Guitars . . . . . . . . did Jimi Hendrix play a Fender Telecaster?

 Diamond Dave (he's a neighbour you know!?) and I were chatting t’other day about the guitars Jimi used with a piece on his playing his own Les Paul which didn’t exactly loom large in his collections and seems to have lasted less than a few gigs really and I looked around and couldn’t find any of him playing a Telecaster. Yet the rumour mill has it that he used one on Purple Haze in the studio! Now the article here from Guitar Player Magazine puts that one to bed, seems its true and he ‘borrowed’ it from Noel (originally a six string player, lead and rhythm guitar over bass) which it seemed even he had borrowed from a mate (after Jimi had planted his beloved white strat through the ceiling of a particularly low dive and bending a machine head!) and as to what happened to that one we seem to have lost in the mists of time. The answer to all this and more is one Roger Mayer the creator of the Octavia effects pedal which was used for the first time on that recording. This article is however really worth a read!

During the mid-‘60s, Roger Mayer was working as a scientist for the UK government specialising in acoustic analysis. But his listening skills went much further than that. Having already turned his hand to developing revolutionary guitar tones with the likes of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, in 1967 he struck up a close friendship with new kid on the block, Jimi Hendrix. 
Working closely with Hendrix in the studio to achieve some of the most groundbreaking tones in rock ‘n’ roll history Mayer soon became known as the guitarist's “secret studio weapon”.

 

Now I take it this is more than an advert for the new Octavia but hey, lets all go buy one and find out!

It is even now referred to as The Grail Guitar . . . there is even a book about it The Grail Guitar by Chris Adams

Jimi Hendrix and why he ditched his Fender Start for a Tele! - Guitar Player

Purchase the new limited edition signed Roger Mayer Purple Haze Octavia here