Other Cripes

Early Experiments

“Cripe woud build a guitar and bring it to me with this big grin on his face, this look of anticipation, eyes wide open and ask me, “Alright Hal, tell me, does it play?” So I’d plug it in and play it. And every one of them, for a guy who didn’t play guitar, he built the greatest playing guitars in the world. I mean, they were setup and ready to go. Every one of them would just play wonderfully. He never really knew until that moment. He’d always be so happy. He nailed it every time.”
— Hal Hammer, Jr
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Emulating Modulus?

“Cripe was very happy with the shape of these guitars because it was a much different animal than the design that Doug Irwin inspired.”
— Pat O’Donnell, Resurrection Guitars
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Honoring Irwin

Commenting on Garcia’s debuting of Lightning Bolt with the Grateful Dead: “From the audience it looked like an Irwin, with its distinctly sculpted dog-ear horns and dark body.”
— Jon Sievert, Guitar Player, December 1995
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Acoustics

“Inspired, he’s now getting more into lutherie and has built three acoustic guitars (with bolt-on necks) and is working on a semi-hollow electric.”
— Baker Rorick, Guitar Shop, December 1995
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Early Experiments

“He’d make a guitar and decide he didn’t like it. He would cut pieces off of it, then he’d rework it and remake it. I would tell him well that one looks very much like the other one. Well it’s the same one. It’s just been reworked.”
— Hal Hammer, Jr.

Winged Road Warrior 1
“Cherrywood core with rare Brazilian Rosewood top and back, laminated maple and purpleheart neck, laminated headstock, 22 fret ebony fretboard, Les Paul type wiring, Schaller hardware. Very warm sound.”
— Original description by Steve Cripe and transcribed by Hal Hammer, Jr.

Winged Road Warrior 2
“Rock Maple core with Padouk top and back, laminated maple and purpleheart neck, laminated headstock, 22 fret Brazilian rosewood fretboard, Les Paul type wiring, Schaller hardware. Warm, yet semi bright and distinct sound.”
— Original description by Steve Cripe and transcribed by Hal Hammer, Jr.

Winged Road Warrior Prototype
One piece Teak body, maple bolt-on neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard with sterling silver firecracker fretmarkers. This guitar was finished by Resurrection Guitars.

Zebrawood
“The body has an alder core with zebrawood top and back. It has a bolt-on maple neck with 21-fret rosewood board and 24.75 inch scale. Single coil pickups with a five-way switch. When we received this guitar from Cripe’s workshop, the intended outline was penciled on the top. It was not painted and none of the cavities had been routed except for the neck pocket. The neck was complete except for the paint.”
— Pat O’Donnell, Resurrection Guitars

Firecracker —
The Working Man’s Guitar
Teak core with oiled Cocobolo top and back, laminated teak, maple and purpleheart neck, laminated headstock, 22 fret East indian rosewood fretboard, gold plated Schaller tuners, Floyd Rose tremolo. Wired like Les Paul but with additional phase reversal switch. Warm to medium bright sound.”
— Original description by Steve Cripe and transcribed by Hal Hammer, Jr.

Cripe Crazies
The back of this picture says Cripe Crazies. “We call it the “Nose Picker” because of the sharp point on the double cutaway horns.”
— Pat O’Donnell, Resurrection Guitars

Emulating Modulus

In addition to Kimock’s guitars and Eagle, the following are Cripe guitars with the asymmetrical Stratocaster style body. Was Cripe emulating Bob Weir’s Blackknife Modulus?

Koa

Cripe Bass

Headless

Cripe may have had Bobby’s Modulus Blackknife in mind when designing this body style.
So Far, Courtesy of Grateful Dead Productions

Cripe’s Template

Honoring Irwin

Bolt Series Prototype
This guitar was made before Lightning Bolt and was prototype for Garcia’s Cripe and the Bolt series.

“Green heart core with Lignum Vitae top and back – two of the hardest and heaviest woods in the world. Laminated Brazilian rosewood and maple neck, laminated headstock shaped very similar to the upper end of the body, 22 fret Brazilian rosewood fretboard with inlayed Lignum Vitae sapwood lightning bolt, Schaller hardware. Bright sound with unbelievable sustain.”
— Original description by Steve Cripe and transcribed by Hal Hammer, Jr.

“Zebrawood core with Cocobolo top and back, laminated Cocobolo and maple neck with Brazilian rosewood center stripe, 22 fret ebony fretboard, laminated headstock, black Schaller bridge, Grotoh tuners. Wired same as #4. Warm sound. The only reason I did not send this guitar (instead of Lightning Bolt) to Jerry was because the fretboard was 22 frets. I assumed that he would want 24 frets, so I built the “Bolt” using this guitar as the basic design.”
— Original description by Steve Cripe and transcribed by Hal Hammer, Jr.

Saturn (top); Lobster (bottom)

Palm Tree Rosebud
“After reading an article about Cripe shortly after Garcia died, I had this guitar custom made for me. I traveled to Cripe’s workshop in Trilby, Fl, and worked with him picking out woods, stains and design.

It has a maple core and a cocobolo top and back with a nine-ply laminated neck through the body. The laminated headstock is made from the opium bed used on Jerry’s Bolt.

Cripe was a neat guy, easy to work with and we developed a great relationship. I helped him choose the butterfly and bookmarked cocobolo. Looking down at the guitar, the maple core is really cool looking. I actually watched Steve sculpt out the dog eared cutaways with a flat blade while I was there. I actually drew out the flying bird design and Steve replicated them with precision.

I remember seeing the Cripe Eagle while visiting him.”
— Thomas Farr

Adam Palow in 1996 holding a Cripe guitar with oval inlays. Note the unique headstock design.

Cripe’s template for the Irwin dog-eared style guitars.

Acoustics

Acoustic 1

Acoustic 2

Adam Palow in 1996 holding Cripe acoustic 2.

Acoustic 3