A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EFFECT PEDAL, A MU-TRON OCTAVE DIVIDER

This vintage Mu-Tron Octave Divider is a particularly sought-after effect. Celebrated as historically important amongst pedal aficionados, the Mu-Tron Octave Divider is a great sounding pedal, which also encompasses innovative design, with one switch essentially controlling a ring modulator already built into it. Musitronics was created as the result of a short-lived project which saw company founder Mike Beigel commissioned to design a synthesizer system for Guild, and the subsequent redeployment of resources once the contract was annulled. The resulting collaboration between Beigel and an engineer from Guild was the founding of their company – Musitronics, collectively known as Mu-Tron, who released this pedal in the mid-1970s. The present example was acquired by Jeff Beck in America, with an additional back-up being purchased by Steve Prior, Beck’s guitar tech from 1999-2014, from Vintage Guitar Gear. According to Prior, Larry Graham Jr., the bass player from Sly and The Family Stone would buy them anywhere he could find them not only because they were so sought-after but also because he didn’t want anyone sounding like him. Larry Graham's favourite example was nicknamed ‘Bigfoot’, because he claimed it made his bass tone sound like a heavy-footed “someone with a size 29 shoe”. The pedal was toured extensively by Jeff Beck, appearing as part of his stage set-up for gigs in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.