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Limited run acoustic made using wood reclaimed from Hendrix family home

Limited run acoustic made using wood reclaimed from Hendrix family home
The Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitars are limited to just 10 models
The Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitars are limited to just 10 models
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The Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitars are limited to just 10 models
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The Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitars are limited to just 10 models

We've seen a number of guitars made with wood reclaimed from old bridges and barns, a Detroit firehouse and Brazilian shacks. But Canada's Joi guitars has dipped into rock 'n' roll history for a limited edition acoustic made using reclaimed wood, wiring, paint and nails from the Seattle family home of Jimi Hendrix.

Though known mostly for his extraordinary electric guitar prowess, Jimi Hendrix did rock acoustics too. Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle in 1942, he went on to play with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard before breaking big with bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell as the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the mid-1960s. Tragically his career was a short one, dying at the age of 27 on September 18, 1970.

But it's the property at 2603 26th Avenue which was bought by the guitar hero's father in 1953 that's the focus of the Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitars limited edition acoustic. Wood salvaged from the bedroom and living room of the family home, together with paint chips, wiring and floorboard nails, has now been used to build 10 hand-crafted acoustic guitars. And no two instruments will be exactly the same.

"Jimi's guitar was an extension of himself … a part of who he was," said Janie Hendrix of Authentic Hendrix, which collaborated with Joi Guitars on the project. "What makes this Joi Hendrix Home Guitar so special and meaningful is that each limited edition guitar contains an actual piece of Jimi's legacy and family heritage, the place he called home. So, in a sense, it's a part of Jimi. And we are deeply moved by the entire concept."

Part of the sale price is being donated to the Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation, a non-profit overseeing the redevelopment of a park near to the original family home.

The back and sides of the guitars haven't been sourced from that Seattle home, but are fashioned from African Blackwood. The soundboard though is from the dismantled house and has paint chips scraped from the floorboards decoratively positioned around the sound hole.

The neck is made from floorboards too, and is topped by a fingerboard rocking a Jimi Hendrix signature at the 12th fret. The dot fret markers used to be nails in the floorboards and the side fret markers have been made using wiring from the house, encased in silver.

The first two guitars of the limited series are on their way to Anaheim in California for next week's NAMM trade show. You can get a feel for the Harmonic Hendrix Home Guitar in the video below.

Source: Joi Guitars

Harmonic Hendrix Home Finished Guitar

3 comments
3 comments
Grunchy
I was down at the liquidation store last weekend, they had some decent acoustic guitars for $80 Canadian. They were made out of wood and had nylon/steel strings.
highlandboy
I’m sure Hendrix would be more interested in the tone and timbre of the instrument than what it was made from. These were obviously made for fans not musicians.
Lardo
Not fans, even. They made for collectors. To encased in glass and never played.
Being limited to only 10, (and the fact the Joi guitars doesn't list prices on their web site) you can bet the price will be well above what most of us can afford.