Portland, Oregon, is known for many things: its rare-cheese district, the Space Needle, and its indigenous Itruca people. (In accordance with the progressive politics Portland is known for, the Itruca and their culture is scrupulously protected, and they run around in loincloths shooting at monkeys with blowdarts. Several people have noted that you can either be indigenous to Oregon or you can shoot at monkeys with blowdarts, but not both; the people that pointed this out were all Twitter-shamed.)
The Rose City is also home to Mr. Completely, who passes along this piece of truly trivial trivia for the discerning Rock Nerd/Gear Fetishist: though the Dead and the Beatles* don’t have many connections, Garcia (briefly) shared a guitar with George Harrison (kinda).
Garcia (surely at least half-drunk, since this is the Festival Express) stumbled onstage to jam with Delancy & Brewster (or maybe Daffodil & Booboo, I can’t bring myself to care) and was given the Telecaster he’s playing in the above picture.
Delacroix & Bingbong were some sort of folk-rock duo that George Harrison hooked up with after his wife broke up the Beatles. (That’s the true story: Yoko was a patsy.) Eric Clapton was also in their band for a minute, too, which makes you wonder if the combo was nothing but the least interesting members of British bands – a reverse supergroup. John Deacon on bass, I suppose.
The guitar–a 1968 rosewood Tele–has a rare pedigree: it was one of two custom-made by Fender (the other was for Jimi Hendrix) and was used at both the Let It Be sessions and the rooftop concert they ripped off from U2. Other than the exotic lumber, it seems to be a stock Tele.
Look:
![[PDF] George Harrison's Fender](http://thoughtsonthedead.com/wp-content/uploads/PDF-George-Harrisons-Fender.jpg)
So here is the question: why was Garcia–the fussiest man alive about his equipment–playing a strange guitar? This was the Festival Express tour: he had his stuff with him, the sunburst Strat and whatever acoustic this is:
Hey, Billy. Nice hat.
“Stay on target.”
Sure, right. SO: here’s my thesis. Garcia wanted to play the Beatle’s guitar. There’s no way he’s more than five feet away from his guitar; no matter how rushed the jam session, he could have grabbed it. Garcia knew that was George Harrison’s old guitar and wanted a crack at it.
Also to be remembered: that was a new guitar. ’68 was two years ago in this photo. Not a vintage guitar.
Also to be mulled over: the Grateful Dead was the least telecaster band there was. Factually and spiritually, the Dead were anti-telecaster. (Bobby has a couple now, and it just doesn’t look right.)
Also to amuse you: George’s 1968 rosewood telecaster was re-acquired by the Harrison family, and they shipped it to Fender, where it was taken apart and measured scientifically to be reproduced by the Fender Custom Shop for $13,500 a pop. They made one hundred. Family paid half-a-mil to get the sucker back. You can do math.
(A STERN WARNING: that last link is to a Rolling Stone article and those fuckers autoplay videos. If Trump promised to execute people who autoplay videos in their sites, I would vote for him. That’s my key issue.)
*I am expecting I shall be apprised of the Marin/Liverpool links in the Comment Section.
This is completely fascinating in so many ways. I think you are correct that Jerry just wanted to be Like A Beatle, just for a minute.
If I recall correctly (too lazy to YouTube, Warriors are on), the singer is Sylvia Tyson, and her husband Ian is playing acoustic. So that would mean the pedal steel player in the foreground of the picture is their steel-man, one Mr Buddy Cage. Yep.
Jerry and George actually met, backstage at Felt Forum on either December 4 or 5, 1971. The confirmation comes from Betty Cantor, a pretty reliable source. Probably a rare instance where Jerry had to not be a fan-boy and say “dude I played your axe, man!” like a regular dolt.
It’s the only thing that makes sense: Garcia loved the Beatles, and had his own guitar. He played the tele out of desire, not necessity.
Ian Tyson is an Alberta rancher/folk singer/songwriter best known for the song Four Strong Winds. He’s a legend north of the border.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwccBJxRchA
if you look at this video here
https://youtu.be/y4DbsNsK3jY
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Falkoner Theater, Copenghagen, DK on December 10 1969, it looks to me that Delaney Bramlett is playing the said Fender, but I’m no expert.
A great video by the way, live from Danish TV. The band is
Delaney Bramlett-guitar,vocals
Bonnie Bramlett-vocals
Rita Coolidge-vocals (pre-facial surgery, it seems)
Eric Clapton-guitar
George Harrison-guitar
Billy Preston-organ
Bobby Whitlock-electric piano, vocals (Derek & The Dominos)
Carl Radle-bass (Derek & The Dominos)
Jim Gordon-drums (Derek & The Dominos)
Jim Price, Bobby Keys-horns
For sure it is the same Telecaster.
This band would have struggled if a random illicit drugs testing regime had applied.
the shindogs (delaney, james burton) out-Beatle the Beatles
https://my.mail.ru/mail/noskov-56/video/895/2754.html
The acoustic Jerry is playing in the pic is a Martin D-28. Probably the same D-28 he played on the Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty sessions.
Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney also had Martin D-28s. As did just about every other guitar player that could afford one.
Rocky from the Mask movie is really enjoying the acoustic set back there behind Garcia
Rocky…HEHe.
Speak no ill of Mr. and Mrs. Bramlett!
Jer playing a tele with the New Riders in ’73.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_avn_xAYUY
Agree, way too spartan a machine for the GD stage. He did own a 53 tele tho
The explanation is obvious: Jerry Garcia wanted to show George Harrison how a guitar ought to be played. That it’s possible to play a solo longer than 3.5 seconds. That the lead solo can riff and vamp on a theme, rather than mimic the melody note-for-note. And that no serious rock star should wanna hold anyone’s hand when he could be … truckin’.