Official Website

In 1972, Garcia used a Fender Stratocaster nicknamed Alligator for its alligator sticker on the pickguard. The guitar was given to him by Graham Nash. He continued using Alligator until May of 1973, when he received his first custom-made guitar from Alembic. The guitar was nicknamed Wolf for its memorable sticker.

Wolf was built for Garcia at the cost of $1,500. The guitar was made with an ebony fingerboard and featured numerous embellishments like alternating grain designs in the headstock, ivory inlays, and fret marker dots made of sterling silver. The body was composed of western maple wood which had a core of purpleheart. Garcia later had luthier and former Alembic employee Doug Irwin replace the electronics inside the guitar with a system similar to a Fender Stratocaster. It included a system of two plates for configuring pickups: one was made for strictly single coils, while the other accommodated humbuckers. Quickly after receiving the modified instrument, Garcia requested another custom guitar from Irwin with the advice "don't hold back."

During the Grateful Dead's European Tour, Wolf was dropped on several occasions, one of which caused a minor crack in the headstock. Garcia returned it to Irwin to fix; during its two-year absence Garcia played predominantly Travis Bean guitars. On September 28, 1977, Irwin delivered the renovated Wolf back to Garcia. The wolf sticker which gave the guitar its name had now been inlaid into the instrument; it also featured a few new electronics as well as a new coat of finish; Irwin also removed the Alembic logo from the headstock, and later claimed to have built the guitar.