Del Casher, the guitarist and inventor credited with creating the wah-wah pedal that shaped decades of rock guitar, has died at 88. Casher died October 1 following a battle with cancer, according to a fundraising page for his widow Eiko.
Born Delton Kacher in Hammond, Indiana, Casher performed with artists including Gene Autry and Lawrence Welk while experimenting with new guitar technologies. In the early 1960s, while playing with the Thomas Organ company's Vox Ampliphonic Orchestra, he asked about making his guitar sound like a trumpet with the ability to suppress the instrument mid-playing. Though Casher often credited Thomas Organ engineer Brad Plunkett with the device's engineering, the wah-wah pedal was considered Casher's creation.
The pedal, first called the Cry Baby, initially failed to catch on when released in 1967. However, Frank Zappa gave one to Jimi Hendrix after Casher sat in with the Mothers of Invention in 1966. Hendrix used the pedal throughout his album Electric Ladyland, including on Voodoo Child and All Along the Watchtower. Eric Clapton employed it on Cream tracks like Tales of Brave Ulysses, and guitarists including Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, and David Gilmour soon followed. By 1971, the wah-wah pedal appeared on Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft, a number one single and Oscar-winning song.
Casher also contributed to creating the Ecco-Fonic and the Fender Electronic Echo Chamber. He worked with Elvis Presley, appearing in the 1964 film Roustabout, and later contributed film scores. "I feel gratified that I was there at the beginning," Casher told the New York Times. "I would just like guitar players to think of me once in a while. The only thing I ask is: remember me."