Acoustic Corporation Black Widow Guitars

This is a follow-up to Tuesday's post about a certain Hollowbody Fretless bass. What I hadn't realised from the original eBay listing was that where it said "Acoustic" was that was a brand name and not a description! (I thought it was a reference to the bass being a hollowbody!). The Acoustic in question was Acoustic Control Corporation who - while they were better known for their solid state amplifier range - produced a range of guitars known as the Black Widow. These were originally designed and built by Paul Barth and his Bartell company in the USA, but production moved several times, to the Matsumoko factory in Japan, back to Mosrite in the USA and then finally to the Hohner company. So, now the eBay listing makes sense!

For the full story and lots more pictures, see the Acoustic Black Widow Fan Page. Pictured above is probably the most famous guitarist to have played an Acoustic Black Widow, supposedly in the studio only. Does anyone have any idea on which recordings Jimi Hendrix may have played this guitar?

Disclaimer: I'm not sure where this photo originally came from and cannot make out the small print in the bottom right hand corner. Apologies in advance if I am using your picture without permission.

Hendrix's burnt Strat sells for £280,000

This Fender Stratocaster which was set alight as a publicity stunt by Jimi Hendrix during a concert at London's Astoria in March 1967 has been auctioned off for £280,000 ($595,000) to a collector in the US. The successful bidder Daniel Boucher is quoted as saying "I thought I'd have to pay a little bit more for it, actually. I am going to play it, I hope some of it rubs off on me."

So, it didn't make the speculated $1million.

Check out this footage of a BBC reporter playing the guitar.

Quick Quiz: The Answer

Thank you for all your submissions to this quiz that I posed back on Monday.

Your suggestions as to the identity of the person immortalized in the carving on this cheap and nasty guitar included Marc Bolan, Mike Bloomfield, Chris Hillman, Bob Dylan, Mozart, Beethoven, Phil Lynott, Jack Bruce, and - of course - Jimi Hendrix.

It's a barely recognizable Hendrix. It looks like he's got mumps or else is chewing several toffees.

If I'd shown you the carving on the upper horn, where a left-handed guitarist can be seen (although it still looks NOTHING like Hendrix), that may have been too much of a giveaway.

I DON'T BELIEEEEEVE IT!!!

I think I spoke too soon.

When commenting, only last week, on the supposed new Hendrix album that had been discovered, I joked that "...it makes a change from yet another Jimi Hendrix guitar being found and put up for auction, doesn't it?"

And then along comes THIS.

It looks a bit charred, doesn't it? This Strat is said to be one that Hendrix set alight during a performance in 1967 at the London Astoria, although given its ordeal it appears to be in remarkably good nick.

Will it fetch the expected $1million? We shall wait and see.

Credit where credit's due: story via Strat-O-Blogster.

[...and for those who don't know, that's Victor Meldrew.]

Lost Jimi Hendrix album discovered

Digital Spy reports that a long lost and forgotten Jimi Hendrix album, recorded with Stephen Stills, has been found.

The album, which Stills allegedly "forgot about" (What?!?!?) soon after recording it 30 years ago, is being prepared for release by his bandmate Graham Nash.

Hey, it makes a change from yet another Jimi Hendrix guitar being found and put up for auction, doesn't it? Joking aside, I'm really looking forward to hearing this release.

Happy Birthday to the Flying V

Wow! It's fifty years since Gibson Guitars launched this radical design upon the world, and it's still one of the freshest and most instantly recognisable designs in the guitar universe.

I've read that it was originally designed as a triangular guitar - like a large Russian balalaika - but the shape was thought to be too unwieldy, so a section was cut out of the base of the triangle thus forming the fins of the now legendary Flying V shape.

Granted, it's not a guitar that's really suited to playing whilst seated (although this is possible if you position the lower wing between your legs and hold the guitar in a classical guitar-playing pose), but it's certainly a great-sounding guitar that's bound to get you noticed.

For many years it was a guitar that I loathed (I thought Accept had the right idea with their Restless & Wild album cover), mainly because it was such a popular choice of axe for many a dodgy metal band. It took the likes of Marc Bolan, Jimi Hendrix, and Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals to convince me that it was quite a cool guitar after all.

See also: Gibson Guitar Celebrates 50 Years of the Flying V from Modern Guitars Magazine.

(Pictured left: my own faded cherry Gibson Flying V).

Pictures of Greatest Guitarists Ever: this photo gallery from the NME features some of the usual suspects, some obscure guitarists (Who?), and some glaring omissions (see how many you can find). Bizarrely, Johnny Marr, Jimi Hendrix, and Angus Young each appear twice.

MYTHBUSTERS - Was Hendrix Ambidextrous?

Most of us are agreed that Jimi Hendrix was a phenomenal guitar player; many would argue that he was the greatest guitarist the world has ever seen. Even his detractors will grudgingly admit that he was ahead of his time and was pushing the boundaries of guitar playing. I think it would be fair to say that the man had talent.

However, there is one much-quoted talent that I'd like to take issue with. It's often been said that Hendrix was ambidextrous, but I have never seen any film footage or photographs to confirm this. Searching the web I find articles that claim that he could play the guitar right-handed, but preferred the play it left-handed. But where is the proof that he ever played right-handed? I have never seen any.

I wonder if something has been lost in translation over the years? We know that Hendrix could play guitars that had been strung for either a left-handed or a right-handed player. I recall an article in a guitar magazine, many years ago, which was looking at a Martin acoustic guitar that Hendrix had used and that had always been strung right-handed. Indeed, to have strung it left-handed would have placed tensions on the top of the guitar that the internal bracing was not designed to withstand. Also, in his autobiography, One Train Later, Police guitarist Andy Summers talks about how he once jammed in the studio with Hendrix playing bass. After a while Hendrix asked him if they could swap over and if he could play the guitar, so they swapped instruments. This would imply that they were each using the same guitars, so they must have been strung the same way (I'm assuming right-handed in this instance). Further to this, Hendrix was known to have occasionally played a Hagstrom 8-string bass on some of the 1967 sessions. (See pic). It's doubtful that this bass was converted for left-handed stringing - especially if Noel Redding also played it.

So, my guess is that the truth behind this myth is that Hendrix played guitars strung for both left and right-handed playing, and not that he actually ever played right-handed.

Unless you know differently...

(Please use the comments below to discuss...)

I'M BACK!

Apologies to everyone for the extended hiatus. I was just having a longer-than-usual lunchbreak. But now I'm back to compete with the multiplicity of Guitar Blogs that have sprung up in recent times.

So, what's new, you're asking? Well I'm not going to try to catch up with all the news I've missed out on in recent times, other than to mention in passing those fantastic Japanese 12-necked guitars which are in fact art works by Yoshihiko Satoh, the guitars made from hemp, and the news that Ovation have returned to the solid-bodied electric market with their exciting new hybrid electric/acoustic VXT guitar.

Oh, and I see there's another Jimi Hendrix Strat up for auction!

Hendrix family disputes song sale: The family of late rock musician Jimi Hendrix has threatened to take legal action over a $15m (£7.9m) sale of some of his best-known songs.

Patent bomb-jammer inspired by Jimi Hendrix! Jimi Hendrix turned feedback into an art form – sticking his guitar close to a speaker so that it picked up its own sound and generated deafening shrieks. Now a US inventor is patenting a way to defeat remote-controlled explosives using the same trick. A series of transmitters would create a self-sustaining bubble of radio frequency noise to prevent terrorists from sending a trigger signal to a hidden bomb. (More...)

Guitarist who inspired Hendrix dies at 67: Johnny Jenkins supposedly inspired Hendrix by playing his guitar behind his head and indulging in various other "acrobatics".

www.ItsOnlyRocknRoll.com: Ace Frehely's KISS era guitar up for grabs in charity auction; items from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who and others also available.

S'cuse Me While I Kiss Goodbye...: Hendrix film is doomed.

Guitar Center announces Gibson Jimi Hendrix Psychedelic Flying V guitars sell out in seven days

Lenny Kravitz To Play Jimi Hendrix?: another bio-pic is mooted. The cynic in me thinks it could all go horribly wrong. I just don't trust Hollywood to do an honest portrayal.

Marshall Debuts Limited Edition, Handwired Jimi Hendrix Signature Stack

Jimi Hendrix Experience Artist Series Effects Pedal: errrrmmm... I bought one of these last year at the London Guitar Show (in May?), so I'm not sure why it's being shown at Winter NAMM '06.

Gibson Custom Shop Announces "Inspired By" Series Guitars: Hendrix's psychedelic Flying V is the first.

Guitar Musician News :: Lessons :: Learn to Play Guitar Like Jimi Hendrix