'Knuckle-dragger'-designed guitars a smash

Michael Kissinger, Vancouver Courier

Published: Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Time has not been kind to the electric guitar. Once a dangerous and revered tool in rock 'n' roll's arsenal, the mighty battle axe and amplified phallic symbol has been castrated over the years--smashed to pieces and set on fire by its wielders, all but ignored in hip hop circles and rendered obsolete by the World Air Guitar Championships and video games like Guitar Hero.

But there is hope, young grasshoppers. Although Sparrow Guitars occupies an old greeting card factory in one of the grottier sections of Vancouver's East Side, the only thing warm and fuzzy produced there nowadays is the sound emanating from its flame-covered creations.

Head honcho Billy Bones--yes, that's the name on his driver's licence--started designing guitars several years ago while working at a high end-furniture making shop because, as he puts it, "any knuckle-dragger can do it."

After the shop closed down, Bones took a month-long one-on-one guitar building course in Calgary and got into the guitar design business. He launched Sparrow Guitars three years ago.

"What I figured out was building the guitars from scratch by myself, I could make two maybe three guitars in a month, but I'd have to charge two maybe $3,000 a guitar," says Bones, leaning against an old dusty pinball machine at Sparrow headquarters. "And even if I could sell a lot that way, it didn't make me very happy thinking here's some poor kid and I'll make him a fantastic guitar, but he'll have to pay through the nose."

So the kind-hearted guitar maker devised a way to import bare bone guitars from factories in Asia--the same ones used by "American made" guitar companies like Gibson and Fender--dismantle the instruments and completely overhaul them with new hardware, fretwork, electronics, paint and artwork informed by what Bones calls "classic cool '50s greasy stuff." In other words, hotrods, motorcycles, pinball, tattoos and rock 'n' roll.

"The goal is to make a guitar that a kid can afford to play that's going to sound great, so the last three years has been us trying to develop that," says the 32-year-old father. "It seems like these last eight months we're kind of in the pocket, putting out a great guitar that competes with all these lousy guitars on price and competes with all these expensive guitars on quality."

Sparrow offers five guitar models in seven finishes and various styles of pin-striping and flames with names like Big Daddy, Rat Rod and Twang Master. Prices range from $450 to $1,500.

"I love rock 'n' roll," says Bones, who plays in local garage punk bands the Vicious Cycles and the on-hiatus Raised by Wolves. "It's a huge part of everything I do, and kids should be able to afford to make rock 'n' roll music."

Bones and his staff of 10 produce approximately 100 guitars a month, which are carried by 50 dealers worldwide, including in the U.S. and Australia. They've also started to spread the Sparrow gospel via touring bands, striking endorsement deals with local acts You Say Party! We Say Die!, Pride Tiger and the Black Halos and out-of-town bands like Bouncing Souls, HorrorPops, the Briggs and MXPX. They're in negotiations to design a guitar for Joan Jett.

When asked how he feels about the tradition turned cliché of musicians smashing their guitars on stage, Bones relates a story he read about Pete Townshend. According to Bones, the Who guitarist would only smash his guitar after he had worn it in, everything about it sounded perfect and he was overcome with an overwhelming urge to destroy it.

"If I was at a show and someone was destroying one of my guitars in a moment of bliss, then that's almost my version of sitting around a campfire singing 'Kumbaya,' because in my mind that would be an ultimate respect," Bones says. "But in most other situations, I'd hope that person would give the guitar to someone else who would love it properly."