Tiger in His Tank

TOM LIEBER HAS been building fine, handcrafted guitars since 1971, when he began an apprenticeship with Northern California luthier Doug Irwin, who had made several instruments for Jerry Garcia. Those creations included Wolf, the first custom guitar Irwin built for the Grateful Dead guitarist. In 1974, Lieber helped create the most iconic of Garcia’s guitars, Tiger, a no-holds-barred build that became Garcia’s most-played guitar, as well as a custom bass for Pete Sears of Jefferson Starship.

Lieber parted ways with Irwin in 1977 and went on to develop the highly innovative Spider Grinder bass, which jazz bassist/composer Stanley Clarke adopted in 1979. Clarke then requested an all-graphite bass, a project that awarded Lieber four patents and led them to form the Spellbinder Corporation in 1980. Fifty copies of the bass were made