Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
MusicRadar
D’Angelico and Bobby Weir unveil exquisite TV Jones-loaded signature semi-hollow guitar
By Jonathan Horsley,
2024-08-08
D’Angelico has unveiled its third signature guitar for the Grateful Dead co-founder and Dead & Company’s Bob Weir, and it is a peach. The Deluxe Bobby Weir 3 is a high-end semi-hollow, and at first it is only available as a strictly limited edition, with just 10 instruments being released to the public.
All of these come signed by Weir himself, and are available solely in the USA, direct from D’Angelico. A further two will be auctioned off to support Headcount, a charity that supports democratic participation through music.
But there is good news for everyone else. The waiting list is open for the regular production run – and these, at $2,199 are still high-end electric guitars . We would also expect some even more affordable Premier versions of this model to come out in due course, with these typically retailing for around the $999 that the Bob Weir Premier Bedford sold for upon its launch in 2020.
As they say, there is a lot of guitar for the money here. The gold hardware on the Matte Stone and Satin Trans Wine finishes is a fancy but works a treat.
But it’s the Deluxe Bobby Weir 3's pickups and how they are wired that are the big talking point. We have a pair of custom TV Jones “DA-Tron” humbuckers at the neck and bridge positions.
There are individual 500K tone and volume controls for each, a three-way selector rotary dial mounted on the shoulder. Push-pull controls allow you to select the inner and outer coil pairs of the humbuckers to dial in some of those in-between tones.
Image 1 of 4 Image 2 of 4 Image 3 of 4 Image 4 of 4
The headstock is typically ornate, as you would expect from D’Angelico, with the locking Grover 509 stairstep-style tuners adding to the art deco vibe. The MOP split-block inlays on the ebony fingerboard, again, give it a custom shop look.
Everything is premium. The fretwire is Jescar nickel-silver. The custom D’Angelico Shield vibrato and tailpiece is an elegant work of engineering. Five-ply binding puts a bow on the design.
D’Angelico has assembled this from laminated maple, with a centerblock in place to play defence against any feedback. You have the option to crank this electric guitar loud.
As you would expect, this ships in a hardshell guitar case . This has been in the works for some time. Weir had been reportedly testing this on the road for years now, until he found his eureka moment.
Image 1 of 2 Image 2 of 2
“I’ve been on an endless quest to find a tone that makes me really sit up and beg,” he says Weir. “I don’t remember where it was, but I was on stage at a soundcheck. I plugged it in, cranked it up, and said this is it – this is what I’m looking for. I knew it.”
The Deluxe Bobby Weir 3 (which is what we like to imagine Weir is known to by family and friends) is available direct from D’Angelico , priced $4,999, where you will also find a waiting list for the $2,199 production run model.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0