Jerry Garcia, Warlocks and Guild...

[rampside]

Interesting article in the January '16 issue of GW about when Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir were in a band called the Warlocks back in the circa 1965 just before the "Dead" was formed.

There's a couple pics of Garcia playing a Guild with a Bigsby.

Maybe this has been discussed here before and accept my apologies if it has, but does anyone know what Guild(s) he was playing with the Warlocks? Ralf?

 

[rampside]

Here's the pics....

 

[Steve Messenger]

according to Guitarafcianado.com (http://www.guitaraficionado.com/how...ar-industry-in-his-pursuit-of-excellence.html), "With the Warlocks, Garcia played a stock circa-1964/’65 cherry-red Guild Starfire III with a thinline single-cutaway body, a pair of Guild humbucking pickups, and a Bigsby B-6 vibrato. This remained his main guitar for the next two years, and he used it to record the Grateful Dead’s eponymous debut album. He played the Guild through a Fender Twin Reverb combo while with the Warlocks.", but the guitar in these pictures seems to have the DeArmond Dynasonic single-coil pups (and the sapele body with top and back binding ... a '62?) ... but in all things Guild, Hans would know

 

[hansmoust]

Here's the pics....

The photos show a ca. 1963 Starfire II with an added Bigsby. There are plenty of photos on the net that show Jerry Garcia playing a slightly later Starfire III with small humbuckers, which is probably the '64/'65 guitar that the Guitar Aficionado article is referring to.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[rampside]

Thanks Steve and Hans.

According to the article, their bass player at the time was the music store owner's son, where Jerry worked teaching guitar and banjo, while they were still called the Warlocks. He (the son) would let them take guitars off the wall to use.

The owner's son wasn't much of a bass player. So, enter Phil Lesh. He wasn't either, but apparently very talented and a fast learner.

 

[Horuss]

Slightly off-topic: I recently came across a photo of Jerry playing an S-100!

 

[adorshki]

Slightly off-topic: I recently came across a photo of Jerry playing an S-100!

Now that's rare!!

 

[mgod]

From the look of him, that's around the period when he had Turner's peanut-shaped guitar (called, shockingly, "Peanut"). Maybe he was moving through guitars, but more likely it's someone else's.