When most fans think of Jimi Hendrix and “Purple Haze,” they picture a white Stratocaster slung low, wah swirling, fuzz screaming.
But here’s the twist: the famous solos on that track weren’t recorded on a Strat at all.
They weren’t even recorded on Hendrix’s guitar.
They were played on a borrowed mid-’50s Telecaster, flipped upside-down at the last minute in the studio.
This is the true story.
The Ceiling Incident
February 1967. Hendrix was playing a chaotic gig in a tiny upstairs club in Hounslow, London.
The ceiling was low. Hendrix was wild.
At one point, he shoved his Strat straight through the plaster overhead.
The result? A bent top E tuner.
Not catastrophic—but just enough to haunt him the next day.
Trouble in the Studio
When Hendrix arrived at Olympic Studios to track solos for “Purple Haze” and “Fire,” Roger Mayer was waiting with his new toy: the prototype Octavia pedal.
But the Strat was uncooperative. The bent tuner meant it simply wouldn’t stay in tune.
And there was no backup. Hendrix had only that one guitar.
Enter the Telecaster
In a panic, Noel Redding was sent in a taxi to borrow a guitar.
What he brought back was not a Strat, not a custom job, not anything exotic—just a butterscotch blonde Fender Telecaster, stock, right-handed.
Hendrix, being Hendrix, simply flipped it over and played it left-handed.
That’s the guitar you hear on one of the most iconic solos in rock history.
Why It Still Sounds Like Hendrix
So why doesn’t “Purple Haze” sound like a Telecaster record?
Because Hendrix’s tone chain was doing the heavy lifting:
Fuzz Face
Prototype Octavia
Marshall stack
“With the effects Jimi was using,” Mayer later recalled, “it was impossible to tell the difference.”
But the Telecaster did leave its fingerprint.
The Bite of the Tele
The Tele bridge pickup sits further up the body than a Strat’s, and it cuts slightly sharper.
That subtle edge gave the “Purple Haze” solo its piercing, vocal-like tone—a little more bite, a little less swirl.
It wasn’t planned. But it became part of the legend.
The Wild Detail
Some reports suggest the same Tele may also have been used on “Fire” during that session.
And no—it wasn’t even strung for left-handed playing. Hendrix just flipped it and went for it.
Because he could.
The Takeaway
One of the most famous “Strat solos” in history wasn’t played on a Strat at all.
It was recorded upside down on a borrowed Telecaster…
…because the night before, Jimi Hendrix shoved his only guitar through a ceiling.
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