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Alembic Club » Miscellaneous » Archive: 2005 » Archive through December 18, 2005 » Garcia's first Irwin guitar « Previous Next »

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staemius
Member
Username: staemius

Post Number: 51
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 7:54 am:   Edit Post

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I've never seen this one - story is that Jerry bought this guitar from Doug Irwin and then had him build the Wolf:

http://www.dozin.com/jers/guitars/symbol/doug1.htm
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1426
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 8:03 am:   Edit Post

Not exactly the way Susan Wickersham at Alembic tells it. Do some searches here and you'll find this subject has been beat to death. Doug Irwin has his version and Alembic has theirs. In an attempt not to irk anyone's ire, I respectfully refrain from taking anything but a neutral position in this matter, LOL!

Cheers,

Kevin
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 784
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 8:20 am:   Edit Post

I'll offer this perspective. In discussing this with others I have always posed one question which has never been answered satisfactorily IMHO. As a background, one should know that it is indisputable that "Wolf" originally had an Alembic logo on the peg head. There are pictures of it elsewhere on this site and on many places on the net. With that understanding, here is my question for Doug and others who contend he alone built "Wolf":

If "Wolf" was an Irwin built guitar, why on earth would he put an Alembic logo on it?

Anyone?

Bill, tgo
flaxattack
Senior Member
Username: flaxattack

Post Number: 765
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 8:46 am:   Edit Post

he was stoned?
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1428
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 9:58 am:   Edit Post

It's magic!!!!
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1429
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:05 am:   Edit Post

The best quote from Irwin is below:

SQ: So you built one in your kitchen--did you just use some power tools and some chisels?

DI: No, I had to go to a high school, night school woodshop class to use their tools, but after I got the wood cut up, I was able to do it all in my kitchen with a few hand tools. Then after I finished building this guitar, I went out and hit the sidewalks and looked for some more job training, and I came across this company called Alembic--and they hired me on.

SQ: Were they in San Francisco?

DI: Yeah, they were in San Francisco at the time. This was when they were still down on Judith Street, down an alley. I always thought people were saying "Olympic", so I couldn't find the place. But, after a number of tries, I finally located the place, and Rick Turner was working there and he decided to--since welfare was willing to pay half my wages--he decided to hire me on. I built a number of guitars working for them, but while I was working for them, and I worked for them for 1-1/2 or two years, I decided to build an electric guitar of my own because they were using all these lone pickups with all the electronics, and that worked great for a bass, but it didn't work good for a guitar. I mean, they got pretty famous for their basses, but nobody ever really played an Alembic guitar. So I decided to build one with regular pickups in it on my own time, because we were allowed to, you know, do our own projects after work. That was the guitar that Jerry first saw, that's the first guitar that I build under my own name·..

The rest of it is at the dozin.com site:
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1430
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:07 am:   Edit Post

http://dozin.com/dougirwin/interview.html
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1431
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:11 am:   Edit Post

All you Alembic guitar owners have been robbed! Tell all the Alembic guitar owners that (paraphrasing) "Alembic's electronics didn't/don't work good for a guitar" and that "nobody ever really played an Alembic guitar". Call Mica and tell her you all want your money back, LOL!

J/K, of course!
pace
Intermediate Member
Username: pace

Post Number: 191
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 1:21 pm:   Edit Post

Id counter that statement with my observation that most guitarists dont work well with Alembic electronics.....
kmh364
Senior Member
Username: kmh364

Post Number: 1436
Registered: 9-2003
Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 5:03 am:   Edit Post

C'mon now, be nice!

Not everybody who owns or attempts to play Alembic basses, or any other instrument for that matter, can actually play them...I'm a fine example of that!
LOL!

(Message edited by kmh364 on December 07, 2005)

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