Ibanez Artist Bob Weir Prototype Extremely Rare 1977

This is one of four known to exist, all made between 1976 and 1977. There have been two guitars found with coil tap switches, and this is the second found without. I’ve read they were possibly made for NAMM, possibly a prototype for Bob Weirs Signature model, others claim they may have actually passed through Bob‘s hands.

From 1974 to 1976 Bob Weir and Jeff Hasselberger worked together to develop his legendary "Cowboy Fancy" guitar. After a year or so of experimentation with a sliding single coil pickup, Bob decided he liked it best in a set position, snugged up against the bridge humbucker. This was a completely original design that was an integral part of Bob Weirs guitar tone. This is guaranteed to be 100% all original (with the exception of possibly one switch tip), how it left the factory, and indeed is a Bob Weir prototype of some kind. Although this has similarities to an Ibanez 2618, this features 22 frets as oppposed to 24 that the 2618 featured. Bobs Cowboy Fancy had 22 frets as well as the 2619.

This guitar plays and sounds incredible, and is capable of getting a wide variety of unique tones at the flip of a switch. The neck is straight, the frets have lots of life left, and the truss rod functions properly with plenty of room for adjustment. It does have a some minor blemishes, such as nicks, scratches, scuffs, and hardware tarnishing.

Please see all pictures, I do my best to show up close and clear images of all imperfections. 

I usually ship the same or next day and take extra precautions to ensure a safe arrival, please see feedback and buy with confidence

Comes with a non original hard case

Below is part of a 2011 interview with Jeff Hasselberger from Vintage Guitar Magazine, in which he talks about working with Bob Weir to develop the “Cowboy Fancy”, and mentions the development of the single coil pickup snugged up against a humbucker. From the July 2011 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine:

"When I first went to see the Dead in ’74 or so, I didn’t really know
what guitar or guitars to take to show them. The copy we did of the Rex
Bogue doubleneck was about the snazziest thing we had, so I brought it.
I can’t recall what else we took down there. I brought my partner in 
crime, Roy Miyahara, with me to the show, which was at the old 
Philadelphia Civic Center – one of those massive airplane-hangar-style 
joints.

 

I kind of paired off with Weir, and Roy hung with Jerry Garcia. 
Bobby was full of ideas, many of which I’d never heard before… or since,
for that matter. He and I hit it off personally and his ideas got my 
juices flowing, so we started working together. Bob played the double 
neck through his rig after the show, liked the feel of the neck, and was
pretty impressed by the workmanship. I offered to make him whatever he 
wanted. He didn’t need a doubleneck, but suggested we make a single-neck
version for him. I went back, sketched it, and we started talking about
pickups and controls. Bob liked the idea of a sliding pickup that could
be moved to get different tones, but he also liked the idea of a couple
of humbuckers. I suggested that we put a sliding single-coil between 
the ’buckers and he could play around and see if anything interesting 
happened.

 

That was kind of easier said than done, but I finally got it to work
with some hardware-store parts and a drill press. It was easy to slide –
stayed put where you left it and was height-adjustable. It was a 
favorite of Keith Olsen, who produced Bob’s 
Heaven Help the Fool album and the Dead’s 
Terrapin Station. Bobby played it like that for a year or 
so until he stopped moving the pickup around. He could get what he 
wanted out of it with the single-coil pickup snugged up against the 
bridge humbucker. So we made another guitar with the pickups fixed in 
position."