Jeff was first seen playing this guitar on February 15, 1996, at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney (photo below). According to a post on the TDPRI forums, he acquired it at Manny’s Music in New York. Looking at the tour schedule, Jeff played the Roseland Ballroom in New York City in July 1995, which could very well be when the guitar was purchased.
While working at Manny’s Music in the 90s, I sold him an Ibanez Talman with P-90s. He was an incredible singer songwriter and his music still speaks to me.
BillyG – tdpri.com
The guitar was likely used as a spare during the 1996 tour, and perhaps Jeff purchased it as a potential replacement for the Telecaster he had been using—one he was eventually expected to return to its original owner.
It’s also possible that Jeff used this guitar while working on material for My Sweetheart the Drunk, though unfortunately there’s nothing to confirm this for certain. There is, however, one photo of him playing the Tallman while wearing headphones, which appears to have been taken during a recording session.
Second Tallman?
There are rumors of a second Ibanez Talman finished in dark green, which Jeff allegedly purchased shortly before his death. These claims seem to originate from a Tumblr fan page, though no known photos exist of Jeff with such a guitar.
Interestingly, the official Jeff Buckley website once listed a green Talman among the gear he used—but did not mention the gray one, suggesting either a mistake in color identification or the possibility that the gray Talman was sold before the green one was acquired. However, it’s important to note that Ibanez used metallic finishes on these guitars, and some gray Talmans can appear dark green depending on lighting and angle.
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You mentioned the July (actually it was June 2) 1995 gig at Roseland in NYC as being a possible date of purchase, but imho it’s far more likely Jeff got the Talman later in the year. The bulk of the touring for Grace ended in early September, 1995. The band came back from Australia and had five months off, with Jeff playing some solo gigs at Sin-e and a couple other spots in New York late in the year. I think he purchased the Talman sometime between Sept 1995 – January 1996 and then the guitar was seen in photos for the first time Feb. 1996 on the second set of dates they did in Australia (The Hard Luck Tour). It would be interesting to see if there any photos of him using the Talman in Nov. 1995 at the two dates at Sin-e or at the NYE show at Mercury Lounge on 12/31/95.
yeah, looks like he used the Talman at the 12/31/95 show at Mercury Lounge. Looks like there are a few pics of him using what looks like a black tele at the same show, too. Weird, I wonder if that’s Michael Tighe’s tele.
Hmmm – Michael’s black tele had a maple neck and the one Jeff is using at Mercury Lounge has a rosewood neck. Wonder who it belonged to?
I believe you are correct about people getting confused by the finish of the Talman. I think he just had the one with the gray finish which probably looked dark green sometimes depending on the light.
In an old interview with Michael Tighe (from 2001 IIRC) He said around the time they started working on the second album, Jeff got a Gretsch of some sort as well as the Talman.
The picture of Jeff above in the studio setting with the gray Talman was taken at Easley McCain Recording in Feb. 1997 – not from his house in Memphis. The description below the picture is incorrect. That picture was taken by drummer Parker Kindred during recording for My Sweetheart The Drunk (the set of sessions with Tom Verlaine). Parker didn’t set foot in Jeff’s house until the night Jeff went in the river.
Alright, I changed the caption below the photo just now. Thanks!
I think there is another pic of Jeff with this guitar at Easley. I’ll try to find it again and post the link.
https://x.com/buckleyposts/status/1795971549440172140/photo/1
here is the link ^ Photo by Parker Kindred at Easley McCain during the last sessions with Tom Verlaine that produced Everybody Here Wants You, Nightmares by the Sea, Yard of Blonde Girls, Witches’ Rave, New Year’s Prayer and Opened Once. Jeff recorded Opened Once with Verlaine by himself after the band went back to NYC, so he is likely tracking one of the other songs here.