50th ANNIVERSARY
GRATEFUL DEAD TIGER
1965 – 2015
In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead, Lieber Instruments is building a limited run of 24 exclusive guitars. Jerry Garcia’s Tiger and Wolf guitars are as emblematic of the Dead as the dancing bears and Thomas Lieber is rebirthing them in tribute to the band.
RECOLLECTIONS FROM THE LUTHIER
I worked alongside Doug Irwin from July 1974 through November 1977 designing and building guitars for the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship and many other legendary musicians.
My recent conversations with Jerry Garcia’s estate brought to light just how iconic Jerry’s guitars have become to his fans. I decided to create a 50thAnniversary edition that would instill the tradition and level of craftsmanship Doug and I practiced those many decades ago. The guitars are hand-built and based upon our original ornamental body designs and templates.
Jerry’s Tiger sold for $957,000.00 at auction and his Wolf sold for $789,500.00 There are no other handmade custom guitars that were built for and owned by such a world-renowned musician like Jerry Garcia that could ever demand such a price again.
Creating these instruments today from the same wood species we used back then is ecologically unsound and costly. The new instruments I’ve designed are comprised of the highest quality sustainable materials, displaying my continued commitment to environmentally-responsible manufacturing.
BODY DESIGN
Body:
Flame (tiger) Maple 1/4 inch top / back , 1 1/8 core comprised of 7/8 thick Flamed Maple with1/4 Walnut laminated between top and back
Neck:
Three pieces Flamed (tiger) Maple neck with Walnut veneer set between laminations.
Headstock:
Ebony faceplate, new Logo designed exclusively for project, Jerry logo (Ebony, Holly and Copper marquetry Jerry inlay , Figured Quilted Maple backside of headstock
Fingerboard:
Ebony with Wolf Mother of Pearl inlay pattern, 24 Fret 25 ½ inch scale
Electronics:
DiMarzio pickups and Garcia OBEL electronics package, stereo cord
Hardware:
Brass / Gold plated: Schaller locking gears, exotic wood / substrate pickup mounting ring, brass Gold plated Harmonica Bridge, custom brass Gold plated tailpiece, brass string nut, brass Gold-plated large strap buttons.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Total Length: 40 ½ inches
- Body length: 17 inches
- Upper bout width: 10 3/4 inches
- Lower bout width: 12 1/2 inches
- Thickness: 1 7/8 inches
- Neck: 24 fret 25 ½ inch scale
- String Nut width: 1 5/8
- Fingerboard end width: 2 5/32
- Peghead angle: 11 degrees
- Weight: 8.5 lbs
- Hardware: Gold plated
- Schaller Locking tuning gears
- Kluson “Garcia” bridge and Tailpiece
- Large strap buttons
- Barrel knobs, both single and concentric
- Custom scalloped brass string nut
- Eletronics: OBEL package
- CAE CB 1 buffer
- DiMarzio two DP104 super 2’s plus one SDS-1 DP 111
- Humbucking coil selection, Series/Single coil/Parallel
- Master volume, tone for each pickup
- 5 position pickup selector switch
- OBEL on/off mini switch
- Stereo cord provided for OBEL operation