Hendrix Gear - Backline

1970 Sunburst Stratocaster

Since he first emerged on the music scene in the '60s, Jimi Hendrix and the Fender Stratocaster have become synonymous. It's common knowledge that Hendrix used stock Strats that he purchased from local music stores and he went through many of them. Some guitars were sacrificed in onstage rituals, while others were given as gifts to friends and admirers, or sometimes left with friends in different cities so that he would always have an instrument to play while visiting.

This three-tone sunburst Stratocaster was one of the very last instruments acquired by Jimi Hendrix before his death. It was purchased from Manny's Music in New York City by road manager Eugene McFadden and then delivered to the guitarist's Electric Lady Studios, along with some .009-gauge Ernie Ball strings and medium picks. According to McFadden, Hendrix was planning to begin work on a recording project called "Bolero," which was never released and perhaps may never even have been started. In an interview after the guitar's reappearance, bassist Noel Redding recalled that Hendrix had used this sunburst instrument during an informal jam at the studio. After its service at Electric Lady, the guitar was presented as a gift to one of Hendrix's female friends who kept it until 1993. It was later sold at auction by Christie's in 1995 and is now displayed by its new owner in a private collection.

The guitar's seial number is 274200. The neck is dated "22 March 70" and has a "B" style neck profile. The body is made of alder and the neck pocket is signed by Fender employees J. Chambers and E. Reza, and marked "GO1." The bottom plate of each pickup is stamped in blank ink with the markings of
"2011" on the neck pickup and "9439" on the middle and bridge pickups. The volume and tone pots are all coded "1377014-035865." On early guitars, pot codes can provide a useful source of information to help determine the approximate date when an instrument was constructed in the factory. These codes tell when the pots were made. However, during these times, parts were frequently used in the manufacture of new instruments as soon as they came into the factories, so pot codes can often provide a closer approximation of when an instrument was released from the factory. The first set of numbers - 1377014 - indicates the manufacturer and translates to tell the date of constuction of the pots. 137 = CTS (manufacturer's brand name), 70 = the year made (1970), and 14 = the week of the year made (14th week of 1970). Therefore, we can propose that this particular Stratocaster had been made sometime around March of 1970.

The Octavia

The first Octavia pedal that Hendrix used was created by Roger Mayer in 1967. His earliest pedal was a prototype that was housed in a white wedge-shaped box and labeled "Octavio" in black marker. The two control knobs were positioned on the front of the pedal, just above the input and output jacks. As shown in this photo, the markings for Hendrix's exact settings have remained intact. The original "Octavio" pedal made its onstage debut at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden later that same year. A photo taken by photographer Joe Sia at a December 31, 1969 performance shows Hendrix posed crouching over his pedals, with this unmistakable pedal in clear sight. In the studio, this effect was prominently featured on several celebrated recordings, including "Purple Haze," "Fire" and "One Rainy Wish."

The pedal was auctioned by Christie's in 1995 and acquired by the Hendrix Museum in Seattle, Washington, where it is featured on display.

 The Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face

The Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face pedal was an essential part of Hendrix's sound. He had several of these pedals among his collection of stage gear, some which he prefered the sound of over others. During the late '60s, electronics components of the time were not nearly as consistent as the ones manufactured today, so it was not uncommon for effects pedals to sound a bit different. For that reason, Hendrix marked the bottoms of the pedals he liked with a strip of tape to indicate those that were his favorites. This particular one bears the word "Good," written in black marker on masking tape.

In terms of construction, the original Fuzz Face pedals contained two Germanium transistors, which produced a tube-like tone. However, later-built Fuzz Face pedals used silicon transistors that sounded a bit different and caused Hendrix to change the way that he set up his gear. In his earlier days, Hendrix ran the Fuzz Face pedal first in his chain of effects, in front of the wah-wah pedal. Because of differences in the polarity created by the components of the Fuzz Face, for compatibility, the wah pedal had to be placed first or the two effects would cancel each other out. However, later Fuzz Face models were built with silicon transistors and the pedal could be placed anywhere in the signal chain. The silicon-equipped Fuzz Face also produced more gain than the Germanium-equipped units, so Hendrix changed the order of his effects, moving the wah to the front of the signal chain and placing the Fuzz Face second in line. When the older Germanium-equipped Fuzz Face was used in the front of the signal chain, the transistors would overdrive the wah's effect, producing a particular tone. In later performances, when using the silicon-equipped Fuzz Face, Hendrix's tone as subtly changed. To hear these differences, compare the sound of his tone in earlier and later performances, such as Hendrix's last performance at the Isle Of Wight show on August 30, 1970.

The Vox Wah Pedal

The Vox wah became an integral part of Hendrix's setup and he kept many Vox wah pedals in his collection of gear. According to Michael Fairchild, one of the earliest photos showing Hendrix using a wah pedal dates from a gig on August 15, 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Almost all photos taken after that time show him using a Vox wah pedal, which at the time, was manufactured by Jennings Musical Industries Ltd. of Kent, England.

This paricular Vox wah pedal was used by Hendrix during his Band Of Gypsys period in 1969-1970. In 1970, it was traded to Stuyvesant Music, a New York City music shop (now long out of business), along with a burned Stratocaster. The guitar and pedal were exchanged for another instrument. As a fan of Hendrix and a budding young guitar player himself, the owner's son kept this pedal and it still remains in his personal collection. The bottom of the pedal is marked "J.H. EXP" in black marker, written across a strip of red electrical tape. This was a common ID used to mark much of the personal stage gear belonging to members of the Experience

Sunn Amplifiers

Although Hendrix is best-known for his use of Marshall amplification, he was also known for his use of Sunn amps. In photos dating from 1968, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was often seen playing through Sunn amplifiers during U.S. performances and was, at the time, one of the company's best-known endorsers. The two amps shown in this photo are the models Spectrum II and 200S, which were used by Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding. The Spectrum II was designed for guitar, bass or keyboard, while the 200S was designed as a bass amp. The two 4x12 guitar cabinets are loaded with Sunn speakers and the 2x15 bass cabinet is loaded with 15-inch JBL D-140-F speakers.

When Hendrix was able to get Marshall amps in the U.S. with greater ease, these particular amps were later sold to Leslie West and Felix Pappalardi of Mountain, who shared the same personal manager, Mike Jeffries. During their tenure with Mountain, several modifications were made to the amps' original factory designs, such as the addition of pilot lights that are positioned in the middle of the Sunn logos on the front face, a Slave/Master switch on the
inside chassis of the 200S and a Guitar/Bass switch placed on the front of the Spectrum II.

These amps were purchased by a private collector in the late '90s.
 

The Hendrix Rig

Several photos taken by photographer Joe Sia at a gig on December 31, 1969 clearly show Hendrix's chain of effects and the order of setup for that particular show. His setup would sometimes vary and it is believed that the type of Fuzz Face pedal he was using (as described above) had a lot to do with where it was placed in the effects chain. Sia's photo shows the Vox wah as the first pedal in line from his guitar. The wah was connected to the Octavia prototype pedal (marked "Octavio"), then linked into the Fuzz Face, followed by the Uni-Vibe, and finally plugged into a Marshall amplifier and matching 4x12 cabinets.