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Electric Dave on Hendrix fuzz

Electric Dave posted a blog about his Hendrix Fuzz on his myspace page,here's where he had to say about his Hendrix Fuzz Face and me:

I think you'll find this interesting. I had my original Jimi Hendrix owned Dallas Arbiter Fuzzface repaired after many years of it not working. It never really functioned properly though I've had it for so long. I was lucky to have Steve Stevens from Billy Idol's band refer me to Kevin, who was a good friend of Jimi's father. He was THE man to do work on this...when I got it back and plugged it into my Marshall I couldn't believe it. It totally blew my mind. I have many pedals but never heard anything that sounded like this. The difference was immediate. I can't even describe it in words. It is best described in colors... oranges, reds and purples. The effect on me mentally was also immediate. I felt like I was channeled into this pedal or something. I'm not a religious person by nature but I definitely felt something going and it's really brightened my outlook on a lot of things that were bothering me of late. I guess I'm now "Experienced"..... Thanks Jimi.

Hendrix Fuzz Face pedal!

Here's is a story about one of Jimi Hendrix's Fuzz Faces that I repaired for Electric Dave, a friend of Steve Stevens (Billy Idol band) Steve recommended me to Electric Dave to fix his rare Hendrix Fuzz Face pedal when Electric Dave contacted Steve asking him if he knew anyone who could fix his rare Hendrix Fuzz Face pedal, Here's an email I recieved from Steve Stevens asking if I could repair Electric Dave's rare Hendrix Fuzz Face:

I hope all is good. So check it out.....a buddy of mine in New York is a collector of r&r memorabilia and has one of Jimi Hendrix's Fuzz Face pedals. I am pasting the story on the pedal below. He said it doesn't function and asked me if i knew some one who could repair it. I said "i know the one guy who would be perfect". That would be you. I figured you might find something interesting if Hendrix had the pedal altered etc. If you are up for it, please contact Dave.

Hi Steve. Pictured above is one of Jimi's Dallas Arbiter Fuzzfaces. Yes, it's sitting in my living room. I don't recall if i mentioned this to you before.. Both Jimi and Noel used it, Noel gave it to Paul Samson (who used it on one of his releases...Paul was a dear friend and passed away young of cancer) and it found it;s way into my living room. I used to play it but it's currently not working. The wiring inside seems very simple and I think it needs a simple repair (but I wouldn't know who to bring it to). If you do please let me know. You're welcome to try it out, assuming it can be fixed. As you can imagine, it's very valuable.

Anyways Electric Dave sent me his Hendrix Fuzz Face to fix, It was an real honor to have one of Jimi's Fuzz Faces to fix much less to hold it!, I've repaired many original Fuzz Faces from the 60's from originals that had NKT 275 germanium transistors and many later 60's Fuzz Faces which had silcon transistors like the metal can BC 108C's and silicon BC 183L's and Fuzz Faces from the late 60's thru the early 70's used 3 different body castings(all round but slightly different on the inside of the castings), I've even seen a few early 70's Fuzz Faces that had the same casting as originals that featured NKT 275 transistors too!, Now in repairing many Fuzz Faces I've seen many different quality of brands of components like resistors and capacitors which varied the tone quality especially ones with NKT 275 germanium trasistors which would sound great one day and so so the next, one would have to go thru a batch of them to find one that had the sound and that can be said of mainly the original models that featured germanium transistors ,however I've also heard many silicon style Fuzz Faces that sounded different from one to the next in tone quality.The Hendrix Fuzz Face here look's to have been made in ealy 1969-there's is one Fuzz Face that was on ebay that was simular to this one and it also had the thin black lettering(Fuzz Face name). Original Fuzz Faces had decals of thicker lettering and later Fuzz Faces like those of the early 70's which also had the thicker lettering than like on the Jimi one here,Just about every gray Fuzz Face from the late 60's to the early 70's has the thick white lettering as to opposed to the thinner black lettering like on this Hendrix Fuzz Face that was silk screened on. The circuitboard on this Hendrix Fuzz Face was a lighter color than the dark brown boards of most of the original 60's and early 70's Fuzz Faces,the board,parts and wiring layout on this Hendrix Fuzz is the same as the as found in originals with the wiring coming out of the side end of the board unlike the boards and parts and wiring layout of later Fuzz Face remakes of the 90's. This Hendrix Fuzz Face had different types of resistors and few part changes,the transistor were unique in that they were odd looking silicon types but due to the age of this thing (39 years old) it was hard to read the part numbers,now they weren't BC108C's or the silicon BC109's and didn't look like either of them,fortunitely they were working perfect and I was able to measure them to get the correct specs,the Switch was bad so I replaced it and the pots worked great! It appears that this Hendrix Fuzz Face was a transitional model with unique parts and transistors and it sounded really very good with nice sustain. It looks just like the gray Fuzz Faces with the thin black lettering that you can see Jimi using at Maui and at the Isle of Wright. Sound wise,I was very impressed with this baby! It has the same smooth distortion/sustain charateristics of both the Gypsy fuzz and The Fuzz. Many original Fuzz Faces that had germaium transistors sounded great when you could find one that sounded right and had that thick sound,then there were some that sound some what spuddery with not a lot of gain ,also most later silicon transistor style Fuzz Faces sounded much harsher with more gain than the original germanium versions with some sounding brighter with more high end! What I liked about this Jimi Fuzz Face was that it sounded rich and with just the right amount of gain and definitely not tinny or bright sounding like most silicon Fuzz Faces,I was telling Electric Dave how it was one of the best sounding Fuzz Faces I've ever heard and it was hard to send it back(grins),I am honored that Steve Stevens suggested me to fix it for his friend Electric Dave. Fortunely Electric Dave was kind enough to allow me to at least take a few pictures of it while I was fixing it for him to put on my website. Here's a few shots I took,one of it and one of it with my original Gypsy Fuzz. I plan to be coming out my my version of this awesome unique sounding Hendrix Fuzz Face in the near future! Stay tuned!

NOTE:*.Fuzz Face(TM) is a registered trademake of Jim Dunlop Manufacturing. KR Musical Products is not appiliated with nor endorsed by Experience Hendrix L.L.C or Jim Dunlop Manufacturing.