Blue Lightning Bolt

This guitar was born out of a creative collaboration between myself and Bob Weir—I was carving tops for the Modulus G3 model at that time. Modulus Guitars was based in Novato, across the street from the Grateful Dead’s rehearsal space. One evening, Bobby stopped by with his Ibanez George Benson jazz guitar. He liked the body size, so we used that as our starting point.

I took the top half of the G3 and blended it with the carve top of the Benson, creating a hybrid that felt right in Bobby’s hands. As we tossed around design ideas, I suggested using lightning bolt-shaped F-holes instead of the traditional style. Bobby smiled and said, “Sounds good!”—and just like that, the Blue Lightning Bolt was born.

DETAILS

Neck:

• Two flame maple pieces with a black veneer down the middle of the neck
• Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, 25” scale
• Graphite plate underneath the fingerboard for stiffness and even volume of notes

Body:

• Spruce top, carved
• Flame maple core, chambered
• 5A Quilted Maple back carved
• Grained ivoried binding, top, back, neck and lighting bolt sound holes
• Stained blue with a polyurethane top coat