Grateful Dead Music Forum

lovetoboogie wrote:

hippieguy1954 wrote: but you want a maple fretboard. Very important.

...taking into account that Garcia only played a guitar with a maple neck for 2 years(Alligator 71'-73'). All of his other guitars have been either Rosewood or Ebony fretboards.

No rosewood fretboards from Alligator on. All ebony fretboards after Alligator until Bolt.
The necks after Alligator were maple and purpleheart with ebony fretboard and then maple and cocobolo with ebony fretboard. Ebony is very hard with similar tonal characteristics to maple.
Maple was a huge factor in all of Jerry's guitars from Alligator on. The bodies too. Half of Wolf is maple layers and Tiger's core is maple and it also has layers of maple.

As has been fully covered now in this thread, Jerry played strats with both rosewood and maple fingerboards at different times in his life. The reasons why he picked them are a mystery to us because Jerry's dead and no one could truly speak to what motivated his decisions and what his priorities were in an instrument except him. Everything beyond the fact that we know he played amazing music on both is the individual's speculation.

What I did is I went to a guitar store and played as many strats as I needed to until I found one that I loved and that spoke to my ears and emotions and only then did I start thinking electronics. Electronics are (or at least should be) all the same within each brand/model — wood is not so uniform. The important thing is to find one YOU like playing. Trust yourself. Trust your ears. No one will be able to tell you which guitar is "right" because there is no right. It's all subjective. I went in thinking I wanted a G&L with a maple board and walked out with a rosewood board axe from a small local builder... Because I played 20 G&Ls and then a dozen other ones and THAT one just felt right. The guy at the counter even said I looked more comfortable playing it. There are way too many individual factors for anyone to be able to give you an absolute right answer.

The individual pieces of wood in each guitar are from different trees. They will all sound and feel just a little different whether they're maple or rosewood. Every guitar you play is a little different. The REALLY IMPORTANT thing is to start learning to trust your fingers and your ears and your feelings and your mind when you're playing. Everyone here will tell you what works for them — no one can know what will work for you except you! Go to a guitar store and get lost bro. It's fun.

wolftigerrosebud wrote:As has been fully covered now in this thread, Jerry played strats with both rosewood and maple fingerboards at different times in his life. The reasons why he picked them are a mystery to us because Jerry's dead and no one could truly speak to what motivated his decisions and what his priorities were in an instrument except him.

He only played Strats with rosewood very sparingly and did not stick with them. Jerry clearly favored the snap of maple or ebony over rosewood. This has been covered in this forum, but I can't find it right now.
If you look at the history of Jerry's guitars, it is obvious. Can all be seen here thanks to Waldo:
http://www.wald-electronics.com/gear_di ... index.html

hippieguy1954 wrote:

wolftigerrosebud wrote:As has been fully covered now in this thread, Jerry played strats with both rosewood and maple fingerboards at different times in his life. The reasons why he picked them are a mystery to us because Jerry's dead and no one could truly speak to what motivated his decisions and what his priorities were in an instrument except him.

He only played Strats with rosewood very sparingly and did not stick with them. Jerry clearly favored the snap of maple or ebony over rosewood. This has been covered in this forum, but I can't find it right now.
If you look at the history of Jerry's guitars, it is obvious. Can all be seen here thanks to Waldo:
http://www.wald-electronics.com/gear_di ... index.html

I'm not Jerry Garcia and every guitar sounds and feels a little different, so I decided to do what Jerry actually DID and trust myself enough to experiment and explore rather than rule out the possibility that I might like an instrument based on just one part of its character. To each their own.

wolftigerrosebud wrote:As has been fully covered now in this thread, Jerry played strats with both rosewood and maple fingerboards at different times in his life. The reasons why he picked them are a mystery to us because Jerry's dead and no one could truly speak to what motivated his decisions and what his priorities were in an instrument except him. Everything beyond the fact that we know he played amazing music on both is the individual's speculation.

When we were at the Tom Lieber Tiger weekend last year I asked him how much Jerry specified what he wanted in the guitar from Doug Irwin. How detailed was he in exactly what he wanted? Tom said that Jerry asked for almost nothing in any detail. It really was the "just go for it- you already know what I want" ordering process. I found that fascinating. Now maybe after going through the Wolf build and all the iterations of Wolf along the way all that had been discussed, experimented with, and gone over. Or not, we may never know. But we do know that he pretty much "sounded like Jerry" no matter what he was playing.

TI4-1009 wrote:But we do know that he pretty much "sounded like Jerry" no matter what he was playing.

And we know what guitars he played the most

I guess I think the spirit of the Dead — the adventurousness, the fearlessness to open a previously unopened door — is something worth encouraging. I'm not a fan of dogma unless it leads us back to ourselves. Also not a fan of mistaking shrines as anything other than what they are. They can be very beautiful and enjoyable and I don't think there's anything wrong with staying in them for a while, but ultimately we all have our own thing to say.

That's what Garcia did. Said his own thing, over and over. That's why people loved him. Not just because it was beautiful... There are lots of beautiful things in the world. But very few inspire awe and liberation. Very few are authentic on so many different levels. Jerry's effect was so much more than just the mechanics of his playing and his instruments. If that weren't true none of us would be here. I guess I feel very strongly that it can be more open than the black and white of "this, not that." What a way to close a door that could have something great behind it.

wolftigerrosebud wrote:I guess I think the spirit of the Dead — the adventurousness, the fearlessness to open a previously unopened door — is something worth encouraging. I'm not a fan of dogma unless it leads us back to ourselves. Also not a fan of mistaking shrines as anything other than what they are. They can be very beautiful and enjoyable and I don't think there's anything wrong with staying in them for a while, but ultimately we all have our own thing to say.

That's what Garcia did. Said his own thing, over and over. That's why people loved him. Not just because it was beautiful... There are lots of beautiful things in the world. But very few inspire awe and liberation. Very few are authentic on so many different levels. Jerry's effect was so much more than just the mechanics of his playing and his instruments. If that weren't true none of us would be here. I guess I feel very strongly that it can be more open than the black and white of "this, not that." What a way to close a door that could have something great behind it.

Your sentiments are valid without question and would be a great thread by itself. I'm just answering the OP's question.

Nothing exists in a microcosm. Words and ideas can be very dangerous.

Edit: and now I've lost perspective! Sorry for derailing the thread.