The Dead Head Thread (OT and Not)

Bear's ashes were on the soundboard at FTW

One of the many delightful qualities of Europe '72 recording is the unique sound of the heavily modified Fender Stratocaster guitar that Jerry Garcia used for all of the performances on this tour. I'd like to briefly guide you through this instrument's history to show how this sonic magic came to be.

In the two years before the '72 European tour, the Dead and their techs were caught up in a whirlwind of technical innovation and experimentation. The band's instruments, amplifiers, an PA system were altered practically every night. Bear, Rick Turner, Ron Wickersham, Frank Fuller, and others were redefining the onstage experience and the live sound of rock 'n' roll, as the band members constantly experimented and redefined all aspects of their music. During the Europe '72 tour, this experimentation had flowered into an unprecedented musical expression for a psychedelic dance band. What was different about this tour was that the gear was totally consistent from night to night, since only a limited amount of gear could be carried on such a tour. This technical consistency, along with the great old European concert halls and their amazing acoustics, allowed for a refinement of the band's expression and musical communication over a length of the tour. (The acoustics of those halls played a tremendous part in the creation of some of the "Dark Star" and "Other One" jams, almost like another band member.) An essential part of this refinement of performance was the guitar that was in Jerry's hands.

In the early years of the Dead, Garcia had played a Guild Starfire and then a wide variety of Gibson guitars, culminating in a Gibson SG, heard to exquisite effect on the `Live/Dead` "Dark Star." In the autumn of 1969 he made the move to Fender Stratocasters. He switched among several of them for the next year or so. In late 1970 Graham Nash gave Garcia a Fender Stratocaser (most likely with a '57 maple neck and a '63 swamp-ash body) [purchased by Graham for $250 in a Phoenix, AZ pawnshop]; this is the guitar that we hear on the Europe '72 tour. Today some folks refer to it as Alligator, after a sticker that began to adorn its pickguard some time later after June of '72. We'll call it The Nash Strat. During this tour, its body sported a Harley-Davidson sticker and an R. Crumb "Keep on Truckin'..." sticker.

However, this guitar was no longer anything like a stock Fender Stratocaster. By the time The Nash Strat reached Europe, it had been modified with many of the innovations that the Alembic crew had discovered, and also with some unusual mods that Jerry himself had suggested. These mods were precursors of things to come in electric guitar design and production. It was the sate-of-the-art electric guitar of its day.

Here's a list of the principal mods on The Nash Strat by April of '72:

1) Wiring and control circuitry replaced with higher-quality components, plus extreme shielding to combat hum and noise.

2) Internal pre-amp designed by Ron Wikersham, powered by a 9-volt battery; later marketed as the Alembic Stratoblaster. This provided impedance isolation for the guitar from the amps and cables, as well as a small amount of extra gain, resulting in a clearer, purer, more hi-fi tone when the signal reached the amps.

3) A brass nut, Schaller tuners, plus a brass string tree to make the higher tuners work with the neck's geometry, which both resulted in a fortunate evolution of tone and sustain for the instrument.

4) New, really big tall frets.

5) The Fender tremolo Strat bridge was removed, the trem cavity filled with wood and epoxy, and a Gibson tune-o-matic bridge was installed, along with a brass tailpiece. This meant that the strings no longer traveled through the body, and the overall string length was changed, resulting in changes to the sustain and resonance of the instrument, as well as changing the instrument's "feel" for string bending.

6) Part of the broken pickguard was replaced with brass, which gave quick access to the insides, and new knobs were installed, along with a brass jack plate.

All of these features, combined with the magic of Jerry's brain and fingers, resulted in some of the most clear and articulate guitar work ever to appear in the Grateful Dead music. Things never stood still in G.D.-land, however. Doug Irwin was working on the guitar to be known as Wolf, and while it was not quite ready for the stage, one of Wolf's features was modded into The Nash Strat in later 1972; a larger, more massive brass bridge and sustain block. Alas, to this listener's ears (check out live recordings after December 1972), the magic of The Nash Strat was gone. Garcia then switched around among different Stratocasters until he took up Wolf full time in September of '73. Apparently The Nash Strat was last used by Jerry on August 1 of 1973. Magical Guitar: R.I.P.