Jim Dunlop, founder of Dunlop Manufacturing and enormously influential innovator of picks, capos, and other guitar accessories, has passed away, reads a eulogy on the Dunlop website. He was 82 years old.

In 1965, Jim founded Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. Finding local success with handmade capos, he made the life-changing decision to become a maker of guitar picks when his obsession for precision drove him to design guitar picks gauged by their true thickness. Jim made a personal commitment to expanding the options available to guitar players of the time, introducing strict quality control and a wider variety of gauges than had ever been available before. He blended the advice of musicians with his precise engineering intuition as he experimented with numerous shapes and materials so that players could find the right pick and get the most out of it. One of the greatest triumphs to come from that experimentation was Tortex Picks, which is the #1 pick in the world today.

In the 1980s, Jim boldly entered the effects market, assembling a crack team of engineers and securing top-quality parts. He acquired beloved brands such as Cry Baby and MXR and expanded their offerings while remaining true to their legacies and introducing a level of quality and consistency where it had never existed before. Taking on electronics blew the door wide open for Jim’s company, leading to collaborations with the family of Jimi Hendrix and numerous artists such as Eddie Van Halen, Dimebag Darrell, and Slash to make the sounds of the world’s top players available to everyone around the world. Today, Dunlop Manufacturing is one of the world’s largest pedal companies.

Learn more at this location.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to MusiCares in Jim’s name.

Remembering Jim Dunlop, 1936–2019, R.I.P.