Jimi Hendrix' Gear and Mods at West Coast Organ and Amp

[Xplorer]

how about some proof that converstion even happened. And that it was this guy and not some friend.

How about contacting Neal yourself, chances are that he'll confirm that you're just a troll.

[Roe]

Cool down - do you want another locked thread?

[Tone seaker]

how about some proof that converstion even happened. And that it was this guy and not some friend.

How about contacting Neal yourself, chances are that he'll confirm that you're just a troll.

I contacted the guy that checked the Strat out from Mitch Mitchels hands Nevell Martin. Dont you read. He replied and i posted it. NO NOTCHES, If you dont believe me contact him yourself. I have proven my case you guys never do. Nice name calling jerk clearly your the troll. PROVE SOMETHING JERK oh you cant

Cool down - do you want another locked thread?

I dont but clearly these guys do and dont care. i just proved them wrong and they wont accept it or provide any hard evidence. All Daves threads should be locked any way there pure BS

[Xplorer]

Cool down - do you want another locked thread?

You're right Roe. It's useless to answer him, i'll just stop commenting, it won't help.

[daveweyer]

Maybe we can just work around this and keep actual information flowing, it's worth a try anyway.
I always thought the fret notches were a sidebar for the most part, and not all that important in the overall Jimi story, but for some reason they have caused a great deal of dissension amongst the Jimi aficionados.
I have never understood why a picture of the Woodstock Strat meant anything to the story, there are so many things which could have happened to the guitar, and having some guy who looked at it years later not find anything just seems so irrelevant.
Who knows if the Woodstock Strat even had the notches, maybe there wasn't time to cut them when we prepared all the equipment, anything could have happened in that chaos in the days right before Woodstock.
All I can offer to the forum members is that Neal cut those notches, and those notches were on the black Strat when we first started working for Jimi in 68. Neal re-fretted that guitar, and cut the notch right where it had been, and continued cutting the notch when re-fretting or replacing necks until Jimi didn't want it anymore, probably in late 69 or early 70.
I'll confirm with Neal based on things we both remember well just how many guitars we can verify as having the notches.
We received Jimi's equipment mostly from roadies, and on big or important jobs John Wright himself would be there to deliver instructions and give us a timeline. This was the case with the broken neck Strat.

If you think that is not Neal talking on the phone then I can't really do much for you. You might listen to other interviews with him or talk to him yourself.
I just thought you all might get something out of hearing our voices. If not then again I can only say I am sorry you are not open to absorbing any new information about Jimi. It's not mandatory.

[Tone seaker]

Maybe we can just work around this and keep actual information flowing, it's worth a try anyway.
I always thought the fret notches were a sidebar for the most part, and not all that important in the overall Jimi story, but for some reason they have caused a great deal of dissension amongst the Jimi aficionados.
I have never understood why a picture of the Woodstock Strat meant anything to the story, there are so many things which could have happened to the guitar, and having some guy who looked at it years later not find anything just seems so irrelevant.
Who knows if the Woodstock Strat even had the notches, maybe there wasn't time to cut them when we prepared all the equipment, anything could have happened in that chaos in the days right before Woodstock.
All I can offer to the forum members is that Neal cut those notches, and those notches were on the black Strat when we first started working for Jimi in 68. Neal re-fretted that guitar, and cut the notch right where it had been, and continued cutting the notch when re-fretting or replacing necks until Jimi didn't want it anymore, probably in late 69 or early 70.
I'll confirm with Neal based on things we both remember well just how many guitars we can verify as having the notches.
We received Jimi's equipment mostly from roadies, and on big or important jobs John Wright himself would be there to deliver instructions and give us a timeline. This was the case with the broken neck Strat.

If you think that is not Neal talking on the phone then I can't really do much for you. You might listen to other interviews with him or talk to him yourself.
I just thought you all might get something out of hearing our voices. If not then again I can only say I am sorry you are not open to absorbing any new information about Jimi. It's not mandatory.

you stated some where in this long topic the woodstock strat had the notches before woodstock. The guy is Nevell Martin which your buddy tried to use to say the notches were polishied out. Nevell examined the strat right from Mithches hands with Jimi's strings still on it. So that clearly proves there were no mods done to the guitar over the years like you and your buddy say. (you cant mill notches out of frets with the strings on) and Neville says there were no notches. Nevell is clearly credible. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... rat-178118

i am very open to absorbing new info about Jimi i just want evidence like others do becuase its a very important topic. Some ones word is not evidence. When something (Jimi's tone) is this big and important then a little thing like fret notches bring in to question all of it

[Roe]

I suggest temporary bracketing the existence of notched frets until this sub-forum cools down. Lets focus on the other Hendrix stuff please (e.g. hendrix' claim, in an August 1967 interview with Bill Kerby & David Thompson, that "I really like my old Marshall tube amps, because when they're working properly there's nothing can beat it, nothing in the whole world.")

[daveweyer]

Roe I think that is a good idea. I'll post more on the notches as time goes on. In the mean time I was hoping for some positive feedback regarding hearing both my voice and Neal's talking unprompted about the West Coast years.
If you all found it interesting there is a lot more.
In fact there is a lot more of everything to share, but I was not convinced of there being a determined interest by the forum members to hear it or see it.
I take substantial time out of my day to post messages and information about those years, I get nothing out of it monetarily and it burns a lot of energy.
I was doing this as a gift for the newer generation of Jimi lovers. As you know, my generation are starting to drop like flies, one by one the ability to ascertain first hand accounts of events and information about Jimi vanishes from the earth forever.
West Coast may be a small part of the Jimi story, but it has a lot of elements in the chapter, and from what I gather from the forum members, mostly unheard of information. Probably that's why it is so controversial.

You mention the interview with Jimi about his love of Marshalls when they are operating properly, which they never were. If they had been, there never would have been a West Coast Organ and Amp, and Marshall would have never needed us to keep their equipment running.
In the Hendrix Illustrated Experience there is a DVD called Hendrix Live. On it you can see an interview in which Jimi talks about his incredible frustration with the amps blowing up right in the middle of tunes, cords going bad, and other things which interfered with his ability to keep his groove going, his mental energy beam he liked to follow where he didn't have to worry about earthly matters and could just follow the spirit.
He mentions that he was going to have to do something about it, really take action to improve the situation no matter what it took.
It wasn't long after that West Coast Organ and Amp got a call, asking what it would take to make the amps more reliable, along with all the other gear he carried with him. He voiced the same complaints about how it pissed him off when stuff failed right in the middle of a solo.
It was probably a few months before the first equipment arrived. This would have logically coincided with a tour which brought him to the west coast and Los Angeles.
It all started there. At first I had no other charge than trying to make the amps last, and the things I knew about pure pentode operation all pointed to the weakness of power pentodes as output tubes running in non-ultralinear output mode. My good friend Bob Hovland at Vox shared the same view, having watched EL34s by the dozens burn up in square wave clipping. Enter the 6550, a beam power tube with protected screen grids, shadow wound to keep the electrons from returning from the plate and melting the screen grid.
But I digress........

[Tone seaker]

good god another book. of course there is a lot more to share. Calling another person wrong and west coast basicly built for Jimi's equipent Jimi must have lived on the west coast LOL. Um he lived in NYC so there must be basicly very little but keep going bro you just cant stand to be contradicted can you

[Xplorer]

Roe I think that is a good idea. I'll post more on the notches as time goes on. In the mean time I was hoping for some positive feedback regarding hearing both my voice and Neal's talking unprompted about the West Coast years.
If you all found it interesting there is a lot more.
In fact there is a lot more of everything to share, but I was not convinced of there being a determined interest by the forum members to hear it or see it.
I take substantial time out of my day to post messages and information about those years, I get nothing out of it monetarily and it burns a lot of energy.
I was doing this as a gift for the newer generation of Jimi lovers. As you know, my generation are starting to drop like flies, one by one the ability to ascertain first hand accounts of events and information about Jimi vanishes from the earth forever.
West Coast may be a small part of the Jimi story, but it has a lot of elements in the chapter, and from what I gather from the forum members, mostly unheard of information. Probably that's why it is so controversial.

You mention the interview with Jimi about his love of Marshalls when they are operating properly, which they never were. If they had been, there never would have been a West Coast Organ and Amp, and Marshall would have never needed us to keep their equipment running.
In the Hendrix Illustrated Experience there is a DVD called Hendrix Live. On it you can see an interview in which Jimi talks about his incredible frustration with the amps blowing up right in the middle of tunes, cords going bad, and other things which interfered with his ability to keep his groove going, his mental energy beam he liked to follow where he didn't have to worry about earthly matters and could just follow the spirit.
He mentions that he was going to have to do something about it, really take action to improve the situation no matter what it took.
It wasn't long after that West Coast Organ and Amp got a call, asking what it would take to make the amps more reliable, along with all the other gear he carried with him. He voiced the same complaints about how it pissed him off when stuff failed right in the middle of a solo.
It was probably a few months before the first equipment arrived. This would have logically coincided with a tour which brought him to the west coast and Los Angeles.
It all started there. At first I had no other charge than trying to make the amps last, and the things I knew about pure pentode operation all pointed to the weakness of power pentodes as output tubes running in non-ultralinear output mode. My good friend Bob Hovland at Vox shared the same view, having watched EL34s by the dozens burn up in square wave clipping. Enter the 6550, a beam power tube with protected screen grids, shadow wound to keep the electrons from returning from the plate and melting the screen grid.
But I digress........

this is indeed a precious gift. if there's more about Neal and you talking that would be interesting. By the way, who is Jerry ? i don't remember. could he and some others participate and bring memorys ? in the interview you mention the fact that Jerry may remember things that you and Neal may have forgotten, and neal says something like "well he was drank most of the time" ha ha

sorry if you explained it already, you might have talked about it but do you remember if you received some Fender amps from Jimi ?
thanks

[daveweyer]

Jerry was the founder of West Coast Organ and Amp. He had been assistant national service manager at Vox before he started West Coast. He did the entire 1966 tour with the Beatles to keep their Vox equipment up and running for every show. There is a whole story behind him as well, but that can come later.
Neal didn't drink much, or ever smoke any pot, unlike the rest of us, so his judgements on Jerry come from that perspective. Jerry may have leaned on the drink a bit but he was a gracious and generous man, especially to me since I got West Coast a reputation as a top notch amp shop and brought in tons of business from important clients.
I have a tape of Jerry talking too and will be happy to share that when it is relative to a topic.
I left the part in about Jerry drinking because I thought it kind of showed the humanity of the situation. We all had issues and struggles, but always supported each other in the whole West Coast experience-- for instance, there was no competitive bullshit amongst any of the techs or employees, a rare situation in any group endeavor. Much of that was due to Jerry's generosity. I had talked Jerry into giving the employees a very minimum salary, but allowing them a percentage of the work they did; this meant their pay could be as high as they wanted if they were willing to move more equipment through their stations. It worked, and our techs did very well for themselves, plus we moved a lot of gear--that's why Fender decided to make West Coast into their service department. Some techs came from Fender to work for us.
Anyway, hope that gives some perspective........

[Xplorer]

sure, it gives another side of the picture. I'm sorry, i didn't mean to link Neal's joke on Jerry to a "drinking problem" or whatever. To me it's normal to enjoy life and drinks and i just found it to be funny, and giving a human dimension.

it would be great to hear his remembrance.

He did the entire 1966 tour with the Beatles to keep their Vox equipment up and running for every show.

wow, it should really deserve a full topic ! the british sound !!!! lost since a long time. the mediums invaded everything.

do you remember maybe a fender amp from Jimi, aside from the marshalls and the Guild ? they were kept stock i guess, unless ...

[daveweyer]

There was a bunch of Fender stuff, all that equipment he used until he switched over to Marshalls. You still see the stuff in the videos even after that, same with the Guild stuff.
I'm not sure if I modded the Fenders for him except for different speakers. I wouldn't be surprised though, we were a hot-rod Fender shop.
A friend sent me a link to a sale of one of Jimi's Fender speaker cabs, it had the West Coast oval sticker on the back!
Traces of our DNA still exist.

Jerry did a little more than just get high, sometimes he would get plastered at work--that's what Neal was talking about, it wasn't good for business and it wasn't good for the employees, and it upset Neal.

[Xplorer]

what were the speakers used for the change in the Fender amps ? Even with a fender amp Jimi sounded different than the others when they use a fender. of course a lot due to his way to play but i suspect something more, a little different to my ears. So since the speakers were changed it explains a lot.

cool, do you still have the link for the cab ?

[Tone seaker]

Jerry was the founder of West Coast Organ and Amp. He had been assistant national service manager at Vox before he started West Coast. He did the entire 1966 tour with the Beatles to keep their Vox equipment up and running for every show. There is a whole story behind him as well, but that can come later.
Neal didn't drink much, or ever smoke any pot, unlike the rest of us, so his judgements on Jerry come from that perspective. Jerry may have leaned on the drink a bit but he was a gracious and generous man, especially to me since I got West Coast a reputation as a top notch amp shop and brought in tons of business from important clients.
I have a tape of Jerry talking too and will be happy to share that when it is relative to a topic.
I left the part in about Jerry drinking because I thought it kind of showed the humanity of the situation. We all had issues and struggles, but always supported each other in the whole West Coast experience-- for instance, there was no competitive bullshit amongst any of the techs or employees, a rare situation in any group endeavor. Much of that was due to Jerry's generosity. I had talked Jerry into giving the employees a very minimum salary, but allowing them a percentage of the work they did; this meant their pay could be as high as they wanted if they were willing to move more equipment through their stations. It worked, and our techs did very well for themselves, plus we moved a lot of gear--that's why Fender decided to make West Coast into their service department. Some techs came from Fender to work for us.
Anyway, hope that gives some perspective........

If its just about west coast and not Hendrix it should not be in the Hendrix area