A. M. Saddler Concert Photo of the Day

Welcome to The Concert Photo Of The Day for 05/09/13 .

"Because something is happening here but you don't know what it is"

Considering that it is Guitar Week here on the Concert Photo of the Day, it is no surprise that I am focusing on guitars, modifications of those guitars and, hopefully, a story or two about the guitar. If you are like me, you know most of the classic guitars that are used on stage and, with a few, can even tell a late 60's from a mid 80's model. Your eyes get to see those little design details that change over time. On occasion though, there are cases of a guitar not being what it seems to be. And to take that a little bit further, there are times where you  know what it is but it isn't quite like you remember...

Although today's featured guitar and its owner, Bob Weir, is best known for his work with the Grateful Dead, Furthur, Ratdog and solo, the guitar that his fans call "Pepto-Pink," traces its roots back to Bob Dylan and the above lyrical snippet from "Ballad of a Thin Man" fits the story I am about to tell.

It was May of 1987 and Bob Dylan showed up in San Rafael to rehearse for an upcoming Dylan/Dead tour. Mr. Dylan shows up for rehearsal but forgot something...a guitar. When asked what sort of guitar he would like to play, he answered, "Oh, just get me something simple - get me a Strat." Bob Weir had recently invested in a local guitar manufacturer, Modulus, and they were making some Stratocaster-like guitars and the only one that they had ready to go was a pink model...pink as in the color of Pepto Bismol. The band assembled a collection of Strats and the Modulus Strat clone and it was up to Dylan to play each and decide on one to rehearse with. Fast forward a bit and they find Bob Dylan staring at the guitars when he finally says, "I like the way this one sounds and I like the way this one plays...but this one is the right color." So the rest of the guitars were sent back to wherever they came from and Dylan rehearsed for a few weeks with the Pink Modulus the whole time. Then, in classic Bob Dylan fashion, when the tour came around, the guitar sat there and wasn't played once. After the tour was over, Bob Dylan gave the guitar to Bob Weir because Mr. Weir dug it so much.

Since that day, Pepto-Pink is seen regularly being played by Weir. Or maybe not. Maybe there is a family of Pink Modulus' hanging around or maybe one guitar wears many clothes. Let me explain that a bit. Sometimes the guitar has the classic Stratocaster head and others it has a pointed head. Sometimes there is a pickup on the neck and sometime there isn't. Even the body pickups seem to move around to different positions. This would normally point to many similar guitars being played but looking at my photos, I see the same scratch marks on the body most of the time...even when other parts are completely different. Nobody, except Mr. Weir and his tech, A. J., knows for sure what the story is and they aren't telling.

Or just maybe, Bob Weir's pink Modulus guitar has some shape-shifting properties that nobody quite knows what it is...except maybe Mr. Dylan...if anybody knows a thing or two about shape-shifting, it's him.

Today's photo was taken with a Canon 40D camera body coupled with a Canon EF-S 17 - 55 mm f/2.8 IS lens at a focal length of 38 mm. The camera settings were ISO 1600, f/2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second.