[mkaufman]

I took these pictures yesterday at the NY Historical Society's exhibit of Grateful Deal memorabilia. On display was Weir's original Cowboy. Unfortunately, picture taking was forbidden and I was busted after only taking these two pictures.

Anyway...can anyone identify these pickups circa '78/'79. Notice the size of the single coil poles. The are huge! In 1979, Ibanez had the Super 6 and Super Tap 6 single coils which had very large poles, just like this pickup, however, Weir had a very similar large-pole pickup in his '2681' dating back to 1975 which pre-dated the Super 6's by several years.

Just noticed...is it possible that the single coil has 3 adjustment screws??

Any ideas???

Oops...I'm really bad at posting pics on this site. These links will show the complete pics:

http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/i ... 3479;image
http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/i ... 3481;image

If someone can post the full pics for me, that would be great!

tnx,
mk

[mkaufman]

So, to help in the ID process, the humbuckers have circular holes between poles 1-2 and 5-6, and there's a square hole to the right of the high E pole.

The single coil has small holes between poles 1-2 and 5-6.

mk

[mkaufman]

So, in following this thread on the Ibanez Collectors Website, it seems very likely that the bridge pup is a Seymour Duncan, possibly a Jeff Beck. Sure looks like it to me.

http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/forum/v ... ?topicseen

mk

[jeffm725]

it's going to be real tough to identify those pups without flipping them over. They do have a Seymour Duncan form factor on top, but they also could have been custom made for Weir by whoever was winding for the Ibanez custom shop at the time. It's too bad Hasselberger doesn't post at ICW anymore, as he would know better than anyone and better than probably even Weir. Jeff H would probably end up saying that so many different ones were swapped in and out that he couldn't keep track.

[broesau]

This is from a link on the philzone board. Apparently they had some instruments on display and this appears to be a very early Cowboy. Looks like it has a super 80 in the neck and the sliding single coil. Wish it was a better picture, maybe more will pop up.

[mkaufman]

That's a great picture - thanks!!

So here's the deal w/ this guitar. I call this the 'very fancy' inlay 'Cowboy'. To me, it's the 1st true Cowboy guitar, however, it didn't start out this way as pictured. Weir had this guitar back in 1976 along with the customized 2681. It originally had two volume & two tone controls and did not have the built-in EQ/pre-amp. This guitar is seen at Day of the Green with the Who (10/76) and on 12/31/76. Check out page 158 of Grateful Dead Gear for a good picture of this guitar. I've seen pics of this guitar showing just Super 80 pickups and other pics with different pickups.

In 1977, Ibanez introduced the Steve Miller 2622 guitar. This is the first guitar from Ibanez that had the built-in pre-amp & EQ. The guitar pictured above was retrofitted with the built-in pre-amp & EQ and that's what you see above.

In late 78, Weir received another Cowboy. This is the one that was used as the model for the 30 Cowboys that Ibanez made in 2005. This guitar has a fancy inlay, however, it does not the 'very fancy' inlay just below the cloud tailpiece. This Cowboy used non-Ibanez pickups and is currently on display at the NY Historical Society.

One other note: the late '78 Cowboy had a thru-neck. I'm almost certain that the prior 'very fancy' Cowboy had a set neck.

To me, the 'very fancy' Cowboy pictured just above is the ultimate Cowboy. Just my preference.

mk

[mkaufman]

btw...can you please post the url link from where this pic was posted?

tnx,
mk

[broesau]

http://www.pbase.com/alansheckter/furhurfestival2010

[mkaufman]

Wow - will these be on display at every show???

mk

[jdsmodulus]

Wow - will these be on display at every show???

mk

Im guessing the "gear" display was for Furthur Fest only. They did this at Alpine for the "Family Reunion". On kind of a funny note I heard a rumor (and I think that is just what it is) that they auctioned off Bobbys "Daisy Dukes" but several people said this was true.

[JonnyBoy]

That's actually a good thing, now no one from the FOH has to radio in, "Bob, your balls are showing".