Perfect Mirror of Jimi Hendrix's Monterey Guitar !!

[2zee]

This guitar was made for "Jimisen", the most famous Jimi Hendrix tribute artist in Japan that has been crowned "Tokyo Jimi" by Roger Mayer.

"Jimisen" was the first Japanese artist ever to participate in the Monterey Pop Festival in 2007.

This is a mirrored version of the Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix used at the Monterey Pop Festival(1967). Till present I have not seen any creation that has perfected the artwork Jimi played.

There have been ones with similar shape and design, but never to the extent that it could qualify as a perfect replication. So, simple enough, I decided to take on this challenge.

Not going through all the details that I went through as I'd probably end up writing a novel. To say the least, more than every care possible has been dedicated to this guitar. Not only the visuals. Not only the tone. Not only the pick up orientation. Every aspect composing this guitar has been fine tuned to to the extent it is a perfect replication of what seen in 1967.

I proudly present to you the Perfect Mirror of Jimi Hendrix's Monterey Guitar.

Jimisen (Musician)
https://twitter.com/Jimisen1983
https://www.instagram.com/jimisen/
https://www.facebook.com/jimisen

JIMISEN Official (Jimi Hendrix tribute band)
https://www.facebook.com/jimisenjapan/

KMKZ Official (Jimisen original band)
https://www.facebook.com/kmkzjapan/


Blog post(in Japanese) of the build available on "Jimisen Project part 1 to 15"

Part 1 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-328.html
Part 2 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-329.html
Part 3 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-330.html
Part 4 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-331.html
Part 5 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-332.html
Part 6 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-335.html
Part 7 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-345.html
Part 8 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-346.html
Part 9 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-347.html
Part 10 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-348.html
Part 11 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-351.html
Part 12 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-352.html
Part 13 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-353.html
Part 14 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-354.html
Part 15 : http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-355.html

 

[2zee]

"Perfect Mirror of Jimi Hendrix's Monterey Guitar" in action with JIMISEN.
The most famous Jimi Hendrix tribute band based in Tokyo.

For more photos

JIMISEN Official (Jimi Hendrix tribute band)
https://www.facebook.com/jimisenjapan/

 

[BigSteve22]

Welcome. Can't see any pictures.......  ???

 

[sushimaru]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

 

[exaN]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

I don't see the photos on PC .

 

[sushimaru]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

I don't see the photos on PC .

Interesting as this is what I see.

 

[BigSteve22]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

Not on this PC either.....

 

[sushimaru]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

Not on this PC either.....

Noted with thanks. I'll work with the dude to fix this.
We'll probably change the links from the current ones to flickr or something to see if that fixes the problem.
Meanwhile, if you go to my previous post I've attached a screen shot of how I see this page.

 

[2zee]

Seems like the photos are only visible via PC and not on mobile.
Have informed the dude about this, he should get it fixed in a day or two.

Not on this PC either.....

Noted with thanks. I'll work with the dude to fix this.
We'll probably change the links from the current ones to flickr or something to see if that fixes the problem.
Meanwhile, if you go to my previous post I've attached a screen shot of how I see this page.

Hey guys sorry about the photo links not working. I've fixed them so that they are visible from both PC and mobile. Hopefully this works. Lemme know if you still have issues viewing. thanks

 

[stratamania]

Looks good. Are you building these Hendrix inspired Strats from scratch or using Warmoth parts?

Tell us some more about the specs etc.

 

[2zee]

Looks good. Are you building these Hendrix inspired Strats from scratch or using Warmoth parts?

Tell us some more about the specs etc.

This guitar is based on a lefty Fender Japan, with which the body was replaced with a Warmoth build.

Here are some of the specs

Body:Alder (Warmoth)
Neck:Maple (Currently Fender Japan, Planned to be replaced by Warmoth)
Fretboard:Rosewood
Pickup:Woodstock69set (Lindy Fralin)
Bridge:Vintage S Model Bridge Assembly for lefty (Callaham)
Tuners:Vintage Kluson type (Gotoh)

Color:Fiesta Red
Paint:Hand painted
(All paints were specially mixed in reference to the remaining fragment of the original guitar)

I was hoping to reference my blog for this build as the photos give an impression of what I have done. However, for some reason it seems like all the photos aren't displaying for overseas access. Currently I'm looking into alternative ways of how I can share the info. Most likely I'll translate the blog entries and post here, although it may take a while.

 

[stratamania]

I just took a quick look at your blog.

I right clicked one of the images and copied the link address. Paste into the post, highlight and use the little insert image to add the tags. (Insert image 2nd to right of YouTube icon)

It should look like this.

[IMG]http://blog-imgs-112-origin.fc2.com/a/v/i/avici/20170712110415966.jpg[/IMG]

EDIT: Was this photo deleted from your blog as it doesn't show up there either anymore.

 

[BigSteve22]

Now I get it, by "Perfect mirror", you mean a mirror image. Very interesting, a left handed Strat flipped to play righty. I like it, nicely done!  :icon_thumright:

 

[2zee]

I just took a quick look at your blog.

I right clicked one of the images and copied the link address. Paste into the post, highlight and use the little insert image to add the tags. (Insert image 2nd to right of YouTube icon)

It should look like this.

[IMG]http://blog-imgs-112-origin.fc2.com/a/v/i/avici/20170712110415966.jpg[/IMG]

Hey, thanks for looking into this.
Actually, that was how the photos were posted initially.
However, we found out that ppl connecting from the US weren't able to see the photos.
Not sure what the prob is, have sent an inquiry to the management company but figured adding the photos on flickr would be a much quicker fix.

 

[stratamania]

I am in Western Europe but was able to see the photos. It might be that in the US the images have not yet been cached in some providers network, so may have just took longer to load.

 

[rgand]

The photos now show for me. It looks great. It certainly is a fine mirror.

 

[2zee]

Now I get it, by "Perfect mirror", you mean a mirror image. Very interesting, a left handed Strat flipped to play righty. I like it, nicely done!  :icon_thumright:

Thanks for the compliment!
I spent every effort to make it so that it matches Jimi's strat when flipped horizontally; thus named it the perfect mirror

 

[2zee]

I am in Western Europe but was able to see the photos. It might be that in the US the images have not yet been cached in some providers network, so may have just took longer to load.

I guess that's possible.
In any case, I'm working on translating the blog and posting here soon.
Hopefully the build story would clarify any questions and  be fun read.

 

[2zee]

The photos now show for me. It looks great. It certainly is a fine mirror.

Thanks!! Judging from your response, you must be Jimi freak just like Jimisen

 

[2zee]

[Jimisen Project 01]
This project has finally started to progress.

Every year at the Jimi memorial event, Jimisen was using a guitar painted by his daughter for the guitar sacrifice.

It was over an year ago where I jokingly offered to draw one for him.

The above is Jimi's guitar sacrifice at Monterey Pop Festival. This is done every year at the live house "Ikebukuro Adm" for Jimi's memorial event.

While planning for this, Jimisen proposed that he would want to keep on using this rather than using this for the sacrifice.

From this thankful suggestion, the direction of this project had become a proper build rather than just paining a ready-made guitar.

We spent half an year for planning details of how we'd build this. It was at the end of 2016 that we were ready to start moving.

After spending a month of laziness, I started checking the guitar I was handed over for repurposing as the painted guitar.

Its a Fender Japan ST-62LH

Taking it apart as a start

Most likely a FGN(Fujigen) build

The circuit is nothing more than its price value

After scraping the back surface I realized the body was basswood.

basswood...basswood...basswood!?

Wasn't Jimi's strat an alder strat? As we're aiming for a replication of Jimi's Monterey strat, using basswood is out of the question. I'm not saying that basswood isn't good. But building a guitar for Jimisen the most famous Jimi Hendrix tribute artist in Japan that has been crowned "Tokyo Jimi" by Roger Mayer, I can't let this one go by.

The main concept of this build is all about the looks. Knowing Jimisen for over a quarter century I've troubled him countless times, still he looks out for us and takes care of us. Truly a person that leads us as a living example who I respect deeply from my heart. Thus, I cannot just go on handing this guitar back with a basswood body.

I know that with the skills that Jimisen possesses, he can produce Jimi's sound with any standard build guitar. But that's not where I'm striving for. I want to build one that would take him by surprise and make him want to use not only for Wild Thing(guitar sacrifice) but for any situation. I understand that this is pretty much impossible to accomplish. This is due to the quality that a professional player would be in a different league from what an amateur builder like me would be building.

Nonetheless, as this is an opportunity that I've obtained from Jimisen, I'll be working on this till the point that I'm satisfied myself in the build.

So, as a start I'll be swapping out the body. This is gonna become a partscaster build with a 62 start as the foundation.
The flexibility of a strat is something that makes it more difficult on how to proceed...

Sigh... didn't think I'd regret not studying strats in my earlier days(I've been a Gibson person all my life).

<Original blog from Jan 30th 2017>
http://avici.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-328.html