 SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) - The long, strange legal trip of the Grateful Dead guitars may finally be coming to an end. Remaining members of the legendary rock group have reached a tentative settlement with guitarmaker Douglas Irwin that will allow him to auction off two of the most famous guitars he built for late frontman Jerry Garcia -- while giving Grateful Dead Productions the right of first refusal.
"What we're working toward is a mechanism by which the Grateful Dead can retain the guitars as long as they are willing to pay Mr. Irwin what they are worth," Grateful Dead Productions attorney Eric Doney said Thursday. The struggle over Jerry's Garcia guitars has been one of the nastiest episodes following the death of the former Grateful Dead leader in 1995. Irwin built five guitars for Garcia between 1991 and 1989, and in his will Garcia left the instruments to their maker -- who has now fallen on hard times.
But other band members have refused to part with them, saying that Grateful Dead Productions bought and maintained instruments as a group and the guitars were never Garcia's to give away. According to the proposed settlement, Irwin will be allowed to auction two of the most famous guitars -- nicknamed "Tiger" and "Wolf" for their decorative inlays -- in sales that could make him a millionaire. Irwin, who has been described as virtually destitute following the collapse of his guitarmaking business after a hit-and-run accident in 1998, will give Grateful Dead Productions the right to match the highest price so that the guitars may be kept together as a collection, Doney said. "This has been a cooperative and positive process, but it is not done yet," he said. Irwin's lawyer William Romaine could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. But he told the San Francisco Chronicle that the long battle over the guitars had left his client feeling hurt and betrayed.
"Litigation has a nasty way of making friends into enemies," Romaine told the Chronicle. "Doug may have been hurt so much by this that he will never consider (being friends) again, but this may mend everything. What's fundamentally true is that a settlement will mean it is over."
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