The Wolf

[paulinnc]

The Wolf is by far my favorite of Jerry's guitars. I hope to have onw of my very own one day, whether I build it or buy one from a builder. So this thread is all about The Wolf. If anybody has one or is building one let's see it. Also any info about the electronics, routing etc. would helpful. I am aware of Dozin's page and have looked at it but you can't feedback about it on that page. So let it rip.

[Tennessee Jedi]

Check out this cat.I've e-mailed him a couple of times and he always responds.
www.philgawen.com Click on the chick w/the git box
In asking around about him I got two different opinions from people.
One guy said his guitar guy just got one of his guitars (Not the Wolf) and loved it.
Another guy on R U kind led me to a review of one of his early Wolf guitars.The guy who wrote the review said the guitar was only good for hanging on his wall.
Some peps build their own using Warmoth bodies.Good luck...

[tigerstrat]

Waldo can tell you lots about the final version of Wolf's wiring.

Which era of Wolf's sound are you most into? (Not necessarily how the band was sounding or performing)

1.0(Strat-type pickups, no FX loop): 10/73-8/75
2.0(FX loop & unity-gain buffer added): 10/77-5/78
3.0(DiMarzio pups installed): 7/78-7/79
4.0(MIDI pickup added): basically 9/89-12/89, + 7/23/90, and a couple others

[paulinnc]

First, what's not to like about 73? That sound is awesome!!! But I really like the Wolf sound form 12/29-->12/31/77. Dick's picks 10 is amazing!! probably one of my desert island shows. But yea, 77-78 sound probably.

I have seen Phil Gawen guitars, not bad, they definitely have gotten better in accuracy over the past few years, but I feel the wolf shape he has doesn't quite get it. But definitely and option.

I saw a neck thru strat body on ebay, It was a Jamerson build from musickraft. It was routed for 1 pick up but I am sure you could do what you wanted to it. I think the body was rear routed too, I don't know if it makes a difference.

[Erictw83]

I'll probably get strung up in a tree for this one by you older heads... but I love the '89 tone AND I love the midi effects.

[zoppenheimer]

Here's the alembic version of it. Beautiful instrument, but they're like $1000 a piece

http://www.alembic.com/prod/further.html

[kenneybonz]

did the demarzio pickups replace all of them ones or just a certain bank or set of banks get replaced

[paulinnc]

here is a link to that guitar I saw on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=250187515224&Category=41406&_trksid=p3907.m29

If someone has the time, the tools and the resources, this guitar could be made into a nice Wolf replica.

[waldo041]

imho, moriarty makes the best wolf, but he is offline right now. i can say that because i have wired one and it is a spot on replica and plays beautifully. i have not played or held a gawen, but have heard enough negatives to try another route if it were my money. as far as the alembic further, you will pay way more then a grand for it!

peace,
waldo

[paulinnc]

imho, moriarty makes the best wolf, but he is offline right now. i can say that because i have wired one and it is a spot on replica and plays beautifully. i have not played or held a gawen, but have heard enough negatives to try another route if it were my money. as far as the alembic further, you will pay way more then a grand for it!

peace,
waldo

I communicated with Matt Moriarty about the jerry guitars and he said Tiger=10,000 and Wolf=6 or 7000, That's for spot on replicas, I don't think Alembic would even do it. IF they did it would run 15k easy. I too have heard flakey things about Gawen too. But check out his website, I'm not suprised.

[I'm on the Bozo Bus]

Dumb, Stupid question... Off I go....

I have several friends in Nova Scotia, North Michigan, and SW Canada. I've talked to them about finding wood, which has been submerged under "Freezing" water for 500 - 700 years.... So they say...

They describe the wood as being mostly for furniture and if the beams are large enough, decorative and structural supports.

I have (EDIT) not looked very hard, however would this "Rock" wood albeit, heavy, make for a "Differrent" tone? Dense, solid.... Brass nut and bridge????

And part two....

How much would one charge to build a guitar from a hunk of really hard wood???

Ponder, ponder...
PEACE,
Phil

[strumminsix]

A few years ago a Ken Parker interview was released and in it he stated the importance of woods used to make guitars

"every object has a fundamental resonant frequency... When a builder starts to build an instrument, the first thing he or she does is start listening to the material."

"If you’re making a handmade instrument, you find the perfect piece of wood, you dry it out for a long time, you apply your considerable chops to it and you come out with a damn nice neck that stays straight with a nice fret job, if everything goes well."

"There’s stuff that’s happening inside the material – the way it bounces, the way it deforms and returns to shape pretty much on a microscopic level, all determines how the material is going to respond. "

"Yeah, the neck, the stiffnesses and mass at the end of the neck (peghead) and the neck-to-body union, whatever that is – those things have a huge affect on the way that the instrument can respond and conserve energy, which is what sustain is all about – the conservation of energy. The energy has to go somewhere. If the string’s vibration is absorbed by the body of the guitar then we don’t have sustain. Physics again, but around the shop we playfully refer to each other as guitar scientists."

http://www.tonequest.com/articles/article23.htm

My guess is that you would find:
Inability to have a truss rod in the neck
Fret board that absorbs
Body that doesn't resonate
Flat uninspiring tone
No sustain
Potential warping as it slowly dries out

But I may be wrong...

[zoppenheimer]

as far as the alembic further, you will pay way more then a grand for it!

Haha, yea, my bad, missed a zero. Pricey shit.

[astroman99]

I too love the the Wolf, well I love the the Travis Bean too. I have a 1977Series II Alembic, bought used very reasonable$, It ia a fantastic guitar, what a bottom, when I get a little more cash I would love to add FX loop & unity-gain buffer , and then I think it'll be close enough to the Wolf for me.
My recommendation, keep an eye out for an older Alembic, you won't be disappointed,
The Alembic has little touches like the connections on the Pick-ups are gold, it has an adjustable nut and more.

[wisedyes]

The only thing about Jerry's guitars that would keep me away from them is the weight! Man, I just can't see wearing an 11 lb. behemoth guitar for three or four hours a night.

Personally, I always liked the Wolf tone, and actually the Alligator Strat years, the best. The '80's and '90's tone, even though I know it was from over-processing and not the actual guitars, kind of sounded bad to me lots of the time. I also thought Wolf was the prettiest of the custom jobs he had.

$1000.00 or so? What the hell, a good PRS or the like costs more than that....