waldotronics.com - Garcia Guitars & Gear Directory

For Cripe's Sake!

There has been a claim made for over a couple of decades now that Stephen Cripe had chosen 2 guitars he had built that he had "Intended" to send to Jerry Garcia after his success with Lightning Bolt and Top Hat. The truth is Cripe never spoke in any of his writings that these two guitars, known as Eagle and Tribute(Saturn), were intended for Jerry Garcia. Given the absolute oppurtunity, and in his own words in two Unbroken Chain articles, handwritten and typed sale letters, and a St Petersburgh Times article you will not read anything about these guitars. What you will read in his sale literature is that Eagle was a guitar Cripe was offering for sale in a batch of guitars he was trying to sell for a couple of years. Tribute was not spoken of or seen until after his death. Tribute was not the first Saturn, as it has since been named, as there has been discovered that there were two with the control plate Saturn inlay. Lastly Tribute contains a "C" inlayed on the headstock that appears to be only on custom ordered guitars built by Cripe that were not included in the 12 listed for sale. I have laid out the articles and letters in Cripes own words here for all to decipher the truth on their own.

Unbroken Chain #47 March 1994

St. Petersburg Times - January 26, 1996

Unbroken Chain #54 March 1996

Highlights from these articles;

1.) Cripe started building guitars after July 1990

2.) Cripe started building Lightning Bolt in March 93 and finished April 1993

3.) August 1993 Tophat is commissioned

4.) Tophat was delivered November 1993

5.) The GD paid $7000 with check dated 12/13/93 for both Bolt and Top Hat

6.) Miami shows Spring of 94 Cripe meets Jerry

7.) Tampa shows April 95 Cripe does not meet Jerry

8.) Cripe states Garcia's staff told him to continue to send his creations but he never delivered

8.) Jerry passes on August 9, 1995

9.) Cripe passes on May 21, 1996

A Word on Hal Hammer and Pat O'Donnell

Hal Hammer was Cripes friend but also his Marketing influence and was tasked with finishing and selling the instruments recovered from the workshop after the explosion that killed Cripe. Hal Hammer is the only person to state Cripe said that Eagle and Tribute were intended for Garcia. This statement was made after cripes passing. Hammer tasked Pat O'Donnell whom met Cripe at Hal Hammers Booth at the Orlando Guitar Expo Spring of 96 (Cripe died a couple months later) with finishing many of the instruments that survived the accident.

Cripe's Own Words

This Cripe handwritten sale letter with accompanied cards containing photos and description of the guitars for sale was written sometime after April 8, 1994 and before April 7, 1995. Of the 12 guitars listed 9 of them are 22 Fret, not an option for a Jerry Garcia guitar and one was headless with no fretboard. One of the 24 fret instruments was Eagle but is shown here as a guitar for sale with nothing said about being intended for Jerry Garcia, the last one #12, also a 24 fret, was being sold "As Is". Cripe also makes note of exactly how Jerry's Guitars were wired and mentions Gary Brawers help with Jerry's wiring. This is of importance as neither Eagle or Tribute are wired to Garcia's spec, with the exception of an OnBoard Effects loop which some of Cripes custom ordered guitars also had wired. Missing are #10 which was Lightning Bolt and #13 which was Top Hat

Photo and Description Cards Sent with letter sent to Greg.

Missing are #10 which was Lightning Bolt and #13 which was Top Hat

Eagle Facts

Cripe states in his own writings Eagle was started after Lightning Bolt and sprayed at same time as Top Hat.

Note in the photo that Eagle is not completed and started as a two pickup configuration. Again, note it was for sale with no mention of being a Jerry Garcia intended guitar. Since Eagle started construction at the same time as Lightning Bolt and Sprayed with Top Hat, it could not have been built with the intention of being sent to Jerry Garcia. Any discussion by Jerry's staff telling Cripe to continue to send his creations was after Top Hats delivery. So Eagle could not have been built for Jerry Garcia thus why there is no mention of this intention in any of the sale literature Cripe himself made that included this guitar after delivering Bolt and Top Hat.

The 4 Known "C" Inlayed Guitars

The Guitar on the Left is #4, The guitar on the right is "Lobster" and has a "C" on the headstock. The "C" is of some signficance because it is seen on at least 4 Cripe Guitars not in the "for sale" batch of guitars and only seen on custom ordered instruments.

Buddy's custom ordered Cripe Lobster

Cripe's first custom ordered Bolt replica with "C" on the headstock.

This custom ordered Cripe Saturn also has the "C' on the headstock. The customer was communicating spec's for this custom guitar about December 1995 and was shipped to the customer on March 12, 1996

The Cripe known as Tribute has both the "C" on the headstock as well as the same type of Saturn art as the custom ordered Saturn. One would have to ask why Cripe would use the same design on the plate a customer custom spec'd and ordered on another guitar that was supposedly "intended" for Jerry Garcia? Tribute was not publicly known until after May 21, 1996, again, the original Saturn was shipped on March 12, 1996.

Hal Hammer typed version of Cripes sale literature made around October 1995

This Hal Hammer typed descriptions of Cripes guitars states that Eagle, labeled here as #12, "Was most likely to be Jerry's next guitar. This guitar was built at the same time as Jerry's "Top Hat". But wait! This was transcribed by Hammer from Cripe after Jerry's passing and it does not say "Intended for", it clearly says, "most likely"! And once again, there is no mention of the Tribute guitar in this list of guitars or the handwritten one by Cripe. None of the custom guitars with the "C" inlayed headstock are present in this list. Garcia's Bolt and Top Hat are added to this typed list with 2 dropped from the handwritten list shown above. Note the added "most likely" factor to the one and only 24 Fret guitar left listed that is not a Garcia guitar on this list after Jerry's passing. Remember Hal Hammer wasn't only Cripes friend, he was also helping sell Cripes guitars. Lastly, The customer was communicating spec's for the first Saturn custom guitar about December 1995 and was shipped to the customer on March 12, 1996, well after this was typed by Hammer. How could the second Saturn(Tribute) be built after and be "Intended For" Jerry when he had already passed?

The Wiring

Cripe in his own words stated his knowledge of Jerry's specific wiring of his guitars as taught to him by Gary Brawer. The final question is then if Cripe had intended to send Eagle and Tribute to Jerry for his use, why didn't he wire them as Jerry would have wanted?

Eagle's Wiring

New Bolt Wiring (Tribute)

Eagle's Original Pickups were Schaller. In November of 2001 Eagle was sent to Brawer to be rewired and new pickups were installed. If Eagle was intended for Garcia, why the need to change the pickups to something Jerry never used?

Eagle with P90's Today

All images are used for educational purposes.