Guess what an Arkansas farmer just stumbled upon while searching for spare parts to fix up his Ford T? One of the very first electric guitar models! The serial number is hard to make out due to the extreme wear this vintage Sparrow has suffered, making it tricky to confirm 100% whether it’s the same instrument Hendrix once played — although it looks uncannily similar. Experts are currently investigating the matter. In the meantime, we’ve got exclusive photos to share with you, along with the full story of its creator! Don’t miss out, it’s not every day you get to come face to face with a piece of history.
John Sparrow was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on April 1, 1914. We would have celebrated his 100th birthday if he hadn’t died in a tragic hang-gliding accident twenty years ago (electrocuted on a high-voltage line — you can’t make this stuff up!). John Sparrow had wanted to become a computer engineer (as early as 1924, which shows just how ahead of his time he was), but fate had other plans: for his tenth birthday, he received a broom, on which he strung a jump rope to create his first instrument. Nothing unusual so far — many a handy kid has done the same. But just two hours later, he had his first big idea: he quickly realized that his stringed broom would never be loud enough to cut through the big bands of the era. So he installed a pickup under the string, wired it up to a modified radio, and the sound that came out convinced him he had just made a revolutionary discovery. Unfortunately, he told everyone about it without worrying about copycats, and two little-known engineers, Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp, stole his idea to build their electric lap steels.
Eagletone is Born
But John Sparrow wasn’t the kind of man to be easily discouraged. He sensed that the electric lap steel craze would eventually fade, and that the guitar would be the next instrument to benefit from this evolution. This time, he decided to launch his own brand to avoid getting ripped off again, though he thought “Sparrow” didn’t sound quite right (his son Jack, who had gone into piracy near Port-au-Prince, decided to embrace the family name instead). In his autobiography, They Stole Everything From Me (Camion Blanc, 2004), he explains how he found the name: “I was talking with Robert Johnson, and he told me, ‘man, when I play on your guitars, I sound like an eagle!’ I instantly knew the name was perfect.” And so Eagletone (the sound of the eagle) was born in 1934.
The Johnson Era
The first model released by Eagletone was named after its creator: the Sparrow. For the time (1934), the design was completely groundbreaking: it was what he called a solid body — a fully solid guitar body that resisted feedback. It was perfectly suited for amplification, and fittingly came equipped with three pickups. Two years later, Gibson copied this design for its Charlie Christian model but totally botched it, keeping just one pickup on a hollow body guitar. It was also in 1936 that Robert Johnson recorded the tracks that would give birth to rock. Few people know it, but he used an Eagletone for these sessions. The sound engineer, unaccustomed to the tone of an electric guitar, tried to recreate the acoustic sound he was familiar with — but if you listen closely to the album King Of The Delta Blues Singers, you can clearly hear the distinctive Sparrow sound. At the time, Eagletone had planned to release a Robert Johnson signature model, but Johnson’s death in 1938 from a tricycle accident (or poisoned by a jealous husband, depending on the story) cut the project short. This might have been Sparrow’s chance to bring his invention to the masses.
The Copycats Run Wild
The 1950s were a very tough time for Sparrow: some guy named Leo Fender launched his company by making cheap knockoffs of Eagletone guitars. His Telecaster, released in 1950, was a clear downgrade compared to the Sparrow: only two pickups, just one cutaway, and far less versatile. In 1954, Fender outright skirted plagiarism with the Stratocaster: it mimicked the Sparrow’s shape and pickup configuration, but connoisseurs weren’t fooled. Leo overlooked obvious details like the five-way selector (Fender would stick to just three until 1977 — embarrassing…) or the color, which was a dreary sunburst at Fender while Eagletone had already introduced pale blue as a stock color in 1936. And what a coincidence — Fender released its Stratocaster in custom colors (including Daphne Blue, no less) in 1959. But true musicians weren’t deceived. Singer Buddy Holly started out on a Stratocaster for lack of means, but as soon as he scored his first hits (the 1957 single That’ll Be the Day), he treated himself to a stunning Sparrow. A Buddy Holly signature model was in the works, but the tragic plane crash of February 3, 1959, put an end to it.
The Amplification Experience
In the 1960s, Sparrow shifted from guitars to designing amps. Noticing guitarists’ frustration with the lack of power in small Fender amps, he built a 100-watt head with two separate cabinets. A rather unscrupulous Englishman named Jim Marshall stole the idea and built his entire business on it — absurd, since the man was actually a drummer! This setback didn’t tarnish the prestige of Eagletone guitars, which remained symbols of excellence, a well-kept secret shared only among rock stars. When Bob Dylan went electric, he didn’t hesitate: he chose the brand from his own hometown. And so it was an Eagletone he brandished as a symbol of artistic emancipation at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Jimi Hendrix, for his part, set aside his usual Fender to take the stage at Woodstock in 1969 with a model worthy of the occasion.
The Final Chapter
In the 1970s, Sparrow entered the effects pedal market. He didn’t invent the concept (for once!) but made it far cooler by creating a line of compact, indestructible pedals that sounded great and came in fun pastel colors. Five years later, the Japanese company Roland swiped the idea (the Japanese were experts in copying at the time) and launched the Boss brand. Sparrow didn’t let it break him and decided to perfect his own guitar model, with the quiet humility of a genius who doesn’t realize his own brilliance. He designed a high-performance vibrato that stayed perfectly in tune, but one of his close friends, Floyd Rose, ran off the day before the patent was filed. The 1990s saw a return to simpler gear, and once again Eagletone was at the forefront of the movement. In 1994, Sparrow signed an endorsement deal with the guitarist who should have brought ultimate recognition to his guitars: Jeff Buckley. Sparrow passed away on April 1 of that same year, never living to continue defending his instruments, which mysteriously disappeared… Until today!
The Phoenix
Just when no one expected it, this gorgeous vintage model has reappeared, exciting collectors and making historians dream. A farmer who preferred to remain anonymous found it in his garage, and he’s now awaiting expert opinions before deciding whether to put it up for auction or to accept the huge offers from several specialists eager to make it the crown jewel of their collection. Stay tuned!
