What was Jimi Hendrix’s guitar rig?
The legendary status of guitarists like Jimi Hendrix can sometimes make it easy to forget what made them so great in the first place. They just are. However, like many world-class guitar heroes, Hendrix didn’t just deliver an unparalleled alchemy of technical precision and know-how; he also exuded the type of intuition and spontaneity that others can only dream of.
When Hendrix first emerged, he ripped through the soft sway of the counterculture scene like an explosive riptide, poised for something charged with a new flavour of excitement. According to those who got to witness this movement in its early stages, like Pamela Des Barres, it was impossible to ignore how urgently he felt like a complete musical transformation, hot and heavy with the promise of something much-welcome in its purpose.
“My head, heart, body and mind had been scorched, shaken and stirred,” De Barres later wrote, “and by the end of the day, I knew I was hearing sounds that had never even been made before.” In this moment, capturing Hendrix in action wasn’t just a shiny new thing; it was a monolithic shift that reinstated everything music could express in a way that felt far removed from the pretence of counterculture. All of this was, of course, signposted by his immense skill with the guitar.
Perhaps a large aspect of this was that, in Hendrix’s world, you didn’t play the guitar; you were at one with the instrument. As John Frusciante once said, “When you hear Jimi Hendrix play, it’s a pure expression of him as a person.” Thus, Hendrix wasn’t a guitar player in the traditional sense, unlike his peers. He was an energetic microcosm that utilised the instrument as a world-building tool, putting what Frusciante described as “everything in his whole psyche” into it.
What was Jimi Hendrix’s guitar rig?
While people can, and have, discussed the unrivalled excellence of Hendrix’s musical viscera at great lengths, several defining technicalities made it all possible. For starters, many still consider Hendrix’s guitar rig to have been immensely ahead of its time, with equipment that not only influenced his style but also all of those around him in various genres and spaces.
Generally, Hendrix’s arsenal included Marshall Super Lead stacks, a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, a Vox Wah and an Octavia pedal, and a Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe. He also played numerous guitars throughout his career, including a right-handed Fender Stratocaster that he restrung for left-handed use and played upside down. His most notable was, of course, his 1968 white Fender Stratocaster, which he played at his career-defining Woodstock performance in 1969.
This was also accompanied by his Marshall stack and quintessential pedals, making for an unforgettable show that went down in history as one of his best, with song staples like ‘Fire’ and ‘Voodoo Child’. Others he played throughout his career included his Gibson Flying V, which he called ‘Love Drops’, and a white Gibson SG Custom, which he used during his performance on The Dick Cavett Show in September 1969. He also used Fender Jazzmasters, a Gibson Les Paul, a Gretsch Corvette, and others.
