Doug Irwin, the master luthier whose work became synonymous with Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, has died. According to his website, Irwin passed away on Friday, March 27th, at age 76. No cause of death was listed.
Irwin was responsible for five of Garcia’s most iconic instruments: “Eagle,” “Wolf,” the headless “Wolf Jr.” that Garcia never played live, “Tiger,” and “Rosebud.” Weeks before Irwin’s death, Tiger—which Garcia used as his primary guitar from 1979 to 1989—sold at Christie’s in New York for an astonishing $11.56 million. Former Allman Brothers Band guitarist and current Tedeschi Trucks Band co-leader Derek Trucks played Tiger onstage the following night at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
After owning multiple Irwin guitars, Garcia commissioned Tiger in 1973. The luthier spent roughly 2,000 hours working on the guitar over the next five years. This dedication to the quality of his instruments and attention to detail made Irwin’s guitars rock’ n’ roll icons on their own and cemented his working relationship with Garcia. A partnership on par with Jerry’s songwriting work alongside Robert Hunter, both unions helped define the Dead’s singular sound.
In addition to Garcia, Irwin also crafted instruments for Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, bassist Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Moonalice), and a dollar-sign guitar for Bob O’Conner of 1970s West Coast relic $27 Snap on Face. In recent years, Irwin-certified replicas of Wolf have ended up in the hands of Zero guitarist Steve Kimock and a unique bass model for Dead & Company bassist Oteil Burbridge.
After Garcia died in 1995, his will stipulated that his Irwin-built guitars be returned to their creator. This set off a lengthy legal dispute with the surviving Grateful Dead members, which eventually settled, returning Wolf and Tiger to Irwin. The luthier auctioned off both instruments, Wolf for $789,500 and Tiger for $957,000, at the time believed to be the highest price ever paid for a guitar.
Irwin’s legacy will live on through the decades of music made with his instruments, and the joy they brought to those who heard them.
“We slept with these instruments,” Garcia’s road manager Steve Parish said. “You could lose amps. You could break things, and sometimes we did. But I could never look Jerry in the eye and say, ‘I don’t have your guitar.’”
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