“Hendrix said, ‘Mike, I gotta quit. I want to form my own band.’” I said, ‘Then you’ve got to sing’”: Why Jimi Hendrix might never have started his solo career if it weren’t for Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews

Jimi Hendrix plays a black Stratocaster with a maple fingerboard.

Jimi Hendrix’s solo career is pivotal to the history of the electric guitar. In a stunning revelation, Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews tells Guitar World it might not have happened without him.

The pair met when Hendrix was playing for Curtis Knight and the Squires, and Matthews was promoting gigs for the Highway Inn, Long Island.