Doug Irwin, who made Grateful Dead star Jerry Garcia's 'Tiger' guitar, dies at 76

Anna Kaufman, USA TODAYWed, April 1, 2026 at 1:42 PM UTC

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Jerry Garcia's 1979 Doug Irwin "Tiger" commissioned in 1963 and used on their hit "Touch of Gray" is on display during The Jim Irsay Collection exhibition on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The guitar took six years to build.

Doug Irwin, the guitar constructor responsible for one of late rocker Jerry Garcia's most famed six-strings, has died. He was 76.

His death was announced with a post to the Irwin Guitars page on Facebook. "Doug was a master craftsman, a visionary, and someone who dedicated his life to his work," the statement read. "His guitars were never just instruments; they were built with intention, precision, and soul, becoming part of the music and the artists who played them."

The statement continued: "To his family, friends, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him, Doug was more than his work. He was a presence, a character, and someone whose impact reached far beyond words. His legacy will live on through the instruments he created and the music they helped bring to life. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten."

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USA TODAY has reached out to Irwin's reps for comment.

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Irwin is responsible for Garcia's "Tiger" guitar, an instrument commissioned in 1973 and used by the Grateful Dead artist on the band's 1987 smash hit "Touch of Grey." Chicago guitar collector Bobby Tseitlin bought the instrument at auction for $11.56 million earlier this month.

The guitar took six years to build, and, according to the auction website Christie's, was made to order after Garcia, who died in 1995, asked Irwin for "the most extravagant instrument he was capable of." Named for "the tiger inlay just below the tailpiece," it was first used in a Grateful Dead performance in August 1979 at the Oakland Civic Auditorium.

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Garcia, the lead guitarist and vocalist for the Grateful Dead, went on to play the instrument almost exclusively until mid-1989, according to Christie's.

"I'm the kind of player who generally plays one guitar at a time so I can learn its idiosyncrasies," he told Jon Sievert for Guitar Player in 1978. "I really seek a kind of universal guitar, something that will sound like anything I want it to at any given moment."

Garcia met Irwin during a visit to a San Francisco workshop in 1972. Irwin, who had been training under Rick Turner and Frank Fuller for two years, was working on his first solo designs, according to Christie's. Garcia went on to exclusively play instruments constructed by Irwin for the next two decades.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Doug Irwin dead – Jerry Garcia guitar maker dies at 76

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