Grateful Dead Music Forum

- Weir playing Ibanez Musician (x2)

- close-up of one Cowboy with old Ibanez Script logo and pointy headstock instead of rounded headstock.

http://www.dead.net/archives/cat/photos/1978

Check out other year - some nice stuff!

mk

mk, that has to be one of the first cowboys considering the headstock logo,also are those super 70's pickups in there? Looks like the flying finger pickup covers!

Check out the single coil in the neck and a huge gap between it and the middle.

Yes, it's an early one, however, not the earliest. The first "Cowboy" had a fancier inlay with only 4 knobs. It had no EQ/Preamp. It can be seen on the last photo here:

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

The 'reissue' was based on the Cowboy with Dimarzio pups, although, he had many Ibanez guitars with the 'butterfly' logo engraved pups which were Super 80's, not 70's. His custom '2681' also had Super 80's.

If you look at this '76 catalog, you'll see that the very early 2681's has Super 70 pups with an engraved script Ibanez logo. 2680's & 2681's with Super 70's are very rare - very few of these were made.

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Good catch on the neck pup. At first glance, one would think there's no neck pup.

mk

MK,

What exactly are the woods in the construction of these guitars?

Thanks,
Jim

I had not noticed that the Mesa had found its way back into Bobby's rig at the end of '78. He'd been playing the Peavey at least through the Winterland Oct shows. Interesting.

Cowboy specs:

* Available Finish - BS Brown Sunburst
* Body Material - Swamp Ash
* Neck Material - 5 pc Maple Walnut
* Neck Scale/Type - 25.5"/Neck thru
* No. Frets/Type - 22/Medium
* Fingerboard - Ebony
* Inlay - BWM Special Pearl Vine Body Inlay, "ACE" 21st Fret Inlay
* Bridge - Acc-Cast Replica
* H/W Color - Gold
* Neck Pickup - DiMarzio Virtual PAF
* Middle Pickup - DiMarzio Virtual Vintage
* Bridge Pickup - DiMarzio Virtual PAF
* Other Special Features - Half-Bone/Half-Brass Nut, Brass and Striped Ebony Truss Rod Cover,
* Case - Included

There were many Cowboys. I'm not sure how construction differed.

Yes - the Peavey F800G (100% solid state, used for a good portion of '78) was somewhat short-lived (less than one year). He used it in Egypt and on SNL. For New Years, he used the Boogie. In '79, we see the transition back to solid state with the IVP & Godzilla.

I could be wrong, however, if you look very carefully at the Closing of Winterland video, Weir may be using the Godzilla power amp for that show. Look to the left of his rig, positioned vertically??? That became his power amp for several years.

mk

Thanks for the specs. So, basically a maple/walnut neck through with swamp ash "wings".