The Marginally-Accurate Bobby Weir Guitar History
Introduction
The Grateful Dead, aside from being an incredible band, were also notorious gearheads who loved their guitars, amps, and gadgets. While the guitar histories and instrumental evolutions of Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh have been well-documented by other unofficial Grateful Dead historians both professional and amateur alike, for some reason a similar history and evolution regarding Bobby Weir has been lacking. But Bobby has no less interesting a history as his bandmates, and I aim to document that here.
For some reason, most of the “What guitars did Bobby play” responses I see tend to draw from one interview he did where he gives a very broad overview of his instrument choices.
In an interview from 2013, he says,
“My first was a $17 Japanese model. Then I got a $35 Harmony classical, and it was okay. When I was 15, I ran away from home to cowboy for a summer and make enough money to buy a Martin D-28 from a pawn-shop. A little later I found a really nice 1944 Martin 000-21 in a pawnshop for less than $100, as I recall. Those were the old days. I played that until I got my first electric, which was a Gretsch Chet Atkins model. Then I got a Gibson ES-335, and later on tried a Rickenbacker, which was a great little guitar. From about 1968 to '71 I used a Gibson ES-345, until I switched to a Gibson SG. I had been playing that for about three years when I met Jeff Hassleberger from Ibanez. We hit it off real well and started working on desingning a guitar. It was about 1975 when I got my first Ibanez guitar, and it's pretty much a continuing progression of them ever since. They all look the same, but they're real different.”
While this is great, it overlooks a lot of cool guitars he played (in addition to being recalled 30 years after the fact).
So this page is meant to be exactly what the title says: a marginally accurate guitar history.
One thing to note, this documentation primarily revolves around guitars that Bobby has been photographed using onstage. I won’t put as much focus on guitars that he owns/owned but never played in a show. For example, that D-28 Bobby talked about? It’s a guitar he’s pictured with maybe once or twice, but there’s less visual documentation for that than, say, Cowboy Fancy. For that reason, I’ll include it in the list, but won’t spend as much time on it as others.
Timeline
1965: Gretsch Tennessean, Martin D-28
1966: Rickenbacker 365
1967: Rickenbacker 365, Guild Starfire III, Gibson ES-330, Gibson ES-345TDC
1968: Guild Starfire IV, Guild ST-402 (customized by Alembic), Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-345TDC
1969: Customized Guild ST-402, Gibson ES-345TDC, Martin D-28
1970: Customized Guild ST-402, Gibson ES-345TDC, Guild F-50, Gibson SG
1971: Gibson ES-345TDC, Gibson Les Paul Custom
1972: Gibson ES-345TDC, Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul Special DC
1973: Gibson SG, Gibson ES-345TDC, Watkins Glen “mystery” guitar
1974: Gibson ES-335
1975: Ibanez 2681 Professional (prototype for Cowboy Fancy, used on “Blues For Allah”), Ibanez “Cowboy Fancy”
1976-1982: Cowboy Fancy, Alvarez-Yairi WY-1, Ovation Balladeer
1982-1995: Modulus Blackknife, Modulus/Casio Blackknife, Alvarez-Yairi WY-1
1995-Current*: Modulus G3FH, D’Angelico Bob Weir Bedford, D’Angelico Bob Weir Signature Model, D’Angelico Premier Gramercy, D’Angelico DAAS G100, Hoag Stratocaster, Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Gibson ES-335, Gibson ES-339, Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, Gibson ES-295 Goldtop, Alvarez-Yairi WY-1, Gibson J-45, Martin 000-21, Ibanez George Benson GB10, Gretsch 6120
* Because Bobby plays a lot of the same guitars with his various bands, I’m grouping all of them together as “Post-GD guitars” rather than by year.
1965
Inspired by the success and charisma of the burgeoning rock scene of the mid 1960s, Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions change their name to “The Warlocks,” trade their acoustic instruments in for electric guitars, and play some of their first gigs. They had no idea at the time that these five guys would have such an immeasurable impact on rock and roll.
Their first gig was held at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Palo Alto, California, on May 5, 1965. Bobby, all of age 17, can be seen playing a Gretsch Tenneseean. This is no doubt due to at least the partial influence of the Beatles (and possibly the Byrds, as both George Harrison and David Crosby played this model).
“The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
Officially known as the “Gretsch 6119 Chet Atkins Tennessean Model,” this guitar featured painted-on F-holes, two Filtertron pickups, and a “Gretschby” vibrato tailpiece. The top switches are (L-R) master tone selector (which functions like a tone knob) and pickup selector. The guitar also features a “standby” kill-switch near the tailpiece, volume knobs for each pickup, and a master volume knob by the cutaway.
Above: A better view of the larger body shape and rounded cutaway of the Tennessean, which often gets misidentified as the smaller Duo Jet (which is comparable to a Gibson Les Paul in size).
Right: Here you can see the double switches on the left shoulder of the Tennessean.
As mentioned above, Bobby also tells the story of spending a summer as a cowboy and using his hard-earned money to buy a Martin D-28. Similarly, he also mentions going into a pawn shop and finding a 1944 Martin 000-21 for $100.
While he wasn’t often pictured playing these guitars, they no doubt saw a lot of action with Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions.
The D-28 (below left) is a mid-range, square-shoulder, dreadnought-style acoustic guitar with a spruce top and rosewood sides and neck. It looks very similar to the lower-priced D-18, but can be identified by the white binding around the edge of the top and two sets of double-dot inlays on the fretboard.
The 000-21 (below right) is a “Concert” sized acoustic, often favoured by blues and folk musicians. It can be seen on the cover of Bob’s 1978 solo album “Heaven Help The Fool.”
1966
By this time The Warlocks have been renamed “The Grateful Dead,” and with the name change come changes in guitar choice. At some point in this time period Bobby traded the Gretsch for a Rickenbacker. In this case it was a 365 with an Accent vibrato tailpiece in a Fireglo (Rickenbacker’s term for red sunburst) finish.
The Rickenbacker 365 features a through-neck design, as opposed to the more common method of glueing the neck onto an already-made body. Interestingly, the Rickenbacker body is a solid piece of wood and hollowed out from behind, with a thin maple cap glued on the back (again, differing from other brands of semi-hollow guitars, where the back, sides, and top are all separate pieces). This allows the unique divot at the heel of the guitar where the tailpiece is fixed.
Above Left, Center: The Grateful Dead playing a Debutante Ball, a high-class dance held at a mansion in the wealthy neighborhood of Hillsborough, 9/2/66. Bobby’s younger sister Wendy was in attendance.
Above Right: Bobby playing the Rick at the Human Be-In, Golden Gate Park, 1/14/67. Note the unique “toaster” pickup design.
Below: Bobby and Jerry during the grand opening of the North Face Ski Shop in Berkeley, 10/26/66
1967
Bobby was featured in a 1967 advertisement as an endorser of Guild, in which he’s pictured playing a Starfire III similar to Jerry’s (in fact, it might even be Jerry’s, as Jerry had begun playing his Les Paul “Black Beauty” by then).
The Guild Starfire II and III are full hollowbody guitars and can be differentiated by the tailpiece; the II has a harp-shaped tailpiece, while the III comes with a Bigsby. They were first introduced in 1960, deriving much of their design from the earlier T-100D “Slim Jim” model. The Starfire I came with one humbucker in the neck position, while the II and III both had two pickups.
The Starfire was the first Guild guitar to be offered in its now-distinctive cherry-red finish, a wild deviation from their previous options of sunburst and natural finish.
The band would become quite a Guild promotional vehicle, as Bobby would soon pick up a natural-finish Starfire IV, as well as a unique ST-402, and Phil will forever be associated with “Big Brown” and the Starfire basses.
Below: The Grateful Dead play a free show at Tompkins Square Park in New York City on 6/1/67.
In addition to the Guild, Bobby also played a Gibson ES-330 with a Bigsby tailpiece in tobacco sunburst, most notably during their performance at KPIX-TV on April 8, 1967. The 330 differed from the arguably more popular 335 in that it had two P-90 “dog ear” pickups instead of humbuckers.
Above: Note the centered pole pieces on the pickup. P-90s are a single-coil pickup. Also, note the weird chord Bobby is playing…
But one of the guitars he’s most frequently identified with also came about in this time period: His Gibson ES-345 TDC in cherry red. This particular model had gold hardware and a Bigsby tailpiece, which was later replaced by a more simple trapeze tailpiece. The 345 is frequently confused for its close cousin, the ES-335. While the shape and general configuration is the same, the 345 can be identified by the double angled block inlays on the fretboard, and also for the Varitone switch placed next to the volume and tone knobs.
Bobby would play this guitar fairly consistently until late 1972. It appears on such well-known albums and shows such as Live/Dead, Europe ‘72, and the “Sunshine Daydream” concert in Veneta, Oregon.
Above: The band playing a free show in West Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan on 8/13/67
Below: Note the double parallelogram inlays in the fretboard
1968/69
This was actually kind of a diverse time for Bobby, guitar-wise. In addition to his ES-345 TDC, he also got pretty into Guilds. In early-to-mid 1968 he played a Guild Starfire IV in natural finish and gold hardware.
Above: Bobby and Phil with their Starfire guitar and bass during the Columbia University Student Strike, 5/8/68
Below Left: Bobby at the Columbia University Student Strike
Below Center: At the Fillmore East, 6/14/68
Below Right: Playing around on the tour bus?
On February 2, 1968, several San Francisco bands and musicians played a free concert on the shores of the Bay near San Quentin prison. While it was a nice gesture, it didn’t quite have the intended effect due to several factors including wind. But it was a notable concert because it features a rare moment of Bobby playing bass.
Here he is playing what appears to be a German-made Framus Star bass (made somewhat famous by the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman). Apparently Phil was not available to play that show, so Bobby took over the 4-string.
The Dead played a free concert with Jefferson Airplane and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Naumberg Bandshell on May 5, 1968. Bobby can be seen playing a Fender Telecaster in Arctic White with a rosewood fingerboard. He would occasionally pull this guitar back out, such as during their European tour of 1981.
At some point in 1968 Bobby acquired an unusual Guild ST-402, which was a deep-body hollowbody with dual Florentine cutaways and a harp tailpiece similar to the Gibson Barney Kessel model.
This is a photo of the stock guitar (please excuse the choppy Photoshop edit):
Bobby’s was one of the first modified by sound wizard Owsley “Bear” Stanley and their new venture, Alembic, which would go on to create many of the guitars the Dead would make famous. He played it during their 1969 Woodstock performance, and continued to play it fairly regularly until around 1970. As you can see in the photo below, the control knobs were changed from a traditional “diamond” pattern and were instead placed along the edge of the guitar. A Varitone switch was also added at some point.
Above: Hey, where’s Mickey?
Another addition to the Guild lineup was Bobby’s custom-ordered F-50 Jumbo acoustic. The band had developed a good relationship with Guild by this point, and so Bobby had them customize an F-50 by adding a larger headstock and adding an arched back. The arched back helps the sound to project more, creating a fuller and more well-balanced tone.
1970
The ES-345 came into more prominence this year, as seen in photos and footage of gigs like the Dead’s trip to England in May of 1970 for the Hollywood Music Festival (this is the storied festival the label tried to film, but the film crew got dosed by the band and the film ended up being shelved). Bobby still played his Guild ST-402 into 1970, but it seems that he started to prefer the Gibson for recordings and live shows.
Above: Bobby playing the ES-345 at the Hollywood Music Festival, 5/23/70. This photo is low-quality because it’s a screenshot from the YouTube video. At another point in the video you can see a closeup of the neck and headstock, showing the truss rod cover removed and the Gibson logo painted over. Also visible is a hole in the upper arm of the guitar, most likely where the Alembic crew added a knob or switch and later removed it.
Above: We can use overlapping guitar histories of Jerry and Phil to fairly accurately place this photo sometime between June 1969 and early 1970 (Phil is documented as having played his customized EB-3 between 1969 and 1970, and Jerry’s SG had a Bigsby vibrato in 1969, but by the time they played in England in the spring of 1970, this had been replaced by a standard stopbar tailpiece). One thing to note is that the SG Bobby is playing has a Bigsby, rather than a Lyre, so it’s possible that either this was the original vibrato, or that they were swapped out between this photo and when Bobby started playing it regularly in 1972. It’s also possible that he was just playing one of Jerry’s SGs and didn’t own his ‘61 at this time.
At some point in 1970 Bobby started playing a Gibson J-200 Jumbo acoustic. Known for its full-bodied sound, it’s been the choice of many singer/songwriters, including Bob Dylan, John Prine, Gene Autry, Emmylou Harris, and Elvis Presley.
In the afore-mentioned film of their first trip to England, Bobby can be seen playing the guitar in the scene where he, Phil, and Jerry are working on the harmonies for “Candyman.”
Above: The Dead playing an acoustic set at Wesleyan University’s Field House on 5/3/70. Bobby can be seen playing the J-200.
1971
In 1971 the band continued to pick up steam, riding the wave of more mainstream success after the releases of “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty.” While the ES-345 was still Bobby’s main guitar, he did play a few gigs with a Gibson Les Paul “Black Beauty.” This may have belonged to Jerry, who played one from about ‘67 until he got his SG in 1969.
Above: Interestingly, Jerry is seen here playing a (possibly borrowed) Guild Polara S100. This guitar was introduced in 1965 and was Guild’s answer to the Gibson SG.
One notable item in these pictures is the set of tie-dyed amp grill covers. A few years ago one of these covers, then in the possession of roadie Steve Parish, went to auction with Sotheby’s. They included the following in the description:
"In 1968 the Dead’s long-time friend, first roadie, and one time sound engineer, Bob Matthews suggested that they add some color to their stage setup, by replacing the basic wire and mesh coverings that typically came on speaker cabinets. Matthews purchased colorful fabric, with psychedelic patterns, paisleys, and flowers, and placed them over the cabinets—and by 1969, the band had a mix of standard mesh and some fabric coverings.
Around late 1969, or early 1970, Alembic started manufacturing blonde wood speaker cabinets for the Dead. Rosie McGee, another friend of the Dead, suggested that Alembic use tie-dye speaker covers for their P.A.’s. McGee’s tie-dye graced Alembic’s speaker cabinets through 1970, and saw live use with the Dead and other bands.
In the summer of 1970, the Dead met the artist Coutenay Pollock at Bob Weir’s ranch, where he introduced them to his specific “Geometriart” technique for tie-dye, which created symmetrical mandala-like patterns. The Dead were instant fans and asked for tie-dye amp covers, and by June 1971 they had a full array of Pollock’s speaker covers, along with the work McGee had done for the Alembic cabinets.
By late 1971, McGee turned over the task of updating the Alembic cabinets to Pollock, and the Dead continued to use his tie-dye regularly on tour. The speaker covers would go on to be an essential part of the Dead’s live performance—another element of the captivating spectacle of their shows.”
1972
A huge year for the band, and a time considered by many fans to be their best era. This was the year the Dead flew to Europe and did a proper tour, resulting in the classic “Europe ‘72” live triple album. They also played another fan favourite, the “Sunshine Daydream” free show in Veneta, OR on 8/27. Bobby played his ES-345 almost exclusively, although at this point the Bisby vibrato had been swapped out with a more simple (and tuning-friendly) trapeze tailpiece.
Above: Bobby and Jerry during the Europe ‘72 tour
As mentioned, the band played a benefit concert in Veneta, OR in August of 1972 to aid Springfield Creamery, a pioneering yogurt maker. The creamery was behind on their taxes and at risk of having to shut down. One of the employees was a friend of Ramrod, who managed the Dead’s road crew. Ramrod was a fellow Oregonian, and after receiving a letter from the Creamery asking for help, he presented it to the band, who agreed immediately.
The show happened at the Old Renaissance Fairgrounds on a ridiculously hot day. Merry Pranksters Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs emceed the show, with Babbs regularly coming up to remind fans to stay hydrated and giving various updates.
Watch the video of the Dead playing “China Cat Sunflower” live at Veneta, featuring some of my favourite Bobby guitar parts (and a lot of naked hippies dancing around , which is why it’s listed as a link here…YouTube makes users sign in because of it, which is just silly in this context).
Or watch this amazing rendition of “Dark Star” from later that set.
Very briefly, Bobby can be seen in 1972 playing a Gibson Les Paul Special DC (double cutaway) in TV Yellow. Jerry played one briefly in 1971, but his had black pickup covers. Given how frequently the Dead tinkered with their guitars, this could be the same guitar, but with white covers.
The Les Paul Special was introduced in 1955 as a mid-point guitar between the student model Les Paul Junior and the standard LPs. It has a slab body and a wraparound bridge, which differs from the carved-top Les Paul (which was designed to look closer to archtop guitars). Bob Marley famously played a single cutaway version. The DC version was the precursor to the SG.
Donna and Bobby at the Fabulous Fox Theater, St. Louis, MO 10/18/72. Bobby had just turned 25 two days earlier.
In late 1972 Bobby started playing his ‘61 SG Standard as his regular guitar (full entry on it in the next section). This would continue into 1973, becoming something of a “bridge” guitar between the ES-345 and his sunburst ES-335.
1973
In late 1972 Bobby started playing a 1961 Gibson SG Standard, which came with an odd “Sideways Vibrola,” officially known as the Lyre vibrola. Rather than moving the vibrato arm the way they would with a Bigsby or Fender, the player moves the bar sideways towards the edges of the guitar body. The Lyre was discontinued the following year (no doubt because it was confusing and unpopular, as seen below).
Above: Bobby cut his hair around June of 1973, shortly before their huge Watkins Glen Summer Jam appearance. So this other photo is a rare ‘73 sighting of the old ES-345.
Above: Bobby (or one of the Alembic guys) removed the cover from the vibrola, exposing the inner workings of its pulley system. In this image from The Gear Page, you can see what a unique system it is. Pulling the vibrato arm down towards the floor actually pulls the whole tailpiece itself away from the bridge, which stretches the strings to bend the notes.
Above: And speaking of Watkins Glen, the guitar being played by Bobby in these three photos seems to be thoroughly unknown according to the Internet. Some have suggested it’s an old Teisco or Burns guitar, while others have suggested it might have been an Alembic prototype, like Bobby’s own version of Alligator. The more I look at these pictures, the more I lean towards the second suggestion.
To this author’s eye, it looks like they took a Telecaster, added a cutaway to the upper shoulder, a middle pickup, and tailpiece, and created a custom pickguard to cover the wild electronics job they no doubt have going on beneath it.
Above: Jerry and Bobby went through a brief period where they were really into Nudie suits as seen in these pictures from September (L) and November (R) of 1973. These ornate suits featured custom embroidery. They were named after their designer, Nuta Kotlyarenko, aka Nudie Cohn, and were popularized by the early “Singing Cowboys” like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Marty Robbins (who wrote “El Paso,” which frequently followed “Dark Star” in 70s Dead sets).
1974
1974 was a big year. The Wall of Sound. The famed Winterland farewell shows. The Grateful Dead Movie (even though the actual film didn’t come out until three years later). And another new guitar for Bobby.
This time it was a Gibson ES-335 with a stopbar tailpiece, dot fret markers, and tobacco sunburst finish.
Bobby and Phil at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium, 6/8/74
Iowa State Fairgrounds, 6/16/74
University of Nevada, 5/12/74
Jerry, Bobby, and Phil at the Winterland, 10/2/74
Watch the entire second set from their final show of 1974. This video was assembled from several separate videos found on YouTube and edited into one continuous set.