The Grateful Dead’s relationship with Alvarez began in the 1980s, when both Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir collaborated with Alvarez luthiers to create their own signature models. The team experimented with many shapes, from dreadnoughts to jumbos, and incorporated favorite attributes from both bandmates, like a Modulus neck and Tree of Life inlay. These designs culminated in Bob Weir’s WY1BW, the result of years of fine-tuning, which Bob still plays today.
As part of Alvarez’s 50th Anniversary they have created this special guitar (with two artwork options) to commemorate this long-time collaboration with the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Grateful Dead enthusiasts will love the official artwork, applied to the cedar tops by an innovative screen printing process, and all guitarists will appreciate the fine construction, playability and tone of these instruments. The Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary acoustic features a solid A grade western red cedar top, screen-printed under a flawless satin finish.
Other appointments include custom mother-of-pearl “Lightning Bolt” inlays, the band’s iconic Dancing Bear on the back of the headstock, a rosewood fingerboard and bi-level bridge and 12th fret lightning bolt inlay. Both models are constructed using the Alvarez FST2M hand-finished, forward-shifted, scalloped bracing system for optimal performance and response.
Inspired by classic Grateful Dead images, the custom artwork designs on these guitars have been applied using a custom screen printing process. Thanks to Mother Nature, each guitar top varies slightly in both grain and color, making every Alvarez Grateful Dead guitar a unique instrument, just like every Grateful Dead concert was its own unique experience.
Use the drop down menu to choose from Montage, with its psychadelic collage of some of the Dead’s most beloved imagery, or Flag, which has a design inspired by the cover art from the out-of-print 2013 release, Dave’s Picks Volume 8, a live album featuring the counterculture icons’ performance at the Fox Theatre in Georgia in Novermber of 1980.
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