#173347  by Cozmik Cowboy
 
First, let me say that I, as both a Deadhead & a former live sound professional, keep Grateful Dead Gear in my upstairs bathroom; when I finish it I immediately start over (don't know how many times I've been through it, but it's in double digits).

Jackson lists Bobby's progression as Gretsch Tennessean > Rickenbacker (he thinks a 330, but I think the heliport photos show the rounded edges of a 360) > swapping between a 335 & a 345 > Ibanez, etc.

I just reread Phil's Searching For The Sound (for my money one of the two best rock-star memoirs ever writ - the other being Levon's This Wheel's On Fire) , and for the first time noticed that on the TV show they lip-synced early on, the esteemed Mr. Weir is "playing" (no, I can't make that "chord"......) an ES-330-TD. It is the onliest pic have seen of him with one, and have come across no mention of it anywhere.

Does anyone know anything about his relationship, or lack thereof, with this instrument?

I ask because I am 1) not only, as mentioned above, a Deadhead, but also 2) a serious guitar geek, who 3) holds the 330 (and Epiphone Casino, which is the same ax) to be the acme of electric guitar development.

Thanks muchly.
 #173349  by Cozmik Cowboy
 
The very image.

While I am not (despite also being a trained historian & archivist) volunteering for the job, it does sound like fun.

I will add, however, that Jackson IDs a pic of Jer beside Ron Wickersham as holding a D-18 when it is a 000-28; he mentions Jer having a Les Paul Custom with a Bigsby, but I have only seen pics of the LPC without; and nowhere have I read mention of the LP goldtop I have seen exactly one pic of; late '52 or early '53 LP, converted to ABR bridge & 330/335-style trapeze tailpiece (this last interests me because the first guy I did sound for professionally had the only other one like that, which he bought in NorCal; his had the top sanded down to the wood & tung-oiled, which is not outside the range of something ol' Jerome would do........). The questions about both their gear remain legion.
 #173350  by lbpesq
 
The Jerry guitar info referenced above isn't entirely accurate. Contrary to the piece's claim that Wolf was built by Irwin after he left Alembic, Wolf started life as an Alembic. I know this issue has arisen in the past, but no one who supports the Irwin build theory has ever come up with an explanation of why early pics of Wolf clearly show an Alembic logo on the head-stock. If it was 100% an Irwin guitar built after he left Alembic, why would he put an Alembic logo on it?

Also, the piece references a gig Jerry did with NRPS at the Keystone Berkeley on February 2, 1974, and states it is unknown what guitar he played that night. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience. To the best of my recollection, he played a Strat that night, though I don't recall which one. That night was the one and only time I spoke with Jerry. After the show he was standing next to our table as he was making his way to the green room at the back of the club. I looked up, shook his hand, and thanked him for all the great music I had seen him play. My buddy asked him if he was going to get high, to which Jerry responded "you know it!"

Coz: how do you tell the difference between a 330 and a 335 from the pics?

Bill, tgo
 #173351  by tdcrjeff
 
lbpesq wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:12 pmCoz: how do you tell the difference between a 330 and a 335 from the pics?
330 (like the Casino) has P90s, 335 has humbuckers.
 #173352  by lbpesq
 
Doooohhhh! In my defense, the only 330 I’ve played was my buddy’s, 45 years ago, and he had modified it with humbuckers to which he had added the Alembic Hot Rod kit.

Bill, tgo
 #173353  by Cozmik Cowboy
 
tdcrjeff wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:17 pm
lbpesq wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:12 pmCoz: how do you tell the difference between a 330 and a 335 from the pics?
330 (like the Casino) has P90s, 335 has humbuckers.
Also, the neck joins the body at the 16th fret instead of the 19th (being fully hollow, the higher join would be unstable - as Gibson discovered in '67 when they changed it).
 #173354  by Cozmik Cowboy
 
lbpesq wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:12 pm The Jerry guitar info referenced above isn't entirely accurate. Contrary to the piece's claim that Wolf was built by Irwin after he left Alembic, Wolf started life as an Alembic. I know this issue has arisen in the past, but no one who supports the Irwin build theory has ever come up with an explanation of why early pics of Wolf clearly show an Alembic logo on the head-stock. If it was 100% an Irwin guitar built after he left Alembic, why would he put an Alembic logo on it?

Bill, tgo
As I believe we have discussed, Bill, I have seen pix of Wolf with Doug's later logo up in the usual position, with his early one up there & the Alembic logo down by the nut , & with just the Alembic logo; as near as I can figure, early in his modding of 72-25 (or is it 73-25? IDK) he added his logo, then when the headstock broke he put on the new headplate with just his.

Blair also corrects Phil's memory of starting with an EB-3, saying it was an EB-0, but the Inn Room photos of the Warlocks clearly show an EB-0F (EB-0 with a built-in fuzz circuit - a mudbucker with its own dirt box ; what could go wrong?).

If I may quote the preface to Bill Ayers's Fugitive Days: A Memoir, "Memory is a mother f***er".

OK, not exactly a quote, but I'm trying to be polite............
 #173355  by Cozmik Cowboy
 
Cozmik Cowboy wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:10 pm ....Jackson IDs a pic of Jer beside Ron Wickersham as holding a D-18 when it is a 000-28....
That was a typo; it is a 000-42 or -45 (an even more egregious error)..