Before Jeff "Skunk" Baxter made a name for himself with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, he was selling guitars. One of his customers was Jimi Hendrix. And as Baxter tells Rick Beato, the deal they made worked out wonderfully for Hendrix. Unfortunately, it landed Baxter in hot water with his bosses.
Baxter worked at numerous stores in his younger days and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Les Paul, Frank Zappa, and Mike Bloomfield. It was at Jimmy’s Music Shop in Manhattan that he met Hendrix in the mid 1960s. The guitarist was performing with Little Richard, who eventually fired Jimi for his offstage indulgences.
“He came into Jimmy's music store with an old, beat-up Duo-Sonic,” Baxter recalls. “I think he just got off the road with Little Richard, and he wanted to trade it.
“I had just put together a beautiful white Stratocaster,” he continues. “[It was] a right-handed Strat that I'd strung up left-handed and intonated and everything for a person that never had showed up. It was sitting there.
“I went, ‘Okay, I’ll trade you even.’ "
Baxter figured he'd done his job and kept merchandise moving out the door. But his bosses, Frank and Jim Squillaci, were understandably displeased by his inability to evaluate a fair trade.
"Frank and Jim docked me three weeks pay because they said that was not a good deal," Baxter said. "And these guys are businessmen.”
While it may have been a bad trade for Jimmy's Music Shop, considering the worth of a Stratocaster versus a Duo-Sonic, it was a great deal for Hendrix. Not only did he get a beautiful guitar — Baxter believes he handed the guitarist his first-ever Stratocaster.
If Baxter is correct, it begs the question, Did Jimi part ways with the Strat between then and his stint performing at Cafe Wha in Greenwich Village as Jimmy James? Reportedly, Hendrix was in need of a Stratocaster during that period and borrowed one from Keith Richards while the Rolling Stones were in New York City on their 1965 tour. Hendrix had befriended Linda Keith, Richards' girlfriend, who provided Jimi with the Strat. Whether or not it was ever returned is unknown.
While Baxter got the short end of his trade with Hendrix, it was the start of a friendship between the two guitarists. As Baxter previously told Guitar Player, he would often attend Hendrix's shows at Cafe Wha. .
“One night his bass player was late, so I got a chance to play a couple of tunes with him,” Baxter explained. “We became friends – not deep friends, but friends enough. We had some interesting conversations from then on. He was very kind and complimented my playing. Of course, I loved his playing. I was such a fan of Curtis Mayfield and Little Beaver [Willie Hale], and I could see how they influenced him. We had that in common.”
Randy California, who would go on to form Spirit in 1967, was also part of the band, and he and Baxter agreed the guitarist was destined for something great, even if they couldn't determine what.
“All you had to do was look at people’s faces as they listened to the music,” he remembers. “There was certainly the suggestion that this wasn’t a mere club band.”
Sitting down with GP on a separate occasion to give his top five tips for guitarists, he spoke about another thing he had in common with Hendrix when discussing his innate desire to explore what the guitar can do. Neither player was ever done experimenting.
“Somehow, I’ve always held onto the excitement of playing the guitar,” he said. “It’s always fun, and whether I’m in the studio or onstage, my brain is immediately attuned to learning what new thing I can do with it.”
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