"Tiger"

Immediately after receiving the “Wolf” guitar from Doug Irwin in 1973, Jerry Garcia commissioned “Tiger,” telling Irwin to make the most extravagant instrument he was capable of. The instrument—composed of highly figured exotic woods that are sandwiched and laminated together and embellished with ornate brass bindings and the inlay of a tiger—took Irwin about two thousand hours of work to complete over six years. Garcia first played “Tiger” on August 4, 1979, at the Oakland Civic Auditorium, and he used it almost exclusively until 1989. It was the last guitar Garcia played publicly with the Grateful Dead, at a performance on July 9, 1995.

Technical Description:


Cocobolo top and back, sandwiched maple and padauk core, quilted maple on back, three-piece flame maple and padauk neck with brass binding; ebony fingerboard; 25 in. scale; natural finish with brass binding; neck through body with mother-of-pearl inlays, “J. GARCIA” inlaid at end of fingerboard, and brass binding; brass-bound headstock with mother-of-pearl globe and ivory eagle logo; mother-of-pearl tiger inlay framed in ebony and brass on front of body, brass-bound quilted maple circle with mother-of-pearl vegetal inlay and marquetry on back; two humbucking pickups and one single-coil, five-way selector switch, two volume controls and one tone control, two coil tap switches, effects loop output and on/off switch, unity-gain buffer; brass pickup mounting bracket, bridge, tailpiece, tuners, knobs and control surfaces