Guitars Used by Jimi at the North East Concerts
All the photographs from the live shows in the North East show Jimi playing a white Fender Stratocaster with a rosewood fingerboard. Jimi did not have just one guitar but always carried around several keeping some for backup during the shows. He is known to have used several guitars of this type during his 1967 shows (and also later). The guitars shown here are known to have been owned by Jimi and are the correct vintage to have been part of Jimi's collection at the time of the shows in 1967. It is possible therefore that these guitars were used during the North East concerts.
1965 white Fender Stratocaster serial number L89024
Auctioned at Cooper Owen (London) in 2004. This is
their description .....
"An extensively, concert played and studio used signature white Fender
Stratocaster, documented in many biographies showing photos of Jimi, the
guitar bears the marks of Jimi's unique style and left handed play The
instrument was given to Bob Levine by Jimi. This guitar was one of seven
guitars that Jimi had on standby at his legendary Woodstock performance.
Bob Levine, the American Tour Manager for the Experience, collected two
of the guitars, including this one and took them back to New York after
the Woodstock performance. Some of the best photographs of Jimi with
this, one of his favourite guitars, can be seen in the Genesis
Publication Classic Hendrix where the guitar with its unique wear
markings can be seen on page 72 during the Monkees Tour in 1967,
photographed by Jerry Schatzeberg and also in July 67 at the Rheingold
Festival, Central Park, New York photographed by Linda McCartney and in
September 1968 the guitar is seen whilst Jimi played an outstanding set
at the Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles California. After using this guitar at
many legendary concerts during 67 and 68 including the Woburn Festival
Jimi upgraded his small headstock Fenders to the larger models."
Web page here.
1963 white Fender Stratocaster serial number L14985
Auctioned at Heritage Auction Galleries (Dallas) in 2007.
According to lot info for the Strat, this was one of Jimi's earliest
owned Stratocasters......
"The neck shows a manufacturer's date code of 2 NOV 63, is the standard
"B" size and has a rosewood fingerboard. Fender collectors know that
even a few months before CBS took over Fender in 1965, instrument
quality was already on the way down. Maybe that's one reason that this
beautiful pre-CBS '63 Strat was so special to Jimi. Legend has it that
he would often take this guitar to play at the Cafe Wha?, the Cafe Au Go
Go and other Village clubs in 1965 and 1966. This was the time period
when Hendrix started to sing on stage -- his style reflecting not only
the blues, jazz and R&B he grew up with but also the newer sounds -- Bob
Dylan and British Invasion groups. One could speculate that Hendrix
might have played this guitar the night Animals' bass player Chas
Chandler "discovered" him and started him on his way to superstardom as
leader of a group called the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The rest, as they
say, is history."
However , the lot information also suggests that this guitar was kept at the Studio a lot of the time so Jimi may not have used it in the UK during 1967.
The photographs from the New Cellar Club in South Shields show various scuffs and paintwork damage on Jimi's guitar that could be used to identify the instrument he was playing (see pictures below). Unfortunately none of the above guitars match exactly the one in the photographs below.
The photographs below were taken two weeks later at the Thames Hotel (Ricky Tick) in Windsor (17th February 1967) and show the same guitar that was used at the New Cellar Club and the markings are more clear but with some extra scuffs and a now sporting a missing Tone knob. You can also see one of his spare guitars in the background which could one of the guitars shown at the top of this page but this cannot be confirmed.
