Jerry Garcia’s legendary “Wolf” guitar is going to be auctioned off by Guernsey’s in New York City later during May of this year. Garcia played with Wolf during the course of two decades of continent-spanning touring with The Grateful Dead. The beautiful guitar, which made its debut in 1973 during a Grateful Dead performance for the Hell’s Angels, was crafted by luthier Doug Irwin. After Garcia’s death, the instrument returned to Irwin, and in 2002, it was sold for $700,000, at that time breaking the record for most expensive guitar sale.
The current owner of Wolf is putting the historic instrument back on the market. However, the anonymous owners are ensuring that all of the proceeds from the auction go the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that fights bigotry through education, litigation, and advocacy. As the current owner said of the auction and of the guitar: “I’ve been a fan of The Dead since I was a kid, and playing this iconic guitar over the past 15 years has been a privilege. But the time is right for Wolf to do some good. My wife and I have long supported the efforts of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and if ever we needed the SPLC, we sure do need them now.”
You can check out the auction page here, and check out what Warren Haynes had to say about the guitar last year in an interview here.
[H/T Rolling Stone]