[mkaufman]

I'm trying to confirm when Weir started using Super 80 "flying finger" pups. He definitely had them on 12/31/76, however, all my pics prior to then aren't clear enough to be sure.

The Super 80's first appear in the 1977 Ibanez catalogs, however, I thought Weir had them from the time he started playing Ibanez guitars. I'm starting to wonder if they existed at the time of '75 Kingfish, Blues for Allah & '76 tours. In the '76 catalogs, the Artists & Professional model, including the 2680 & 2681, had Super 70 pickups.

Can anyone confirm?

tnx,
mk

[SpaceYrface43]

See if these links help out. In the 75 pics Weir man looks like he"s on the 2681 and in all the 76 pics i checked out he's playing the Cowboy. Don't know if that makes a difference. Anyways some good close ups in the 75 section.

http://www.dead.net/archives/cat/photos/1975


http://www.dead.net/archives/cat/photos/1976

[mkaufman]

I checked them out. To my eye, none are close enough to make out the engraved flying fingers logo (Super 80) or the script Ibanez logo (Super 70).

mk

[mkaufman]

On page 158 of "Grateful Dead Gear", there is a clear picture of Weir and the brown guitar with fancy inlays. At that point there were different pickups in the guitar. They are chrome with visible poles - Super 70's?

So...sometime between the Dead/Who shows (10/9 & 10/10/76) and 12/31/76, the Super 80's were installed in that guitar. The Dead played on 10/14 & 10/15 and their next show was on 12/31. My guess is that the Super 80's were installed during that break.

Still looking for pics of Weir's 75 & 76 guitars. Does anyone know of any 10/14/76 or 10/15/76 pics?

I'd also like to see some spring '77 pics...

tnx,
mk

[tigerstrat]

9/28/75:


1976:


1977:

[mkaufman]

Thanks for those pics, unfortunately, none can confirm the Super 80 pickup.

btw...did Weir ever use his blond 2681 in '77? I've seen lots of pics with the brown fancy inlay guitar.

mk

[mkaufman]

To answer one of my questions:

Based on what I've found, Spring '77 was a mix on Weir playing his blond & brown Ibanez guitars. Jim Anderson has a bunch of pics. Here's a pic from 5/26/77 and Weir has his blond Ibanez.



mk