Mark:
As for number of guitars, I'm not really sure. Do I count my lone bass? A pedal steel? My lap steels? Counting these I think it's somewhere around 45 or so.
What do you mean by scratch plate?
As for Irwin's style, I'm somewhat at a loss to determine if he even has/had a style. I've looked all over the internet and, other than Jerry's guitars and a tele modified by Irwin for Arthur Lee, I've never found another Irwin guitar. Mica had a few photos on the site when this discussion came up a few months ago, but they seem to have disappeared. I agree this certainly isn't in the style of Garcia's guitars. The truss rod is, indeed, adjustable from the head. The way this guitar is constructed, however, if it wasn't accessible from the head, it would require removing the neck to make an adjustment. Not very practical. The design and lines on this guitar are almost Dali-esque. Everything is a just a little out of kilter, but it seems as if this is intended. Also, I've read that Irwin had some mental problems as a result of his accident. This could be reflected in the design/execution of this instrument.
I had strong doubts when I first saw this guitar, but after going through it and playing it (it does play very nicely and has tremendous volume and sustain when played acoustically), I'm beginning to think it just might be an Irwin, or at least an Irwin neck on a non-Irwin body that has been modified by Irwin. The workmanship in adding the purpleheart insert to the neck pocket is quite good. And whoever did the neck also did the insert as they are the same wood and both bare the D.I. initials. The seller certainly wasn't pushing the Irwin connection and, in fact, seemed to shy away from it. (He also wasn't quite clear on who Doug Irwin is ... just knew he had something to do with the Grateful Dead). If someone were trying to do a fake Irwin, I'd think it would have a logo and they would charge a lot more $.
Also, I don't even know if the Eagle is Irwin's regular logo or just his logo at the time of the Garcia instruments. After all, Wolf originally had both an Alembic logo and some indechiperable thing that Irwin claimed to be his peacock logo.
The last I heard regarding Irwin's work is that he was living in a trailer making wooden neck-ties, so who knows what he might be turning out these days? I'd love to contact Irwin and ask him. Does anyone know where he is?
Bill, tgo
