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I didn't know Jimi Hendrix played a Les Paul.....

Jam10Jam10 Posts: 654
edited April 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
I was looking through a Hard Rock Cafe book the other day and they had about 5 pages just on Hendrix and obviously we all know he was known for playing a Strat but I didn't know that he played a Les Paul occassionally. Is this common knowledge? Maybe I should have known!
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  • StuffnJunkStuffnJunk Posts: 896
    was just thinking about this myself.....can't find footage of him with an LP on youtube, i'd like to see a photo of it at least

    i've seen him with a flying v, and a sg i think
    "I'll tell you what: If all I had was Pearl Jam, and I didn't have another band in the world, I would not be worried. Because in there is the essence of making great music. You don't have to use it all at once, but it's there." - Neil Young
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    http://www.lespaulforum.com/pagegallery.html
  • SnakeSnake Posts: 2,605
    Yea Jimi played lots of guitars. He just had a love for the strat. He also played a Duo-Sonic back when he briefly played for the Isley Brothers.
    Pirates had democracy too.

    "Its a secret to everybody."
  • lucylespianlucylespian Posts: 2,403
    Jimi did play LP's a little, but think that he typically played right-handed guitars USD, an LP was just not gonna suit him. No cut-away on the lower bout would be terrible to play.
    I have him playing an SG on a DVD, which is very cool, he does Red House, then Sunshine of Your Love.
    He was into the Flying V later in his career, and Gibson have the re-issue of that , of course.
    Music is not a competetion.
  • ianvomsaalianvomsaal Posts: 1,224
    Late in his career Jimi Hendrix seemed to play a lot more guitars with set necks & humbuckers. Later on Jimi seemed to be
    more drawn to the set neck/humbucker combination of his Gibson V more than the bolt-neck single-coil sound of his Strat.
    I won't disagree with him there - I find that all my guitars with a set-neck and humbuckers seem to be much more versatile.
    I prefer a set-neck for resonance and sustain, and humbuckers for fullness (plus you can coil-tap them for single coil tones).
    Many big time Strat players have switched to a Les Paul (or other set-neck H/B guitar) at one time or another to fit a tune.
    Even David Gilmour (Mr. serial#0001 Stratocaster) used a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with P90's for his second solo on
    "Comfortably Numb" (and this solo is a regular candidate for "Best Guitar Solo Of All Time).

    - Ian
    ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
    <b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
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  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    Jam10 wrote:
    I was looking through a Hard Rock Cafe book the other day and they had about 5 pages just on Hendrix and obviously we all know he was known for playing a Strat but I didn't know that he played a Les Paul occassionally. Is this common knowledge? Maybe I should have known!
    Later on , he did play lots of different guitars. I love his story that his first 'instrument' was a broomstick, until his mom could afford to buy him a guitar.
    Jimi is really the only reason that sometimes i wish i was older than i am. I would have given anything to be able to see him rock live.
  • StuffnJunkStuffnJunk Posts: 896
    ianvomsaal wrote:
    Late in his career Jimi Hendrix seemed to play a lot more guitars with set necks & humbuckers. Later on Jimi seemed to be
    more drawn to the set neck/humbucker combination of his Gibson V more than the bolt-neck single-coil sound of his Strat.
    I won't disagree with him there - I find that all my guitars with a set-neck and humbuckers seem to be much more versatile.
    I prefer a set-neck for resonance and sustain, and humbuckers for fullness (plus you can coil-tap them for single coil tones).
    Many big time Strat players have switched to a Les Paul (or other set-neck H/B guitar) at one time or another to fit a tune.
    Even David Gilmour (Mr. serial#0001 Stratocaster) used a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with P90's for his second solo on
    "Comfortably Numb" (and this solo is a regular candidate for "Best Guitar Solo Of All Time).

    - Ian
    its funny because there have been other guitarists who switched from les pauls to strats the older they got (pete towhshend, stone gossard, jeff beck).....you could say strats are more subtle and not as bombastic as LPs, and the older people get, they tend to appreciate more subtle things
    "I'll tell you what: If all I had was Pearl Jam, and I didn't have another band in the world, I would not be worried. Because in there is the essence of making great music. You don't have to use it all at once, but it's there." - Neil Young
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Right, here comes the Hendrix archivist. :D

    Jimi Hendrix's main guitar, when he first arrived in England on September 24th, 1966, was a Fender Stratocaster. He would purchase many different guitars, both acoustic and electric (and even an early synthesizer) over the course of the next four years.

    In 1967 he purchased his first Gibson Flying V. It was painted by Jimi himself, with psychedelic artwork, and he used it on his 1967-8 tours (mainly on blues numbers such as Red House). I have a feeling he gave it to Mick Cox of the band Eire Apparent, a band Jimi produced and who toured with the Experience as part of Mike Jeffery's managed roster.

    Now, regarding the Les Paul. The most notable occasion when Jimi used one as part of his stage act with the Experience was at the end of May, 1968, during two dates in Zurich, Switzerland. Again, he used the Les Paul for Red House:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzc17HbCQTw


    Jimi soon settled on using a white Gibson SG for blues and even some rockier numbers, from 1968 through to the end of 1969:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpDabBFf3vk
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFZorStky7U

    Jimi owned at least three Flying V guitars, but he returned to using the Flying V for some numbers on his 1970 US and European tours:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWaLmuF3AlI
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gthKTmIMysk

    He owned lots of other guitars, of course. Another Hendrix oddity is the roadies' makeshift Strat with the Tele neck, played at Newport in June 1969:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJKnDtRf3Vs
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Pj_Gurl wrote:
    http://www.lespaulforum.com/pagegallery.html


    Ah, yes. That pic's from May '68 too, at the Fillmore East.
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Hendrix playing a Fender Jazzmaster, in 1965:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIxswG7d84
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    One more clip, and I'm done. Here's film footage of Jimi's first Flying V, in 1967. I don't know if he used it in the studio recording, but he's using it in this European TV promo (note the cut in the solo!):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbRlgEK27Jg
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    Thanks Fins, so awesome. I've seen these before but great to see again.
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