One of the rare professional video recordings of Jimi Hendrix with an acoustic guitar shows him playing an unplugged version of Hear My Train A’ Comin’ on a twelve-string guitar. This short footage is part of the film See My Music Talking, recorded on December 19, 1967, at Bruce Fleming’s studio in London.
The guitar featured in the video was made by luthier Antanus Casimere (Tony) Zemaitis, based in London, England. All vintage Zemaitis guitars were handcrafted by Tony himself, and many iconic guitarists of the era were seen playing them, including Eric Clapton, Donovan, Ronnie Wood, and Keith Richards. After Tony’s death in 2002, production of Zemaitis guitars was moved to Japan.
Unfortunately, there is no information on what happened to this particular guitar after Jimi’s death. However, it appears to still exist, as photos of it were once available on a website by David Brewis, though the site is now offline.
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Hey does the trapeze tail piece compensate for the bridge having a right-handed oriented saddle at all? just curious
I own a 1967 Zemaitis 6 string which I had Tony make for me (see youtube Zemaitis Trevor Knight) I do believe I played the 12 string in question, but at the time it was still strung right handed…
It’s in a display case in Seattle athe the pop culture museum, formerly the Jimmi Hendrix experience. Beautifull. As of Feb. 04 2023. Can’t imagine how valuable it is,. You tell it got played though, in it’s day.
I now think he was leaving off the 2 strings, guitar was designed for 12 and he was playing with 10.
Richard, when I look at the tuning/string posts, I think I see strings on every single on of them. D string is definitely there, I can even see it along the fretboard, and the G string is usually the thinnest on a 12-string, so that’s the reason why it could be hard to see. But if you look at the headstock, you can still see that it’s on there. Dan.
Thanks. My point is that a 12 string should have 12 strings and he used 10 strings, leaving the D and G with singles not doubles, for a total of 10 strings and not 12?
Here I attached a photo marking every single string that I can see. Does that make it clearer? All 12 string are there as far as I can tell.
Good one! Thanks! I appreciate his play of this guitar and your interest!
10, not 12 string?
That’s a 12 string.
The 12 strings are extremely visible. Or you could watch the documentary, it absolutely amazing and shows exactly what those times & people were really like. I mean where else are you gonna see Clapton strung out and sipping methadone.
In the video there is a close up, and I think this Z guitar is 10 string not 12! The D and G are singles and the rest are doubles. I’ve never seen that. It looks like that’s the design, not leaving 2 strings off. I just saw the video today, 1/16/21.
If I knew how, I’d post a screenshot.
Looks like 12 stings to me…
Here’s the thing … Sure , it’s a 12 string guitar… But Jimi may have employed only 10 … And I agree , it “looks” like all 12 are there. But what the other cat got wrong is what strings that would have been taken out … It would not have been the companion strings for the G & D … It would have been the companion strings for the low E & A for the purposes of cleaning up the sound & removing some of the muddiness that can arise on the low end of 12 strings … 10 strings are a thing for this very reason .
Now what we all see in that picture might not be what we think . That photo, presumably lifted from motion film may be capturing the vibration just like you can see the vibration of your own strings . And look at all that excess string wrapped around the keys of the position in question … It looks like Jimi modded it up on the fly to create a 10 string in order to remove the mud from the sound …
Hi there…I can say with my hand on my heart, I saw the 12 string Zemaitis guitar at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. I was visiting out there back in 2015, and saw the guitar with a funky jacket and another guitar of Jimi’s in a large display. I hope it’s still there….peace.
That’s good to know Craig – that the guitar is still around. Did you by any chance take any photos of it while you were there? Cheers, Dan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yeEuNIdKw0