Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 12:24:05 PM

Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 12:24:05 PM: Hello,
Stumbled on this photo of Jerry playing some sort of an Alembic Tribute Styled guitar.
Just wondering if anyone knew exactly what this guitar is, Looks like it has an effects loop as well as some sort of inlay or sticker beneath the bridge, I also notice the body contours are more sharper than a tribute and the headstock is scalloped (is that right),
.......anyway.....
- Tom
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13055.gif)
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on September 30, 2004, 12:38:25 PM: It looks like that's Tiger, although a little hard to tell from this angle. It's a Doug Irwin git fiddle. If I read things right, this one was built after Mr. Irwin and the fine folks at Alembic parted company......
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: mica on September 30, 2004, 12:40:25 PM: I looks a little more like a Cripe guitar to me.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 12:44:24 PM: Hi...
Hollis that definitely not Tiger go here to see Tiger up close http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/info.html (http://dozin.com/jers/guitars/tiger/info.html)

Hi Mica, thanks for answering.
Cripe guitar, never heard of them.
I am assuming this was made after tiger
wish i could see what that inlay is at the bottom....
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on September 30, 2004, 12:53:40 PM: sorry double post.

(Message edited by hollis on September 30, 2004)
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on September 30, 2004, 12:55:10 PM: Thanks for the correction...

Hey Mica, can you tell us any more about this instrument?
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 01:01:09 PM: AHHHH... great call Mica.
http://www.resurrectionguitars.com/articles.html (http://www.resurrectionguitars.com/articles.html)
scroll down 4 pictures from the top of this page:
GUITARMAKER?S IDEA WAS DEAD RECKONING
When Steve Cripe needed an evaluation of his work, he sent it to
Jerry Garcia. The late Grateful Dead guitarist loved it.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on September 30, 2004, 01:13:10 PM: Right on!
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 01:18:28 PM: That was easy enough for a change,
after getting the name!.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on September 30, 2004, 01:22:08 PM: If only getting the bucks together for a Further was so simple......
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: zappahead on September 30, 2004, 01:22:27 PM: Its a cripe guitar, almost sure of it. How you can tell are the simple fingerboard inlays and the firecracker logo too. Cripe made at least 2 guitars for Jerry and he played them as his mains with the Dead until he died. Also the rosewood appearing top looks like a Cripe too. All his other Tribute looking guitars have coco bolo tops.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 01:27:50 PM: I hear ya Hollis, Im still scraping together pennies for my Tribute 4 String Bass, that I will have someday...really I will, I must.

Zappahead, that is in fact a Cripe you are right, and that inlay is the DEAD Lightning bolt. they have a great picture of the whole guitar on that link I posted.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 01:31:49 PM: (http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13058.jpg)

Definitely not as nice as a Tribute...But interesting.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: poor_nigel on September 30, 2004, 03:40:19 PM: This guitar was actually covered in the Showcase section in Artists under the Greatful Dead thread. In the thread it listed this URL, which goes through Jerry's guitars in chronological order and lists the Cripe guitar and has a pic, too. The pic on Collector's Choice is much better. Just FYI.
URL from thread:
http://dozin.com/jers/guitar/history.htm (http://dozin.com/jers/guitar/history.htm)
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 06:05:26 PM: great link, there is alot of good info there, thanks.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on September 30, 2004, 07:07:06 PM: Next to my custom Alembic, this is the most incredible guitar I've ever played. Tim and Pat O'Donnell, who continue Stephen Cripe's legacy, do some fantastic work. Here are a couple pictures of my own Tiger and Alembic inspired Resurrection Lightning Bolt. It's much heavier than Bear, weighing in at around 10 pounds. The top is a variety of rosewood, very similar in color to morado. The body is a five layer sandwich of rosewood, maple and mahogony and the neck is a nine piece sandwich of the same. The fretboard is the very same opium bed rosewood that the top and back of Jerry's Lightning Bolt were constructed of. They still had a few pieces leftover. Regards, Jonathan
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13064.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13065.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13066.jpg)

(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/13067.jpg)
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 07:15:12 PM: WOW.... Im sure the pictures dont really do it justice, but that really looks outstanding!!!!

Im still partial to alembics curves but again very very nice!!
did I read that they use enviormentally friendly woods only?
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on September 30, 2004, 07:57:03 PM: Yeah,

Pictures never do these poor things justice. I hear you about the Alembic curves...you can't beat 'em. When Bear is sitting next to my Bolt, you can really appreciate the wonderful lines that many Alembics have. The feel I was going for was pure Jerry when I ordered the Bolt...a brass ornamented piece of musical folk art...and that's what I got. With the Alembic, I was after pure beauty of form and function, and that's precisely what they delivered. I love them both for different reasons. And, I'll tell you, it's hard to beat the punch and sustain of a 10 pound neck through guitar!!!

On the subject of inlays. What many may not know is that the headstock inlay on the Cripe and Resurrection guitars is an exploding firecracker. That was Stephen Cripe's passion and ultimately the way he died.

Jonathan
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: lbpesq on September 30, 2004, 08:16:44 PM: Jonathan:

I noticed one difference between Jerry's Bolt and your Big Bear (as opposed to your new Alembic Little Bear). Your's has Alembic-style fret markers as opposed to Bolt's standard dots. Did you order it this way, or has Resurrection adopted the style.

Bill, the guitar one
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on September 30, 2004, 08:28:24 PM: Bill,

Funny you should ask that. I ordered it that way from Resurrection. I figured if you're going to design a fancy instrument, it'd be a shame to litter the fretboard with little dots! I was later informed that those oval MOP fret markers are, in fact, an Alembic copyright. Technically, they weren't allowed to be used, but neither Tim nor myself knew that at the time. Susan was really cool about it when she saw the pictures I sent her. I was a little embarassed, to say the least. The moral of the story...if you're having a custom instrument built by someone else, choose your second favorite shape for the fret markers.

Jonathan
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on September 30, 2004, 08:37:58 PM: I read the about the way Mr. Cripe passed and I have to say thats more than a little eerie having an exploding firecracker for the headstock logo .....ahhh the irony.
I took a better look at the resurrection site, they have some nice models I especially like the fishy hollowbody.
I noticed you do not have the effects loop, I suppose you also can custom pick PUP's etc with resurrection.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: poor_nigel on September 30, 2004, 09:09:55 PM: If you are going to go, dying in an explosion is probably one of the least painful ways. I hope I go quick like that when my time comes.

What an outstanding guitar! I just love the brass work and the woods are certainly special. I like all aspects of the guitar, except that it ain?t a bass, but the brass is really special to me. Maybe Susan can 'get em back' if I order a custom Alembic bass with similar brass work on it. Naw! It would cover the neck lams, which is sacrilege to me. Besides, I know she has too much integrity.

Last word on the subject ? Wow, what a great guitar!
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: kmh364 on October 01, 2004, 02:19:15 PM: If you ck that dozin.com thread that echo008 posted, it shows an unfinished Cripe guitar that is referred to in the site as Stealy...is this the unfinished guitar Jerry never got before his untimely death, or was this Bolt II? There is no other explanation of text other than a full anterior and posterior shot of the unfinished guitar and the title STEALY.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on October 01, 2004, 04:15:13 PM: As I understand it, having spoken to the guys at Resurrection, Jerry's next guitar was called Eagle and it is quite different from his two bolts, Lightning and Top Hat.
Check out this link:

http://www.vintageoneguitars.com/OtherGuitars.html (http://www.vintageoneguitars.com/OtherGuitars.html)

Jonathan
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 01, 2004, 04:37:18 PM: very different indeed I cant beleive its valued at 100k !!!!,
what exactly are they referring to when the say recycled from a 19th century Asian opium bed I mean what is a 19th century opium bed?
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: hollis on October 01, 2004, 05:06:10 PM: I would imagine that it's a berth in an opium den leased to those partaking of the fruit of the Somnifera(sp?)poppy......
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: David Houck on October 01, 2004, 08:41:09 PM: A quick search suggests that an opium bed is a style of bed frame, apparently typified by multiple slats and curved legs.
http://www.teak-collection.com/pages/product-detail_qt.asp?SP_ID=&SKU=BD411 (http://www.teak-collection.com/pages/product-detail_qt.asp?SP_ID=&SKU=BD411)
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 01, 2004, 08:45:19 PM: ... thanks for taking the time to search...guess Im feeling lazy tonight.
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: David Houck on October 01, 2004, 08:51:12 PM: Well I decided I just had to know. When I first read it, I thought opium bed, flower bed; didn't make any sense to me.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 01, 2004, 08:59:45 PM: thats true.... the words opium bed seem to conjure exotic far away thoughts....not that the wood isint rare... it seems like it is but Im a little disappointed ...not
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: lbpesq on October 01, 2004, 09:14:34 PM: My understanding is that Cripe used the old opium bed for wood in Bolt. I'm not sure about Top Hat, but I wouldn't be surprised. I suspect Jerry had a cosmic giggle or two knowing about his guitar's past life.

Bill, the guitar one
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: kmh364 on October 02, 2004, 05:46:03 AM: Ah, I see. I wonder where they got that pic and that name? It's posssible the incomplete guitar shown is neither Bolt nor Top Hat but another Cripe altogether.

BTW, anybody that digs the Dead should ck out that Dozin.com sight. It's quite a nice all-round treasure trove of all things Dead. There is a link to a live music archive on that site that will knock a Deadhead's socks (er, um, Birkenstocks? LOL!) off. I'm so psyched about it, I'm gonna start another thread on it, so there! LOL!
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: kmh364 on October 02, 2004, 06:08:12 AM: BTW, I had no idea there were so many Garcia replica guitar luthiers out there. Besides Alembic and Resurrection/Cripe there's Reuter, Moriarty and Michas (are there more?). I had no idea Wolf, Tiger, Rosebud and (now) Bolt were that popular. It's not like you see bar bands in every Burg playing them. Who said you can't teach an old Deadhead new tricks. Up until recently, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Cripe guitar nor did I know Jerry played anything other than the Doug Irwin/Alembic jammies I witnessed him playing up until his timely death.
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 02, 2004, 07:42:38 AM: heres one more... sort of.....
http://www.carverdoug.com/guitars/jerry_garcia.htm (http://www.carverdoug.com/guitars/jerry_garcia.htm)
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on October 02, 2004, 08:47:42 AM: I spent a lot of time looking for luthiers who build Garcia replica's before finding Resurrection. Lieber Guitars is another company who does a very decent Tiger. Matt Moriarty is rumored to produce the most exact Tiger of all. I think he charges around $6000.

Jonathan
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: David Houck on October 02, 2004, 08:53:59 AM: Interesting site, Tom; thanks!
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 02, 2004, 08:55:24 AM: Hi,
Am I seeing things right...is Lieber using the Irwin Logo as well??
- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: echo008 on October 02, 2004, 09:31:15 AM: nevermind my last post... I see from the site
Tom (Lieber) became involved with some recording and performance giants. In 1974, while with Doug Irwin, Tom shared design credit for guitars going to Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead.

- Tom
Title: Name that guitar
Post by: jalevinemd on October 02, 2004, 11:11:38 AM: That Michas rendering of Tiger et al sat on Ebay a couple of months back with an asking price of $5500. Needless to say, it didn't receive a single bid. Phil Gawen of Phiga guitars does his own rendition of the Bolts. Check out:

http://www.philgawen.com/customb.htm (http://www.philgawen.com/customb.htm)

If you look hard enough, there are plenty of people out there doing the Alembic, Cripe, Irwin thing. Some are obviously closer to the originals than others. Most, to me, are six string eyesores.

Jonathan