Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. is a manufacturer of musical accessories, especially
effects unit
An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in el ...
s, based in
Benicia, California
Benicia ( , ) is a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It served as the capital of California for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the ...
, United States. Founded in 1965 by Jim Dunlop Sr., the company grew from a small home operation to a large manufacturer of music gear. Dunlop has acquired several well-known effects pedal brands, including
Cry Baby,
MXR and Way Huge.
Background and history
Scottish immigrant
Jim Dunlop
Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. is a manufacturer of musical accessories, especially effects units, based in Benicia, California, United States. Founded in 1965 by Jim Dunlop Sr., the company grew from a small home operation to a large manufacturer o ...
founded the Jim Dunlop Company in 1965 as a part-time business while working as a processing and chemical engineer at Barr and Stroud in Glasgow. He was an apprentice of creator of the first hip replacement, William "Bill" Wallace. His first product was the Vibra-Tuner, a small device that attached to a guitar with a suction cup and displayed whether the guitar was in tune with the vibration of a small reed.
While visiting music stores to sell his new product, someone told him that musicians needed a good
capo, remarking that anyone who made a good capo that could handle a 12-string guitar would make a lot of money. Using his engineering background, Dunlop created the toggle capo, and then worked with a local machine shop to build the first capo
die
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
s, manufacturing what eventually became the long running "1100 series" capo.
Starting from his living room, Dunlop later moved construction to his garage, and then to a location outside the house.
On March 19, 1972, he moved into the
pick market, after reading every issue of ''
Guitar Player
''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...
'' magazine and noting musicians’ comments concerning what they liked and did not like about picks. He made his first picks from
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
, and continues to produce these.
Also in 1972, Dunlop left his job at
Dymo Industries to focus on his own company full-time. He moved his family to Benicia, California and set up shop in Benicia Industrial Park. A few years later, he outgrew that building and moved to Industrial Way.
Dunlop products now range from capos and picks to
slides,
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
,
fret
A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instrume ...
wire, strap retainers, and a variety of electronic effects, including the original
Cry Baby wah-wah pedal, the
Uni-Vibe
The Uni-Vibe, also marketed as the Jax Vibra-Chorus,Harry Shapiro, Michael Heatley, Roger Mayer''Jimi Hendrix Gear'', page 120 Voyageur Press is a footpedal-operated phaser or phase shifter for creating chorus and vibrato simulations for elec ...
phaser,
Heil Talk Box
A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...
, and the
MXR and ''Way Huge'' lines of
stompboxes
An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...
.
Dunlop Manufacturing founder Jim Dunlop Sr died on February 6, 2019, at the age of 82.
Way Huge Electronics
Jeorge Tripps launched Way Huge in 1992.
In late 1999 the company closed its doors when Tripps went to work for
Line 6. In 2008, Tripps and the company moved to Dunlop Manufacturing and resurrected the Way Huge line, including the Swollen Pickle (a fuzz), Pork Loin (an overdrive), Fat Sandwich (a distortion),
and Green Rhino (another overdrive). They have also recently reissued the much sought-after and often cloned Red Llama overdrive, notable for its volume boost and gain past 2 o'clock which results in a sound that is very distorted and has considerable mid-range presence. Way Huge has also collaborated with
Joe Bonamassa
Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...
on various drive pedals including the 'Penny Saver Royale' and the 'Overrated Special'.
Tortex
Introduced in 1981, Tortex is the company's brand name for an acetal based line of
plectra. The overall feeling of the picks is meant to mimic the feeling of
vintage tortoise shell picks (as genuine tortoise shell picks have been banned since 1973).
References
{{reflist
External links
Jim Dunlop official siteJim Dunlop InterviewNAMM Oral History Library (2009)
Electronics companies of the United States
Music equipment manufacturers
Companies based in Solano County, California
Guitar effects manufacturing companies
Benicia, California