setting the record strait on Jimi's Strat and gear

[Tone seaker]

There have been claims that Jimi's Strats were notched around the 14th fret for the intro to Foxy lady at West Coast amps, and that the white one was notched before woodstock. I have proven this wrong in several ways. 1st a picture of the strat in Jimi's hands



Next a message from the man who examined it with it in Mitch Mitchells possion where it had been since he was given it by Hendrix and writing a article about it and a quote from yngwie308

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... rat-178118

I have met Mike Eldred and he is quite smart and would have thought to save Jimi's strings when they were taken off,also the strings can be removed without cutting.
As far as I can remember the Strat that Mike is holding is the Woodstock Strat the NAMM show display featured the replicas and the original.
Cheers
yngwie308

Yngwie, you're right, i mean, mike eldredd didn't cut the strings, but someone else did ! Neville Marten ...

"The strings were indeed rusty and the frets had gone a bit green. Interestingly, the spotted cat-fur strap (ocelot, I think – very non-PC today) was still in place. We later checked clutches of spots on the unfortunate feline's hide against photos of Jimi, and it was clearly one and the same.
Why didn't I keep the strings?
Taking the guitar to my workbench I checked the neck for straightness and it needed a slight tweak of the truss rod. That done, I cut off the strings and threw them in the bin. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing? Today they alone would probably be worth £50,000 (with Jimi's DNA all over them)!

Having cleaned the whole guitar and polished the frets the next step was to restring it and set the action. It was weird to realise that the last person to do this might well have been Hendrix himself, as there are well-known photos of him doing it backstage before a gig.

I threaded each string through the guitar's tremolo block, over the individual saddles, up over the reversed nut and onto the 'F'-stamped Kluson tuners. It didn't need a lot more doing to it, but I tweaked the saddle heights, made minor intonation and pickup adjustments and that was it.

I did plug it in to an amp, but as I am right-handed and it was strung upside-down, a quick Little Wing was out of the question so I simply played a few notes to check that the electrics worked."

from here : http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... rat-178118

Since there was still disbelief I sent him (Neville Martin) a message on facebook asking him about the notches
Here is the message i sent

"Hi can i ask are you the guy that examined Jimi Hendrix's white strat. There is a big question going around of people saying it had a notch in the frets around the14-16 fret for the intro to Foxy lady. is this true. It says in a article you polished the frets. Did you mill them possibly taking out a notch or simply polish them"

Here is his response NO NOTCHES
"Yes I did, when I worked as Fender's UK guitar repairer. I've never heard anything about a 'notch' (don't really know what you mean). I did a light set-up on the guitar - action, restring and so on - but the frets only needed cleaning as they'd tarnished after two decades in a case under Mitch Mitchell's bed. It was the 'Woodstock' Strat but other than that was fairly unremarkable as a guitar (and other than the fact that Jimi played it!)..

Cheers
Neville."

I then ask him

"Thanks so you saying the frets did not have a grove in them around the 14-16 fret.. That they were realy not worn a lot and only needed polishing the tarnish off not any kind of level or milling. Thanks"

his Response was

"No the frets were fine. No dressing. Just a polish and clean up. I don't recall any groove,"

Now that i have disproved the fret story we need to really question every thing posted about the amps and west coast.

[Tazin]

Now that i have disproved the fret story we need to really question every thing posted about the amps and west coast.

I think we've already been through this before......

[Tone seaker]

Now that i have disproved the fret story we need to really question every thing posted about the amps and west coast.

I think we've already been through this before......

i know its just the arguments went so way off base i thought i would summarize. Any one is welcome to there opinion you should just have all the facts before you decide

[frenchie]

Now that i have disproved the fret story we need to really question every thing posted about the amps and west coast.

I haven't always agreed with you on particular points in the past Tone seeker , i know that ... But there's at least one point we can agree on i think , you can ONLY believe in what you can actually see , or carefully deduce ....

- 1) I'd add , i'm quite doubtful about the fret notches too , or at least , it's quite unprovable anyway , so i think it a waste of energy to even debate on such an elusive topic .

- 2) i'm even a bit doubtful on the 45/100 transformers supposedly slided in jimi's JMPs , because even in fuzzy pics you'd see the shiny end bell cover of the input transformer sticking far higher through the rear grills . Which for the moment i don't see .

- 3) the modulator ...well , nice side project ...but it's not part of the hendrix legacy as prominently as the usual effects ( octal , fuzz , vibe ...yadda yadda ) ....So far the signal is that much changed , that the player actually playing through it , could have as well been any stray dog or cat , that would've sounded quite the same .... as such this is weak proof , and not worth the energy to debate if it's part of the true history yey or nay ..just enjoy as a nice project

But now

for what it've been able to actually measure on pics ....

- (I) There ARE 6550s in jimi's JMP at woodstock

- (II) There ARE west coast stickers on jimi's JMPS at woodstock ( if dave weber was a total bullshit artist he'd have found any white oval sticker and pass it for being the real sticker , but when he gave a pic of such a sticker he didn't know , you could see in the actual woodstock movie a scene where you could capture the pattern on the sticker by raising the contrast , and the pattern is 100% the pattern of the letters of the west coast sticker ....THAT is hard proof man )

[Tone seaker]

I agree some of Hendrix's amps went to west coast and the stickers are west coast's stickers. That is documented in other places. The rest is questionable

[stratcat]

Knew the notched fret was BS from the decades-old GP article. As far as the amp. The amps came thru West Coast and Jimi toured w/ them. The guy is total and complete BS, IMO, trying to take credit for every aspect of Jimi's gear/ tone. You fools on this forum bought it hook, line and sinker. Like lemmings, guppies.

[daveweyer]

I don't know Tone, this is probably not worth wasting energy on since you always have to have the last (misspelled) word, but here goes:
You don't even know the difference between proof and evidence; what you have offered is circumstantial evidence at best, basically hearsay, nearly useless in court. You haven't proved ONE thing except that you are ignorant of the difference.
Evidence supports an argument, that's it. You are trying to make the argument that West Coast, Neal Moser, The West Coast staff, and myself are lying about Jimi's gear, and you offer some evidence from twenty or forty years later which doesn't show anything about what we did. And with it you have proved absolutely NOTHING!
Please-- give me a break along with the readers of this forum, and maybe do a little study on the difference between proof and evidence.
And then when you can find someone who was with Jimi at the time these things were done, and actually knows what happened way back then with intimate knowledge of his gear and equipment, have him step forward.
Until then, please stop misleading everyone here with your claim that you are some sort of expert on Jimi. It just wastes time and energy.

[Tone seaker]

Knew the notched fret was BS from the decades-old GP article. As far as the amp. They came thru West Coast and Jimi toured w/ them. The guy it total and complete BS, trying to take credit for every aspect of Jimi's gear/ tone. You fools on this forum bought it hook, line and singer. Like lemmings, guppies.

thanks Stratcat and Frencie for telling it like you see it and that he is a BS artist

I don't know Tone, this is probably not worth wasting energy on since you always have to have the last (misspelled) word, but here goes:
You don't even know the difference between proof and evidence; what you have offered is circumstantial evidence at best, basically hearsay, nearly useless in court. You haven't proved ONE thing except that you are ignorant of the difference.
Evidence supports an argument, that's it. You are trying to make the argument that West Coast, Neal Moser, The West Coast staff, and myself are lying about Jimi's gear, and you offer some evidence from twenty or forty years later which doesn't show anything about what we did. And with it you have proved absolutely NOTHING!
Please-- give me a break along with the readers of this forum, and maybe do a little study on the difference between proof and evidence.
And then when you can find someone who was with Jimi at the time these things were done, and actually knows what happened way back then with intimate knowledge of his gear and equipment, have him step forward.
Until then, please stop misleading everyone here with your claim that you are some sort of expert on Jimi. It just wastes time and energy.

and Dave i have proved your a liar and claiming all these others did this and that. My period correct photos and whitness proved your a liar and bs artist just like Stratcat says. My photos and withiness would hold up in a court of law any day agains you just claiming all this. You need to realize you have been called out and caught. i guarantee were not the only ones here knowing this. Dave to quote you "please stop misleading every one" that means you Dave so Dave please take you BS and leave

[stratcat]

Also, that sound clip of that Modulation Contraption was NOT Jimi. Give me a break.

Jimi's amps were modded/ made more road worthy in '68 by Tony Frank at Merson, who also worked on Jim McCarty's Marshalls.

The problem is, 45 years later you see certain individuals taking credit for Jimi's tone. Guy's who may have had minimal interaction w/ his gear, taking credit for EVERY aspect. Spare me! What's sadder is the guys on this forum buying into it.


Just like he stated the Guild cabs were for Re-Amping. LOL They were used as monitors. Unbelievable BS. When I spoke up on this earlier, I was attacked and banned.

No respect for this forum, whoever runs it, etc. MANY times I was gonna pull the trigger on a Metro amp but why should I after being treated like shit on this forum? Glad there are others pointing out the bullshit

[Tazin]

Personally, I don't think Dave is deliberately trying to mislead people. He's trying to recall information from 47 years ago which is not that easy. Couple that fact with some partying during his "heyday" and I could understand why things may not be 100% accurate.

Regarding the "notch" thing. Personally, I don't think there was since it would be a 'hindrance' rather than an 'asset' for Hendrix while playing. The good thing is that this little piece of trivia has no relevance to acquiring Jimi's tone. The bad thing is...If your objective is to prove or disprove information brought forth to be a historical absolute it's going to be challenging.

Regarding the JMP's. As I have mentioned in the past, the amps that I have seen did not have any extensive modifications. I'm sure at some point the amps (some or all) probably did have 6550's installed along with probably every other valve type too (EL34's, KT77's, 6CA7's). Now, whether or not you need to have 6550's installed to cop the BOG tone; only your ears can be the judge of that. BTW, these amps have been somewhat extensively used since Hendrix's passing and as a result have had maintenance throughout the years.

Putting the Hendrix association aside, I think Dave's knowledge about electronics makes him valuable member to this community. Therefore, I think wishing him to "leave" would have a negative impact to this community rather than a positive.

[shakti]

I wish to stay out of this stupid pissing contest, but will only say +1 to everything Tazin said.

[Tone seaker]

Personally
Putting the Hendrix association aside, I think Dave's knowledge about electronics makes him valuable member to this community. Therefore, I think wishing him to "leave" would have a negative impact to this community rather than a positive.

Maybe leave the Hendrix area and go to the Repairs, Restoration and mods section. I only said that because of his repeated slamming me saying basically the same thing for calling him out

[frenchie]

Just like he stated the Guild cabs were for Re-Amping. LOL They were used as monitors. Unbelievable BS. When I spoke up on this earlier, I was attacked and banned.

Just to set the record straight , it wasn't dave who said that ....I said that ( about the guild "CABS" on jimi's side beeing fed most probably by a powerful P.A in the specific case of the fillmore east gig ) , and it's far from laughable , but we won't expand on that , cuz that'd excite some annoying " lemmings " i bet , and i'm not in the mood to face singlehandedly an invasion of such magnitude ...

What dave said is that the guild "AMP" was used for reamping at various venues ... Which is completely different ...

Pissing contests are a delicate matter , you gotta aim rather precisely .... or the public gets pissed on , or off , whaterver you choose

and last ...i NEVER said dave was a bullshit artist ... i'm sceptic at heart and believe only what i can see , is all !

[stratcat]

Just like he stated the Guild cabs were for Re-Amping. LOL They were used as monitors. Unbelievable BS. When I spoke up on this earlier, I was attacked and banned.

Just to set the record straight , it wasn't dave who said that ....I said that ( about the guild "CABS" on jimi's side beeing fed most probably by a powerful P.A in the specific case of the fillmore east gig ) , and it's far from laughable , but we won't expand on that , cuz that'd excite some annoying " lemmings " i bet , and i'm not in the mood to face singlehandedly an invasion of such magnitude ...

What dave said is that the guild "AMP" was used for reamping at various venues ... Which is completely different ...

Pissing contests are a delicate matter , you gotta aim rather precisely .... or the public gets gissed on , or off , whaterver you choose

and last ...i NEVER said dave was a bullshit artist ... i'm sceptic at heart and believe only what i can see , is all !

Whoever said it was flat out WRONG. As to some POS Guild combo, that wasn't used for Re-Amping either. Moron ASSHOLE

[daveweyer]

Well, Tazin, thank you for your kind and reasoned words, and all the rest of you who were willing to share your doubts in an intelligent and thoughtful way. This forum was, after all, supposed to be a place for discussions about Jimi's gear.

It appears we now have the internet trolls out in force, throwing shit all over everything in order to bring the discussion to a stop, maybe even forcing me to go somewhere else less messy, and aggravating.
What can you say to losers who have nothing better to do but clog this forum up with vociferous accusations of impropriety, all while enjoying the fact that all the attention here is now on them. They won't listen to anything more reasoned minds have to say, so there is not much point in the discussion. They are the self-proclaimed experts on Jimi, even though they never knew him or touched any of his original equipment, can't spell or form sentences, or carry on an intelligent conversation.
Now that there are two of them they have even more courage and are on the attack like a couple of rabid dogs.

It would not surprise me to have carlygtr back here in a new persona, throwing up all over the forum until George has to shut it down again.

I'll have Xplorer post a phone interview with world-renowned luthier Neal Moser on a different thread. If either of the two fools who are pretending to be Jimi experts ever had accomplished a thousandth of what Neal Moser has, they might even have a life, but not of course the gravitas to challenge Neal or his work.

Do my words inflame the rabid dogs? Probably so, and for that I should be chastised, but it's getting a little irritating here reading the vitriol and ducking the invectives. Forgive my lack of patience.