Zemaitis 12 String Acoustic Played By Jimi Hendrix In The Movie “A Film About Jimi Hendrix”

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This Zemaitis (early) 12 string acoustic guitar was played by Jimi Hendrix in the famous film, “A Film About Jimi Hendrix”. Originally red but faded right out to amber. This was built by Tony Zemaitis during the 12-string Leadbelly & folk craze, which was huge in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the UK. The bracing was done as if it was a classical guitar, and the octave strings were attached to a tailpiece, whereas the regular strings were mounted in a 6-string fixed pin bridge. This prevented stress on the guitar’s top. The top of the guitar was made from four sections of spruce. The inlay in the head was a cut-down antique pearl button! Over the years this guitar was well played, and was borrowed from the owner, for the Jimi Hendrix photo and film session for “Hear My Music Talking” (1967). Having been re-strung for left handed play, Jimi was able to play it for the film segment, until the film ran out….

After a couple more decades, through age, the glue used in the construction began to fail, and the guitar was kept largely in pieces. When it came to us for repair from a new owner, it was a bag of bits, but mostly complete and relatively un-damaged. Newcastle guitar maker Kevin Parsons, who had studied a lot of Zemaitis designs and working methods, rebuilt the guitar using all of the surviving pieces, and made new bracing to hold it all together, following the original pattern. By co-incidence, Tony Zemaitis junior visited circa. 2003 and agreed to be photographed with his late father’s famous masterpiece, before it was delivered back to its new owner. (See Photo Below) It sounded as good as ever and was properly brought back to life as an excellent and historic instrument.