Doug Irwin | Jerry Garcia Custom “Tiger”

Tiger was Jerry Garcia’s main guitar from 1979 to 1989. It was built by Sonoma County luthier Doug Irwin. After the instrument was commissioned by Garcia in 1973 following delivery of Wolf (his first major Irwin guitar), Irwin was assisted from 1974 to 1977 by apprentice luthier Thomas Lieber, who devised the body design and later became known in his own right for designing instruments used by Pete Sears, Stanley Clarke and Chris Stein. According to Lieber, he and Irwin conceived the instrument as “our generation’s Les Paul.” Throughout the design and construction process, it was provisionally designated “the Garcia” in homage to Paul’s eponymous instrument. Upon commissioning the instrument, Garcia enjoined Irwin to “make it the way he thought was best, and not worry about cost.”

The Tiger is named after the tiger inlaid on the preamp cover located on the guitar’s top, just behind the tailpiece. The body features several layers of wood laminated together face-to-face in a configuration referred to as a “hippie sandwich” by employees of Alembic Inc., where Irwin worked for a brief period in the early 1970s. The combination of several heavy varieties of wood, plus solid brass binding and hardware results in an unusually heavy instrument that tips the scales at 13½ pounds. After Garcia began using a new Irwin guitar (known as Rosebud) in December 1989, Tiger became his backup guitar. Due to a problem with Rosebud during the Grateful Dead concert on July 9, 1995, Tiger was the last guitar Garcia played publicly.