Accord Set for Garcia’s Guitars

A settlement was said to be “imminent” Wednesday in one of the messier custody fights in Bay Area rock history, as lawyers confirmed that they have a tentative deal in the ownership of guitars that had been willed by Jerry Garcia to the destitute craftsman who made them.

The agreement, which was leaked this week during a hearing on the estate of the late Grateful Dead lead guitarist, will, if signed, split five of Garcia’s favorite instruments between the Dead and Doug Irwin, one of the best-known guitar makers on the San Francisco rock scene.

“Nothing’s signed yet, but we should have something to announce pretty soon,” Irwin said. “I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be an opportunity for us all to usher Jerry’s memory into the future and for me to bury the hatchet with the band.”

The tentative settlement, as discussed in court this week, would give two guitars to Irwin and two to the Dead. The other one, used mostly for rehearsals by Garcia, is believed to be at the home of a roadie but has not been found.

The guitars Irwin built for Garcia between 1973 and 1990 were among those most closely associated with the guitarist, who died six years ago of heart failure in a Marin County drug rehab center. Hand-honed of exotic woods, the instruments became so well known that Deadheads could recite the nicknames Garcia gave them for their intricate inlays.

One--called Rosebud--was the last guitar Garcia ever played in concert. Another--nicknamed Tiger--was played by Garcia almost constantly for more than a decade. The instruments and their maker were close enough to Garcia that, in his will, his sole bequest to a non-family member was to Irwin, a self-taught craftsman who learned to make guitars on a welfare-to-work program in the late 1960s.

Irwin has been particularly eager to get the instruments because he has been down on his luck in recent years. A hit-and-run accident near his workshop in the Bay Area nearly killed him three years ago, and his family put his workshop in storage. He now lives with his mother in Hemet and has been struggling.

But the Grateful Dead had argued that Irwin should not have the guitars because, as a business, their instruments were jointly owned. The disagreement prompted him to go to court in March for a determination of title to the property.

The dispute was a particularly vexing one for the Dead, because it pitted their reputation for loyalty and philanthropy against their communal principles. Internet Web sites filled with the debate among Deadheads over how Garcia would have felt about the infighting.

Eric Doney, the attorney for Grateful Dead Productions, could not be reached for comment, but he told the Marin Independent Journal that the deal became attractive because “it was just, in the view of all the parties, time to move on.”

“We have an agreement in principle and believe a deal is imminent,” said Irwin’s lawyer, Doug Long.

Irwin, under the deal, would keep Tiger and another guitar called Wolf, which was the first instrument Garcia ever bought from him. The Dead, meanwhile, would keep Rosebud, which has a picture of a dancing skeleton, and another guitar known as Headless or Wolf Jr.

Past discussions included the possibility of some cash for Irwin and some consideration of other licensing disputes he has had for some years with the Dead. It was unclear, however, whether those were to be part of the settlement