[Ethanlovesjazz]

Pros: Great feeling neck and switching is great. Pickups are useable

Cons: Pickups could be a tad less harsh, Some finish issues ( very minimal, a few dirty fret)

Overall: Gets the Jerry tone and more! Solid guitar and with a few upgrades (that they offer) is a heck of a bargin! I am working with Freddy Rose to get a newer pickup ring ( Scott Walker style)

Wait time was 3.5 months and explained to Freddy i needed the guitar for a show and was great to deal with! Highly reccomend

[Diggey]

I'm curious about this if you have more time to write about it. How are the stock pickups? Did you adjust the height and pole pieces to reduce the harshness? What type of finish issues did you have? Is it light weight or heavy? Is action low and are there any buzzing or deadened frets? The price is nice but is it worth it once you do some of the upgrades?

[chinacatbundaberg]

I've got a honey Dead Bolt so can't say much about the Wolph except that it weighs around 8 lbs according to the Phred site, the same as mine which I wouldn't call particularly heavy. I've no complaints about the stock pickups but I don't know how the upgrades would sound, maybe better, maybe not much change ?? You can upgrade the pickups and electronics when purchasing. I do like the neck, very playable, and the frets are tidy. The routing for the rear cover is a little untidy but I don't consider that as a major negative. I bought the stock guitar with no upgrades and I'm very pleased with it.

[RLW]

Controversial statement ahead ....

These guitars make me want to puke because they are made in China ... sorry, but I'm very much against buying something as American as a Jerry Garcia guitar made in China ... it's a sin - in my opinion. I was excited about adding a Trey guitar to my collection and not wanting to spend 10K I found the Phred site but changed my mind when I found out they are made in China. Spend a few grand and let a proper luthier build your guitar and preserve one of the last American institutions.

[aiq]

OK, Donald.

[TeeJay]

When a design is copied and mass produced in china it legitimizes it somehow.

[RLW]

OK, Donald.

Yeah, yeah ... well, point is, you can get that made in the US by a proper luthier for far less than 10k and you're supporting craftsmen and a dying art. And fwiw - I live in England dude, and I hate Trump ... but I also hate guitars made in China. Jerry would have never played one, nor would Trey. But hey ho, do as you wish.

[milobender]

Yeah, yeah ... well, point is, you can get that made in the US by a proper luthier for far less than 10k and you're supporting craftsmen and a dying art. And fwiw - I live in England dude, and I hate Trump ... but I also hate guitars made in China. Jerry would have never played one, nor would Trey. But hey ho, do as you wish.

+1

[mikelawson]

They had these at the last NAMM Show, in a booth with Mu FX. I sat down and played them for a bit, talked to Fred, etc,

My take was that these were kind of like getting an Indonesian or Chinese Les Paul made by Epiphone. The look kind of right from across the room, and they are close enough to fill a jones on a certain level if you can't spring for a handmade replica. Let's face it, most can't. Even the Phigas are $4k and up, all in. And most of us lucky enough to be working steadily in a tribute situation are still not bringing in enough bank to justify financially the absurd amount of money we throw at chasing the tone. This is an expensive labor of love, and my group works probably 35-40 shows a year, most of which pay pretty well

I found the Phreds to be heavy. I wasn't impressed with the neck scarf headstock construction. I was surprised at the tone being good for what they are, and they were playable and functional. The thickness of the Bolt is well more than a neck-through, making it kind of heavy. The white striped around it, intended to simulate a layer of wood, I guess, is painted. The Wolf proportions seemed off a bit, and the body was thick on it too, compared to what a neck-through would be. The finish work was OK. Fred gets them setup up stateside and they go out to customers, so I've heard, in good repair and playable.

If you only have that kind of money to spend or it's all you want to lay out, and you're OK with the realities of an "Epi" vs a Gibson Les Paul, then you're going to probably be happy with them. It's like somebody going to a Star Trek Convention in a handmade "hero uniform" replica with high-end props of their communicator which works as a cell phone vis Bluetooth, vs wearing an off the rack Star Trek uniform from a Halloween shop and a toy communicator that just makes the sounds.

The world is full of import knock of "official" Gibsons under the Epi name, or Squires under the Fender name. There is a demand.

And as always, your mileage may vary.

[aiq]

Oh I think Jerry would play an Eastman but keep on speaking for him.

Not a Phred fan either.

Maybe I should've said Farage?

[Jon S.]

I myself am bothered more by people crapping after-the-fact on others' joy than where something is made. I myself own products, guitars included, from all over the world. Should Chinese people boycott made in America guitars, too? As far as what Jerry would think of a guitar built in a Pacific rim country, any thoughts on that are purely speculation by those making them and more an attempt to project their preferences onto others than anything else. This is besides the fact that who's paying for and playing the instrument, Jerry or you? Jerry did things I'd never do and did not do certain things I do or would. Feel free to flame me back, we've gone back and forth on this so many times on TGP and elsewhere, I'm impervious at this point and hope the OP is now, too.

[lightningbolt]

Controversial statement ahead ....

These guitars make me want to puke because they are made in China ... sorry, but I'm very much against buying something as American as a Jerry Garcia guitar made in China ... it's a sin - in my opinion. I was excited about adding a Trey guitar to my collection and not wanting to spend 10K I found the Phred site but changed my mind when I found out they are made in China. Spend a few grand and let a proper luthier build your guitar and preserve one of the last American institutions.

If you feel this strongly, you should send a message to Weir as he has been playing a Made in China D'Angelico....not only that, he endorses them....

We have no idea what Jerry would be playing today. Maybe a Cripe, an Irwin, PRS or something totally different and made outside the USA.

Everyone has a different budget, there is a place for rather inexpensive Jerry guitars regardless of where they are made. There is obviously a market for it or Phred Instruments wouldn't be sustainable. If there is a market for an item it will be filled...that is the way capitalism works. If not filled by Phred then it would be filled by someone else.

It is not always a choice of buy American or buy Made in China. If there weren't options in the lower price point many would just do without....and why should they have to not fulfill their own search for the sound?

Now how do we get Fender custom shop to make an Alligator? That is what I want to know.

[TI4-1009]

I like my Chinese Epi Casino and Hofner Contemporary.
I like my Canadian made Precision Guitar Kit guitars.
I like my Indonesian Squire Jazz bass.
I like my American made Martin.
etc. etc.

Picture a big blue ball just spinning, spinning free.

[Ebearius]

Jerry's Takamine's and Alvarez's were made on Japan.

[Poor Peter]

I get where RWL is coming from. I cant speak for him and I sure don't mean to but I suspect that like me, he has tired of the massive amount of Chinese goods that are imported into this country. Maybe its just perception but it seems everything these days is "made in china" and now it has even managed to infiltrate something as sacred to us as Jerrys guitars. Yes I am aware of the all the guitars that are imported from china and it only makes sense that, like someone mentioned earlier, if there is a potential market for it someone will exploit it. Factor into the equation the internet and a whole new generation of kids getting on the bus and this just adds to the marketability. I know when I was in my twenties or thirties I didn't have 2k to have a luthier build me a guitar. But all that aside, to many of us it goes against principle and crosses a line. If it were 10 or 15 years ago and "made in china" wasn't stamped on everything we pick up at the store, chances are we wouldn't be having this discussion. Just my opinion.