[bffreedomlpa]

Hi All,
I have read posts on this board for months while salivating at all the amazing guitars. I have been playing for 25 years....took some of my first lessons from Jeff Mattson when he was lead guitarist in the Volunteers....precusor to the Zen Tricksters.

Leaning towards a Wolf clone... 5K budget, thanks honey! I have been playing a 73 Natural Strat through a Twin with the usual Jerry effects and a volume pedal instead of a OBEL. Definitly want the OBEL/Buffer.

So where do I turn?
Leiber....no wolf I know but I have a soft spot for Tiger as well.
Phiga
Reuter
Moriarty
Another luthier?????

I am confused and a bit nervous about buying an axe that I cannot play first.

Thanks for the help.

Bill

[mijknahs]

Go with the best luthier you can afford. The guitar has to play well, not just look good.

Personally, I'd go with Lieber's American Beauty with some upgrades.

Jim

[strumminsix]

Firstly I would try to work with a local luthier.

If that is not an option Tom Lieber was top-notch when he and I discussed a guitar for me and I wasn't even in the market just investigating options.

Keep in mind a few luthiers have great track records for builds but poor setups...

[Naataanii]

Talk with Andrew from AO Guitars, Tell him Spencer sent you

aoguitars.com

[jackr]

I know these pics are not good but if you have any interest in this brand new Resurrection PM me and I can get you better images and some details.

[rugger]

+1 AO Guitars.

John in San Diego

[aiq]

Happy to give props to Andrew as well.

[sants]

Listen man! I too am in the same boat. Save yourself the trouble and go to Matt Moriarty!!! I am going to buy one in the near future! Get a hold of him and see if he can hook you up with someone that owns one of his guitars nearby! That's what I did and it was totally a bad idea! The guitar far exceeded all expectations!!! It was the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen and played just as well! The neck was perfect! Very soft and streamlined v and smooth and fast as you could imagine! It was a bad idea because I want (need one) even more!

Call Matt! He can tailor the guitar to your specs and do it to meet your budget. Do it soon because he just started a new run!

If you want more info pm me.

[Grant]

Lieber
Moriarty
AO


the best IMO

[seanc]

just a bit different take on this..
I have seen an actual doug Irwin guitar, I have met Doug and talked to him at length about the guitars.
I have seen and played the alembics and several others along the way.
I am a bass player and not a guitarist.

My take on it. If somebody is thinking seriously about a JG/ Irwin-ish guitar. The Tiger/ Rosebud/ etc instantly pigeon holes you into being a Jerry Clone. You can't show up to anything but a dead jam and be taken as anything other than a Jerry wannabe.

On the other hand... The wolf is not so radically different from everything else out there. It could be perceived as going a lot of different ways. You could show up to any number of types of music and be appreciated.

But, looking at the few makers' sites posted. I am really dumbfounded that any of these makers would actually go so far as to put the DI hawk on headstock. To me that is way over the line and really not cool.

[keirweir]

I am really dumbfounded that any of these makers would actually go so far as to put the DI hawk on headstock. To me that is way over the line and really not cool.

Thats the one inlay I want on my future AO wolf! Well, Its between an AO Wolf and a SW Atrezzo with all Wolf wood and single coils. Here's my Resurrection Cripe style guitar that I designed as far as the wood layout.

[caspersvapors]

just a bit different take on this..
I have seen an actual doug Irwin guitar, I have met Doug and talked to him at length about the guitars.
I have seen and played the alembics and several others along the way.
I am a bass player and not a guitarist.

My take on it. If somebody is thinking seriously about a JG/ Irwin-ish guitar. The Tiger/ Rosebud/ etc instantly pigeon holes you into being a Jerry Clone. You can't show up to anything but a dead jam and be taken as anything other than a Jerry wannabe.

On the other hand... The wolf is not so radically different from everything else out there. It could be perceived as going a lot of different ways. You could show up to any number of types of music and be appreciated.

But, looking at the few makers' sites posted. I am really dumbfounded that any of these makers would actually go so far as to put the DI hawk on headstock. To me that is way over the line and really not cool.

i agree with you 100%

i personally would never buy a jerry clone guitar, id much rather go with an ibanez musician or a modded strat

[seanc]

I am really dumbfounded that any of these makers would actually go so far as to put the DI hawk on headstock. To me that is way over the line and really not cool.

Thats the one inlay I want on my future AO wolf! Well, Its between an AO Wolf and a SW Atrezzo with all Wolf wood and single coils. Here's my Resurrection Cripe style guitar that I designed as far as the wood layout.

Huh? What?? Hunh??
So, what you are saying is that you WANT to have some various guitar maker put Doug Irwin's signature/ logo on the head stock??

Sorry, but to me this is so unbelievably wrong. In my mind it shows complete disrespect for the maker (in this case Irwin) by both the would be buyer as well as the luthier. There is just something really wrong with a guitar maker that has so little respect for his peers and his own craftsmanship as to essentially sign somebody else's name to their work.



Why not just buy a knock off Les Paul and have your man inlay "GIBSON" and "LES Paul Custom" on it? Or buy an Aria pro bass and just inlay an Alembic logo on it? I also think that it is incredibly lame that Alembic purposely uses language that leads one to believe that Garcia's guitars were made by Alembic.

[tcsned]

I kinda see your point about that inlay as it is essentially a trademark of Doug Irwin guitars. If it irritates Doug or Thomas then they shouldn't do it. I seem to remember Takamine getting in trouble for using Martin Guitars' font in their labels. As to playing a Garcia shape guitar a la the guitar we know as the Tiger - I don't think anyone outside the Deadhead circle would know that the shape was Jerry's guitar. I have a Warmoth WGD and non-heads who have asked about it all think it's a BC Rich. I have used it playing a lot of other types of music other than GD music and the shape of the guitar has exactly nothing to do with what kind of music you play on it. I've used it with a county band, a heavier rock band, and several musical theater productions. Other than the amount of wood in a guitar body the shape has nothing to do with the sound on a solid body guitar. It's just a really cool guitar shape and different than every other Strat and LP clone out there and not something that looks like a UFO or something that could double as a medieval torture device. I think it's cool that this guitar shape has survived.

The Garcia or Tiger IMHO is the coolest custom guitar out there whether or not it was played by our favorite guitar player. Just a great design.

[seanc]

As to playing a Garcia shape guitar a la the guitar we know as the Tiger - I don't think anyone outside the Deadhead circle would know that the shape was Jerry's guitar.
{Snip}

. I have used it playing a lot of other types of music other than GD music and the shape of the guitar has exactly nothing to do with what kind of music you play on it. I've used it with a county band, a heavier rock band, and several musical theater productions. Other than the amount of wood in a guitar body the shape has nothing to do with the sound on a solid body guitar.

I agree 100% that the shape of a guitar has absolutely 0 to do with the sound of a guitar. I don't disagree that the shape is meaningless to context of the music.

However... I disagree with you on quite a bit. Tiger/ Rosebud/ Top hat/ etc. etc. are all Garcia's guitars. They all share a lot. A lot of people (probably more than you realize) recognize "the Jerry" shape. And although we may have spent the better part of our adult lives listening to scratchy tapes recorded by your tripping for the first time cousin trying to glean the ever so subtle, "what is he doing right there" over and over again.. And debating the immense issue of resistor caps between a black face vs silver no master vs. 70s silver w/ master volume.

We, more often than not, tend to be insular in our world view. Few musicians carry with them the absolute revulsion that the members of the dead bring to the music community. And for better or worse, more times than not, if you have made the decision to buy a JG shaped guitar, you have already absorbed quite a lot of the style, in the same way the Hendixites, the santana-istas, the Vai-heads, the frippians, et al have.

The assumption that a lot of potential band mates tend to have is you buy the gear of the player you like most and want to play most like. To many the whole "Garcia thing" is viewed as mindless, endless, going nowhere noodling that they just don't get and wish would just go away..


You may have enough skills and be versatile enough to blend in with different genres of music, and that is commendable. But, the first time you go all mixolydian on your band's ass, things may quickly change...