With some initial success selling his own handmade capos, Jim decided to take on the pick, one of the guitar player’s most essential tools. He rewrote the book on pick-making with his Nylon Pick line, giving players more options and more confidence when choosing their picks. Up to that point, players pretty much had three options when choosing a gauge: Light, Medium, or Heavy. What exactly those words even meant depended on the company making the picks.

Never a fan of limitations, Jim created six gauges instead of three, and he labeled them by thickness, from 38mm to 1mm. Each gauge was a different shade of gray so that they were easy to tell apart. This gave players twice as many gauges to choose from, along with the peace of mind about what they were getting, no guesswork required. Jim was making a promise to guitar players: when you buy a pack of Dunlop Picks, you’re getting what you need as a musician.

At this point, Jim started to think about tortoiseshell, the holy grail of all pick materials. It had been outlawed in the ’70s, and no pick-maker had come up with a suitable replacement. Jim dared to create one himself. Experimenting with more modern materials, he chose to work with Delrin and then spent more than a year coming up with a way to draw out its full potential.

As he formulated his mojo-enhancing process, he sent prototypes to professional musicians on the road who could provide real-world feedback. One version didn’t have enough grip. The next version, too much grip. Another version, not enough bite to its attack, and so on. Jim reworked his process each time, and in the end, his project became less about mimicking tortoiseshell and more about creating a guitar pick that was great in its own right, one that any player would love to use.

Jim named his new creation Tortex Picks. Two things set these picks apart from all others, and they’re both a direct result of Jim’s carefully honed treatment process. The first thing is an aggressive, crunchy attack thanks to the unique shape of its edge. The second thing is the grip-enhancing matte surface. It’s a grip in function but not in form, with just enough texture to keep the pick in your hand while leaving the surface flat and unobtrusive.

Tortex Picks also feature a fully color-coded gauge system with a bright and timeless palette that has become an industry standard. This palette has become a visual shorthand for guitar players. All you have to do is go into any music store and ask for green picks—chances are, you’ll be shown a pack of Tortex .88mm Picks.

With these qualities and the natural durability, memory, and snappy flexibility of Delrin, Tortex Picks appealed to strummers, shredders, and bass players alike. First released in 1981, they soon matched the popularity of our Nylon Picks, and the world’s top musicians adopted Tortex Picks at a pace faster than James Hetfield’s “Battery” riff from Master of Puppets. By the end of the ’90s, Tortex Picks had become our most beloved line of picks.

Today, Tortex Picks come in 11 different shapes and a ton of different gauges. There’s a Tortex Pick to complement the playing style of just about every player. It’s pretty reflective of what we do as a company, and what Jim Dunlop set out to do with guitar accessories in the first place. We want to give players the reliable options they need for a better playing experience.

Fuzz Face Distortion & the Gypsy Fuzz

With a Fuzz Face^® Distortion, Hendrix could elicit an endless variety of tones by using different pickup combinations, manipulating his guitar’s volume control, and picking at different areas of a string. This unruly stompbox not only gave him a full-on primal howl with its burly, fat-sounding fuzz tones—it afforded him remarkably detailed clean textures as well.

The Are You Experienced album remains a shining example of Hendrix’s ingenious use of the effect. The song “Manic Depression,” for example, has Hendrix veer in and out of grainy yet-almost-twangy tones during the verses only to go to full-on meltdown during the solo with howling sustain and thick-as-a-brick midrange. By backing down his guitar’s volume control, Hendrix used the exaggerated treble bite and hyper-sensitive attack the Fuzz Face Distortion offers to enhance clean tones and make them really speak. Another example of this sonic yin-yang is, among others, “Third Stone from the Sun,” as it features some amazingly jangly chordal work as well as the insane sonic equivalent of WWIII, all achieved with help from the Fuzz Face Distortion.

Over the course of ’69 & ’70, Jimi Hendrix played several famous shows  using a particular Fuzz Face Distortion, red with  white knobs, that sounded completely different from the others in his arsenal. Whereas standard Fuzz Face Distortions tend to sound smooth and girthy—to varying degrees, depending on the transistor, of course—this mysterious pedal was snarling and aggressive in character.

The song “Machine Gun” from Band of Gypsys and the rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” from Woodstock demonstrate the uniquely biting tones of this particular Fuzz Face Distortion. In both examples, Hendrix combined the fuzz effect with his Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato to imbue his notes with an ethereal chainsaw quality.

That mysterious prototype has been lost to history, but our engineers pored tirelessly over all of the different customized circuit designs Jimi used over the years. They narrowed it down to a version of the Octavio® circuit that didn’t have the octave up signal. After making a few tweaks, they nailed the elusive sound heard on the aforementioned live recordings. For this series, we have dubbed it the Gypsy^™ Fuzz.

Cry Baby Wah

Released in August of ’67, “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” is the first recorded example of Hendrix using a Cry Baby^® Wah. From then on, Hendrix used the effect often. “Up From the Skies” from Axis: Bold as Love shows Jimi’s jazziest and most subtle use of the wah wah, adding quick, throaty sweeps to the tune’s hip chord voicings.

For the most part, Hendrix’s wah technique was extremely bold. Whether it was for propulsive rhythmic accents, as on the stinky funk of “Little Miss Lover,” or as a constant force on tracks such as “Still Raining, Still Dreaming” or “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” Hendrix managed to use the wah wah in cavalier, over-the-top ways without ever wearing it out.

Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato

With the release of Band of Gypsys in 1970, Hendrix managed to elevate another effect to hallowed status—the Uni-Vibe^® Chorus/Vibrato. With its thick, smoky swirl, this effect’s complex “phasiness” throbs and undulates throughout the entire live album. Although Hendrix used the Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato on a handful of studio recordings late in his career, the track “Machine Gun” from Band of Gypsys stands as his ultimate statement with the effect. From the tune’s outset, Hendrix’s use of space enhances the spookiness of the Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato’s hazy modulation. As the tune ramps up, Hendrix ups the intensity and keeps it there, starting his solo with a single sustained note that tears right through your soul.

Hendrix’s legendary rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock stands as another iconic example of the Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato in action. As previously mentioned, he combined the swirly, chewy goodness of the Uni-Vibe Chorus/Vibrato with the snarling fuzz of his prototype Fuzz Face Distortion, sending millions into a psychedelic trance that some have yet to return from.

Octavio Fuzz

Hendrix used the Octavio^® Fuzz for some of his prettiest passages as well as for some of his gnarliest. The song “One Rainy Wish” from Axis: Bold as Love definitely falls into the former category as Hendrix uses the Octavio to add a dreamy otherworldliness that enhances the tune’s sweetness.

However, “Who Knows” and “We Gotta Live Together” from Band of Gypsys find Hendrix eliciting barks, belches, and skronks as he unleashes a veritable clinic on using the Octavio Fuzz while playing double-stop 4ths and 5ths—he even throws in some wah wah for good measure. Listen to the end riff of “We Gotta Live Together” for even more stony low note howl.

The most famous Octavio Fuzz track, however, is undoubtedly “Purple Haze.” You can hear how Hendrix uses his pickup and volume knob settings as well as his picking attack to vary between different flavors of effect on different parts of the tune.

Jimi Hendrix was a master composer, interplanetary blues man, and sonic visionary. Without his assertive and groundbreaking creativity, the art of playing the electric guitar would look very different than it does today.

Classic Rock

Cry Baby Classic Wah: This wah has a sweet midrange voice and a subtle response that’s perfect for old school rock.

Vintage Hard Rock

Jimi Hendrix^™ Signature Wah: If you want the dark, thick, and focused sound Jimi Hendrix made famous, put this wah on your board. It’s perfect for gnarly distorted leads.

Joe Bonamassa Cry Baby Wah: This wah’s Halo Inductor-driven vocal growl sounds great when you’re pushing a moderate-gain tube amp into the gritty zone.

Modern Hard Rock

Jerry Cantrell Cry Baby Wah: This wah is very expressive and throaty with just the right amount of tone and response versatility thanks to a knob on the side that allows you to lower the frequency of the toe-down position.

Cry Baby 535Q Multi-Wah: This is the Swiss Army Knife of wahs. With an adjustable Q, six different selectable frequency ranges, and an adjustable output boost, the 535Q is perfect for players who like to tweak and tailor their sound from rig to rig and song to song.

Blues and Blues Rock

Buddy Guy Cry Baby Wah: Smooth, warm, and voiced like a bell. For straight up electric blues, what more could you want?

Clyde McCoy^® Cry Baby Wah: This is our tribute to the very first wah pedal. Its super throaty and super expressive thanks to its Halo Inductor. This wah is great for blues and blues rock, but it sounds just as great when used for vintage hard rock.

Metal

Dimebag Cry Baby Wah: This is actually our most versatile wah pedal, featuring six selectable frequency ranges, adjustable Q and boost, toe -down voicing trim, and stereo outs. This thing lets you sculpt your tone into downright nastiness, especially when using high-gain amps.

John Petrucci Cry Baby Wah: If you want unprecedented control over your wah’s tonal spectrum, this is the wah you need on your pedalboard. It’s got all of the controls of the Cry Baby Rack Wah: Q, Volume, and six EQ controls. Right out of the box this wah is set to John’s own rack wah settings, but all you need to do is remove the bottom plate to re-tune the pedal to your own shredding delight.

Wild Cards

MC404 CAE Wah: This wah is great if you want to go back and forth betweeen vintage and modern sounds thanks to its switchable red and yellow Fasel Inductors. Quite handy if you play in a cover band. It’s also got a built-in boost so you can put your signal right in front of the mix.

Cry Baby 105Q Bass Wah: This one isn’t just for bass players! It has the deepest and broadest range, so if you’re a guitar player who wants a wah tone that’s rich and dark with a wide sweep, do yourself a favor and test this pedal out. It doesn’t use an inductor like most wahs. Rather, it’s voiced more like a classic envelope filter, which can get quite heavy! And with auto-return switching, you can step in and out of the effect for a seamless live experience.

Go Small

Cry Baby^® Mini Wah: If you’re really tight on space, or you’re putting a down-sized travel board together, get yourself a Cry Baby Mini Wah. It’s got three different voices—GCB95 for the Cry Baby Standard Wah sound, Vintage for a subtler sound, and Low for a dark and throaty sound—in housing that’s half the size but can still take all the beatings on the road.

Jimi Hendrix^™ Cry Baby^® Mini Wah: This pedal has the same dark, vintage tone as its big brother with a more real estate-friendly footprint.

Cry Baby Mini Bass Wah: Get the wide, responsive range and auto-return switching of the Cry Baby 105Q Bass Wah with the Cry Baby Mini housing.