Grateful Dead Music Forum

Picked this girl up today. Gonna sit down this morning and get to know her.....

Story behind it. Been looking for a va 900 for a while but I'm dead broke. When i am telling myself no more guitars this one comes up for 800.... I asked to come see it.... he had no amp or cables so I brought that little fender sitting beside it... roll up to a mansion 16 foot high ceilings, marble floors this guitar is just sitting on this monument.... so I pull back plate off to check batteries... they were clean. Put it back on pull amp out tune guitar best i could by ear........ this guitar had been sitting for 3 years...top pickup didn't work after I dialed it in... it held a note and just wouldn't quit.... I was trying not to jaw drop... I offered 5... he said no 6.... I said 550.. then his wife came down was about to cry and said her father use to play guitar and to hear it in the house again brought her back and she yelled at her husband to sell it to me for 550... Def got a steal on this guitar.. he was cheered when I gave him the cash... but I figured he was going better then me I didn't care... no case. Forgot gig bag.. I buckled her into front seat and away we went...

Very high quality. I used to own the VA800 & VA900.

Enjoy!
ace

Another vote for beautiful guitar! Curious about the weight, though.

Very heavy. My back hurt after an hour standing with it..... worth it. Getting a comfy strap today

I sometimes wonder about the practical impact on Jerry's back, shoulders, and knees of playing 4 hour sets with 13.5 lb. Tiger and whether it created such pain it that contributed to Jer's self-medicating.

My own heaviest guitar is my Philtone Jerrycaster (below) which weighs in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. That's heavier than I prefer. I recently traded in my Les Paul that weighed about the same for a far lighter hollowbody and haven't regretted it. But I love the Jerrycaster so I tried a bunch of different straps with it.

This is one that rose to the top. Don't be fooled by its cheap price. It's an awesome strap. The designer simply got it right. And I'm noting now that I got myself the 3" version but had I been paying closer attention, there's a 3.5" option, too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2C86WKL?re ... title&th=1

I read that Jerry had developed permanent curvature of the spine from heavy guitars. All in the name of "Tone"!

Apparently the actual weight of Tiger is 9lbs 6oz.

Somewhere down the line his guitars being super heavy became part of the lore, but they seem to have been weighed since.

Slewfoot2000 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 25, 2025 5:12 am Apparently the actual weight of Tiger is 9lbs 6oz.

Respectfully disagree.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/771880

Thanks! Lots of disinformation out there on the guitar! Gonna poke around more as now I’m curious…

Confirmed from a well known Garcia builder - who we all know - that personally weighed Tiger and it’s 9lbs 6oz.

Slewfoot2000 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 25, 2025 11:51 am Confirmed from a well known Garcia builder - who we all know - that personally weighed Tiger and it’s 9lbs 6oz.

If you have reason for keeping the dude's name secret that's your choice but, forgive me, please, "well known/who we all know" means nothing to me.

I have no problem naming my sources. The MET says 14 lbs. (link in my first post). Doug Irwin says 13.5. https://www.irwin-guitars.com/the-guita ... ars/tiger/

While we're at it, I cringe every time I read that Irwin built Wolf. Wolf was built by Alembic while Irwin was working there. The earliest pics of Wolf clearly show an Alembic logo on the headstock. Every time I’ve had this discussion I always ask “if Wolf was an Irwin, why would he put an Alembic logo on it”. I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation.

Bill, tgo

lbpesq wrote: ↑Fri Apr 25, 2025 6:32 pm While we're at it, I cringe every time I read that Irwin built Wolf. Wolf was built by Alembic while Irwin was working there. The earliest pics of Wolf clearly show an Alembic logo on the headstock. Every time I’ve had this discussion I always ask “if Wolf was an Irwin, why would he put an Alembic logo on it”. I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation.

Bill, tgo

I'm not getting involved in this one.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 6:13 am

lbpesq wrote: ↑Fri Apr 25, 2025 6:32 pm While we're at it, I cringe every time I read that Irwin built Wolf. Wolf was built by Alembic while Irwin was working there. The earliest pics of Wolf clearly show an Alembic logo on the headstock. Every time I’ve had this discussion I always ask “if Wolf was an Irwin, why would he put an Alembic logo on it”. I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation.

Bill, tgo

I'm not getting involved in this one.

A wise man, indeed!

Bill, tgo