Jimi Hendrix Guitar Auction

The Jimi Hendrix guitar auction took place at the Idea Generation Gallery on Thursday 4th September 2008, and saw one of the most famous guitarists instruments sell for £280,000. Along with other key rock and roll pieces of memorabillia, the Jimi Hendrix guitar was the star of the auction, and had many eager bidders.

Famous for being the guitar that was burnt on stage at the 1967 gig at the Finsbury Astoria, the Jimi Hendrix guitar auction made music history as although Hendrix went on to repeat his burning stunt at the Monterey Pop Festival, this is the only surviving guitar that has been preserved since its last appearance on stage forty years ago.

Up for sale amongst a collection of rock and roll artefacts that helped define the period in which they were used, the auction of the 1965 Fender Stratocaster attracted thousands of Hendrix fans keen to get a piece of the legendary guitarist's history for themselves. As the piece up for sale in the Jimi Hendrix guitar auction was been kept in the garage of Tony Garland (the press officer from the time) until 2007, the sale represented a unique opportunity to bag a piece of true rock and roll gold.

Once the instrument had been set on fire on stage at the Astoria, Jimi Hendrix was rushed off the stage and taken to hospital for burns on his hands. While he was undergoing treatment, the famously burnt guitar was collected by roadies and taken to Tony Garland's offices, before being kept by the bass player at his house. Garland then collected the guitar, and stored it in his parent's garage in Hove, and it lay there untouched until Garland's nephew uncovered it in 2007.

The instrument that went under the hammer in the Jimi Hendrix guitar auction is a one off piece from that first memorable firey performance. Still fully intact and with visible burns along the neck and the pickboard, the guitar certainly made a big impression on bidders at the sale.

Other items that were up for auction alongside the Jimi Hendrix guitar were Jim Morrison's last notebook from Paris, which was estimated to go for £80,000 to £100,000; Jonh Bonham's personal Led Zeppelin drum kit, which was estimated to go for £20,000; and the Band Aid We Are the World songsheet fromo 1985, which was estimated to go for £5,000 to £6,000.

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