Jimi Hendrix Was Traumatized When His First Electric Guitar Was Stolen

Jimi Hendrix became a legendary rock guitarist as an adult. But as a child, he pinched whatever pennies he had to save up for instruments like an acoustic guitar, and eventually, an electric guitar. So when his first electric guitar was stolen, it was a major setback for Hendrix.

Jimi Hendrix’s makeshift electric guitar

Before he owned his own real electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix had to make his own with whatever he had. As a child, Hendrix (who was known as Buster at the time) was able to electrify his acoustic guitar with the help of his brother Leon, who went on to become an accomplished guitarist himself.

Author Philip Norman described how Hendrix first played an “electric” guitar in the 2020 book Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix.

“The most exciting sounds came from electric guitars, of which the cheapest seemed astronomically expensive to Buster. But if a purpose-built model was out of reach, an acoustic one could be electrified by a metal pickup attached under the base of the fretboard with an exposed jack-lead that plugged into an amplifier,” Norman explained. “He saved enough for the pickup but, of course, had no amp: the only way to produce a similar effect was to wire it through his father’s jealously guarded record player.”

The DIY setup proved useful, albeit with some physical pain for Leon. “This worked as long as Leon held down a connection with one finger, which he loyally kept doing even though it gave him an electric shock. The unaccustomed power made the record-player’s speaker crackle and buzz.”

Leon, however, only has good memories of those days with his brother. “Not only did we have an electric guitar going,” he recalled, “but we had distortion.” 

Jimi Hendrix’s first real electric guitar was stolen

Eventually, as a teenager, Hendrix was able to get his hands on a 1957 Supro Ozark, his first-ever electric guitar. But he wouldn’t have it for long, as it was stolen while he was performing at a club with his band one night.

“He was traumatized by its loss and, almost as much, by the whoopin’ he could expect at home, despite Al’s loathing of his music,” Norman wrote. “The guitar had not, of course, been insured, but thanks to his paltry pay from his father, a short-lived newspaper delivery job for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a magnanimous whip-round by his fellow [bandmates], he was able to replace it with a white Danelectro Silvertone, sold through the Sears Roebuck mail-order catalogue, whose $49.95 price tag included a small amplifier.”

“In recognition of his important new gig, he decided to follow the custom of many blues guitarists and give his instrument a woman’s name,” Norman continued. Because B.B. King had already named his own guitar Lucille (Hendrix’s mother’s name), he named it Betty-Jean after his girlfriend at the time, Betty-Jean Morgan.

He eventually went on to set guitars on fire

When Hendrix didn’t have much money, he valued all of his instruments as priceless objects, including his first electric guitars. But as he became a widely-respected artist in his own right in the 1960s, Hendrix began treating guitars in a more disposable fashion.

In March 1967, after the release of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album Are You Experienced, Hendrix famously shocked a crowd in London when he set his guitar on fire during a performance. He repeated the stunt a few months later at the Monterey International Pop Festival, setting his Fender Stratocaster ablaze in what was an unforgettable performance (commemorated by one now-famous photo). His status as a rockstar was undeniable, and he continued to enjoy success as a musician through the late 1960s.