- For the prior limited edition reissue of this guitar, see BWM1 (2005).
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The BWM1 is a solid body electric guitar introduced by Ibanez for 2016. It is a signature model of Bob Weir, guitarist of the American rock band Grateful Dead. The BMW1 was crafted in Japan by Sugi.
The BWM1 is a re-creation of a guitar that Ibanez custom built for Weir in around 1976 which had a limited edition production run in 2005. It is referred to as a "cowboy fancy" model which comes from an answer Weir gave to Jeff Hasselberger of Ibanez who had asked him what he would like his guitar to look like. Referring to the often ornate inlays on the guitars of the old country and western stars, Weir replied, "Let's go for the full cowboy fancy."
Design[]
The body shape of the Cowboy Fancy was intended to be a compromise between a Gibson ES345 and the Ibanez Artist. Weir requested a larger headstock to increase sustain. The eventual headstock design ultimately made its way into smaller versions for other Ibanez jazz guitars.
The guitar is heavily decorated with vine inlays on the body, neck and headstock. The word "Ace" on the fretboard is a reference to Weir's nickname.
The BWM1 features neck through body construction with ash wings with abalone purfling and cream binding on a maple and walnut neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with binding and Tree of Life vine inlays. Components include DiMarzio pickups with a pair of PAF 36th Anniversary humbuckers which can be coil-split flanking an Area 61 single-coil, a half-bone and half-brass nut and a replica Accucast fixed bridge.
Reissue[]
The guitar was once again reissued and revealed at the 2016 Winter NAMM Show. It has been reported that just 30 examples of this reissue were produced, with 15 of those going to the US market.[1]
The reissue BWM1 was gone after 2017.
Specifications[]
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Electronics[]
The guitar features a pre-amp with a three-band active EQ and DiMarzio pickups. Weir wanted as much flexibility of pickup selection as possible which led to a complex control layout.
Controls[]
The first three toggles in the upper horn turn the pickups on and off individually (1=neck; 2=middle; 3=bridge). The fourth toggle switches the neck and bridge pickups between humbucker (in the down position) and coil split (in the up position). In addition, there are 3 small plastic screws, accessible thru the rear control plate which allow the level of each pickup to be adjusted independently. The main three knobs control master volume, master tone and EQ level. The three smaller knobs are part of the Ibanez EQ tone system. They are center notched to accurately provide plus or minus 15db of gain in three frequency bands: bass/ mid/ treble. The red LED is a power indicator for the active EQ's 9-volt battery and the toggle is a bypass switch that turns the EQ System on or off.
Images[]
Sources[]
- ↑ BWM1 product page, Musician's Friend (retailer website), archived June 2017
- Bob Weir artist page, Ibanez Europe, archived November 2017
- BWM1 product page, Ibanez USA, archived May 2016
- 2017 Europe catalog (page 13)
- BWM1 product page, Ibanez Europe, archived November 2017
