to play by ear. I did that for about a year until I ran into a kid at school who knew three chords on the guitar and also the correct way to tune it.

What happened to Grateful Dead?

Jerry Garcia died on August 9, 1995. A few months after Garcia's death, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead decided to disband. Since that time, there have been a number of reunions by the surviving members involving various combinations of musicians.

Why is Jerry Garcia so popular?

Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between him and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice.