Simviation Forums

Different takes on the "Most expensive guitars ever sold" are online, here's one of them a friend sent to me the other day:

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/10 ... ver-so-far

Notice the presence of Hendrix and Clapton on the list.

One interesting item (or more like several items) of note (pun intended):

At Hendrix' debut, Monterey Pop Festival, June 1967, he burnt his Fender Stratocaster, smashed it, and then tossed the pieces
into the audience. You can clearly see him tossing the neck and body out separately.

Those pieces are out there somewhere. From what I can see in the film footage, those pieces were in good enough condition,
slightly charred maybe, but basically intact enough, to be kept. The pieces did not look greatly charred in the footage.

Of course, proving that you've got the real thing would be difficult, but whoever has the real things knows otherwise.

In my opinion, the remains of that guitar would be the greatest prize of all.

I often wonder what happened to my 4 prized guitars I had the misfortune to sell before the vintage value skyrocketed:
1954 Gibson gold Les Paul, 1968 Gibson Black Beauty Les Paul Custom, a 1962 Gibson cherry red ES335, and a 1965 Fender Jaguar.
Each saw much use, and each had a unique playing personality.

They too are out there somewhere.

Here's a video about another Hendrix guitar, that was given to this musician's father. Both father (and son) aren't slouches, either...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2OtCllDjFc

Alan

Great link there, thanks, ViperPilot.

Do you know what, Apex.... .....

I have a collection of all sorts of wooden stringed instruments...
....including a couple of solid electric guitars...
....and to tell you the stroof...I can never figure out what makes one solid electric guitar better and more expensive than another solid electric guitar.

They are both made of solid wood (with straight necks!), and fitted with magnetic pick-ups of varying type and quality, and the same goes for the strings, but in the end they are all solid lumps of wood, which on their own, make no sound at all!

Now the same cant be said for my classical guitars, ukuleles, violin, mandolins, appalachian dulcimers,etc....
The sound that they produce depends of the quality and age of the wood, and the method and care of construction.

So what is it about a solid wood electrical guitar that makes some of them; "extra special"...?

Without my Fender? 'Strat plugged into a Marshall amp, and effects unit, it sounds totally naff!

Paul....getting all strung up..... ...!

When we guitarists are not actually playing the instrument, we spend a lot of time thinking about exactly that: Tone quality.

Long ago I owned a classical guitar built by one of the world's greatest classical guitar luthiers. He once told a friend of mine that he would build 4 at a time and all came out slightly different in end-tone quality. The least best of his works he called his "doctor guitars" because he would sell those to doctors. "They can't tell the difference anyway." Of course, even his doctor guitars were very good.

So every instrument has its own personality, even they come off a production line.

As you said, "The sound that they produce depends of the quality and age of the wood, and the method and care of construction."

You've answered your own question. That applies to solid body electrics also. It's really that simple.

Add in the electronics coefficient, which does have some impact. Single coil pickups, typical with Fender, will produce a different tone than double coil pickups, which are typical with Gibson.

Add in the the type-of-wood coefficient also. It seems that the solid wood body makes no sound, but it does resonate in some way to produce that end-tone quality, and different wood species will resonate in different ways. The wood in vintage guitars has aged over many years, that also contributes to superior tone quality.

Which is why solid body electrics are made of wood and not metal.

The finish on any guitar, etc, also has a big impact on the tone, more with chambered instruments, but some impact with solid electrics.

So, solid body electrics are really in the same class as all the other instruments you've mentioned.

There was never any doubt in my mind that my Fender Jaguar could not hold a candle to my '54 Les Paul. I had both at the same time and could easily hear the huge difference.

Fender Strats, however, are not in the same class as Fender Jaguars. In my opinion, the Fender Stratocaster, which has proved greatly successful with many well know musicians, including Hendrix and Clapton, is in a class all its own. Its 3-pickup design yields extra tone settings not available with 2-pickup guitars, and its attractive looks, very playable neck, and overall comfort when standing with it are an important selling and playing point with everyone.

I bought the Jaguar back in '65 because I wanted the "top of the line" Fender, which it was, at least price-wise, back in '65. Soon thereafter, history proved the Stratocaster to be the true top of the line Fender.

I'll close with how the Stratocaster came to have 3 pickups:

"Let's put in three pickups. Two is good, but three will kill them!" - Leo Fender, 1954

Did Jimi Hendrix ever get or build a custom Strat? I found the Wikipedia entry a bit odd.

Hendrix played a variety of guitars throughout his career, but the instrument that became most associated with him was the Fender Stratocaster. He acquired his first Stratocaster in 1966, when a girlfriend loaned him enough money to purchase a used one that had been built around 1964. He thereafter used the model prevalently during performances and recordings. In 1967, he described the instrument as "the best all-around guitar for the stuff we're doing"; he praised its "bright treble and deep bass sounds".

With few exceptions, Hendrix played right-handed guitars that were turned upside down and restrung for left-hand playing. This had an important effect on the sound of his guitar; because of the slant of the bridge pickup, his lowest string had a brighter sound while his highest string had a darker sound, which was the opposite of the Stratocaster's intended design.

Surely he could have found a way to re-mount the pickup. Unless he just liked the way it sounded.

Interesting points there, Webb. I don't believe Hendrix ever had a custom Strat. He was going from one guitar to another, usually Strats, pretty frequently, and seemed to be OK with whatever he had at the moment. If he had a Strat customized, it most likely would have been customized as a left handed Strat. To the best of my knowledge, there is no record of him ever having played a left handed Strat. And any guitar taken on the road and played in concerts could get beat up as time goes on, especially considering the way Hendrix handled them.

I don't know if left handed Strats, or any other brand, were available at that time. I suppose there were some out there.

The catch phrase there is "With few exceptions", not sure what Wikipedia means by that. I did hear somewhere that Hendrix was able to play without reversing the strings, but that might be hearsay, he certainly would not have done that very much (An aside here, Dick Dale the "King of the Surf Guitar", who preceded Hendrix and had some interesting stuff going on with his guitar work, also played a Strat, but did NOT reverse the strings.)

I would say that Hendrix was either unaware of the purpose of slanting the bridge pickup, didn't care, or just liked the way it sounded. I did read that he was very picky about his wah pedal tone, and was constantly bugging his roadies to adjust it one way or another, until they finally got to the point where they would just take it backstage, do nothing, bring it back and tell him they fixed it. He was just fine with it each time.