Graham Nash was finally reunited with the 1955 Fender Stratocaster he gave to Jerry Garcia as a thank-you gift for him for playing pedal steel guitar on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young classic, "Teach Your Children."
The guitar was brought to the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley, California -- through the Grateful Guitars Foundation -- where Nash was performing, along with a Martin acoustic that Garcia had used to record The Grateful Dead's American Beauty album.
The Fender was known as the "Alligator" after Garcia placed a sticker of an alligator on the pickguard. It was the main guitar during the Grateful Dead’s tour of Europe in 1972.During an interview Garcia did with the British music newspaper Record Mirror, Garcia said he recorded a series of pieces on the steel guitar and spliced them together to create the backing and solo.
Garcia also made a deal that in return for playing on the song, CSNY would help members of the Grateful Dead improve their vocal harmony for their albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.
The "Alligator" sold at auction in 2019 for $525,000.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]