since i'm not totally immersed in alembic/grateful dead history, maybe someone could shed some light on this listing that just popped up:

https://reverb.com/item/37715592-the-joker-jerry-garcia-custom-pre-alembic-1970-natural

gotta be something special for USD $888,888.88 + 350 shipping.  anybody?

It popped up on eBay a few years ago, interesting discussion ensued here http://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=11010.msg125798#msg125798

That was 2012, in 2016 we hsd another sighting http://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=21964.msg222220#msg222220

I've been fascinated by that guitar. Still no provenance, but very little doubt about its ancestry. Maybe that isn't the right word either... there must be dozens of unattributed experimentals and shopnights, but there's something about that one that makes me wonder if it might have slipped out the back door of the Chicken Coop. It is definitely old. That construction itself dates it. It was definitely not a first attempt at guitar-making either... that is some serious joinery. That nobody who should know will claim to remember the guitar... is just... odd. 

$350 for shipping is outrageous.

First thing I thought of when I saw that today.

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on December 14, 2020, 05:54:12 AM
Still no provenance, but very little doubt about its ancestry.

But, according to the listing, "providence from almost a dozen luthiers from the old days !" (emphasis on both quotes added).


It looks like a really sweet guitar - but the listing is just one long string of bovine by-product; I mean, apprentices from Irwin's shop pre -Alembic?  I do believe the seller is counting on most people not knowing any more than he does.


Peter

Amen to bovine by-product.    (I'm gonna' use that a couple times today, Coz!) But every single ad that guy runs reads kinda' like a ransom note. He does have a very cool guitar. It has a name engraved on the tailpiece. John Cale? Whozat? Owner, maker, driver of the getaway car? Somebody somewhere knows.

*note that the name is blurred in recent pictures. Intentionally, I suppose.


No way is it pre-Alembic, as in, pre-1969. I seriously doubt even pre-'72. I'm guessing 1973-'75, just based on other guitars known to be 'providenced' from that time. <snicker>

Somebody needs to tell the lister their "8" key is stuck.

the devil's in the details, as they say:

SHIPPED FROM:
Rock MEd Dr Brainz
Seattle, WA, United States
Joined Reverb
2020

Predicted to Sell Soon
Only 1 available and 4 other people have this in their carts

to resurrect a term from back in the days of usenet:

oh, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on December 14, 2020, 08:47:26 AM
Amen to bovine by-product.    (I'm gonna' use that a couple times today, Coz!) But every single ad that guy runs reads kinda' like a ransom note. He does have a very cool guitar. It has a name engraved on the tailpiece. John Cale? Whozat? Owner, maker, driver of the getaway car? Somebody somewhere knows.

*note that the name is blurred in recent pictures. Intentionally, I suppose.

John Cale?  Really?  I missed that.  So the seller is pimping a bogus Dead connection when there's a Velvet Underground reference right on the instrument?

Curiouser & curiouser.

Peter

Under a mil for a guitar that is not only over 50 years old (yes, pre-Alembic and made by Doug Irwins' apprentices BEFORE Doug even learned how to build guitars at his kitchen table ... WOW that's rare) but has been "played by really great musicians!"    However, he should really lower the price a little as it will need to have the electronics fixed.  The seller admits that even when you turn the pre-amp up, you still can't hear the Montreal Symphony.  I wonder how much the "hear the orchestra" upgrade will cost? 


Seller also says this would make a great present, so if any of you want to show me some appreciation for all of my entertaining posts ....?

Bill, tgo

Interesting guitar! That's quite the elevator shaft going down the middle of it! I like the big connectors that look like you could swap out the entire pickup assembly in just a minute or two.

Here's an old thread.

Coz, check your post #1358 in the thread Bro. Elwood linked.


...memory like a steel trap I tell ya'. Now, if I could just remember where I leave things in my shop. 

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on December 14, 2020, 01:09:37 PM
Coz, check your post #1358 in the thread Bro. Elwood linked.


...memory like a steel trap I tell ya'. Now, if I could just remember where I leave things in my shop. 

Well slap my a$$ & call me Sally, whadda ya know?  I knew I'd seen this one before, but no memory of commenting on it.

Peter