Grateful Dead Music Forum

Absolutely gorgeous, Jonathan! To be honest, I was never sold on the use of a brass laminate on the original. Aside from the finish issue, it seemed to add a lot of weight. IIRC, Tiger is a hefty 13 lbs. ! How much does your's weigh?

Bill, tgo

As a builder, it truly is intimidating to see Bob's work. I'm sure I look at these photos a lot different than a musician because I'm trying to understand the build more than the beauty. I also have to admit that I am always looking for some flaw just to make sure that he is human. Truly a remarkable piece and he has definitely set the bar high.

I have seen a number of interviews with Irwin and Lieber where they discussed some of the "flaws" in the design. What I have not heard about is the reasoning behind the contrasting spacer in the neck pocket. Was this a design characteristic, a repair from cutting the neck heel too thin or is there a neck angle incorporated in that spacer?

Totally agree about Bob's unparalleled skills as a luthier. That's why I feel comfortable posting such magnified images. There's nothing to hide.

I would also be interested in reading a detailed explanation regarding all of the flaws in the original and which aesthetic details were incorporated to hide the "mistakes."

lbpesq wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:27 pm Absolutely gorgeous, Jonathan! To be honest, I was never sold on the use of a brass laminate on the original. Aside from the finish issue, it seemed to add a lot of weight. IIRC, Tiger is a hefty 13 lbs. ! How much does your's weigh?

Bill, tgo

Bill...I'm not sure how much weight the brass on the original added. It's a thin binding, not a full body laminate. In any case, my Tiger is significantly lighter than the original, weighing in at about 10 lbs 10 oz's. The wings on mine are chambered. Not sure if Jerry's were.

Just an FYI, the second guitar featured in this thread (not the one owned by jalevinemd) is now listed in the garage sale section of RuKind.

Hey guys - been a while since I posted here. Lucky for me I happened back to the Garage Sale section and saw Bob's Tiger #2 for sale, and bought it. Let me say this first - I was shocked by the pictures... my usual experience is - if it looks too good to be true, it probably is - but I have to tell you all, the instrument is shockingly good. Excellent.

I have had the pleasure of owning many high end boutique guitars over the years and it's truly rare to find such high end wood working / finishing skills accompanied by excellence in the characteristics that yield great playability. This guitar is a real joy to play - fantastic feeling neck with clarity across the entire fretboard.

I don't know how he's doing it, but he's producing remarkable guitars - and I now own a real trophy! Thanks Bob!!

Again, beautiful work, Bob.

I'm not presently in the market for a Jerry tribute but am curious and perhaps it'll also assist others: Do you have a website? How does one order/buy a guitar from you?

Thanks Kralltime. I'm glad you poked your head into the forum too!!

Jon S. wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:30 am Again, beautiful work, Bob.

I'm not presently in the market for a Jerry tribute but am curious and perhaps it'll also assist others: Do you have a website? How does one order/buy a guitar from you?

Thanks Jon S. I'm working on a website presently, and hope to have it up soon. I'll post a link here when it happens.

Thought I had already posted photos of the latest Tiger, but apparently not....

Ho Hum, another Bob Masterpiece.....

Love that tiger maple core!

Hot damn, that is sweet.

augustwest1 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 7:18 pm About 7 months after stringing up the prototype, here's my first crack at a more authentic "Tiger."

I'm calling it a "tribute" rather than a "replica", because it differs (by design) in a number of respects from the guitar that Irwin built for Jerry.

The body is made from granadillo (a/k/a "black cocobolo"), western big leaf maple and padauk. The neck is padauk, western maple and ebony. The wings are chambered. The wood, brass work and fret wire weigh 7.59 pounds. Loaded with hardware, pups and electronics, it comes in at 10.8 pounds -- close to the real thing (which, I'm told, does not weigh the whopping 13.5 pounds previously reported). Super-IIs, SDS-1, Waldo buffer and OBEL. Nitro lacquer finish.

Once again, here's a link to a pile of photos of the build process for anyone who's interested. https://photos.app.goo.gl/g178gXj3HT9bVJCz6



A few photos...

I see that is post is a little old but I was wondering if there was a new link to this build?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/g178gXj3HT9bVJCz6 doesn't seem to work...