Jimi Hendrix’s favorite guitar was auctioned in London Tuesday, on what would have been the music icon’s 70th birthday.
The Daily Mail reports Jimi’s black Fender Stratocaster – famously played at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 – sold at auction for £205,000 pounds, but with all the fees added on the overall price paid for it was £237,000 (approx $380,000 US).
Hendrix made headlines at Monterey when he performed a wild, 9-song set that concluded with Jimi setting his guitar on fire during the finale of “Wild Thing.”
Jiimi played the black Strat for the first 8 songs in the show, but it was so good that he couldn't bring himself to burn it. Instead, he switched it for a lesser model for the final song, which he doused in lighter fluid to mark the end of his set.
The Strat was later given to his record company Anim Limited, where it fell into the hands of James ‘Tappy’ Wright, a manager at the firm.
Mr Wright, 69, from Newcastle, decided to sell it to help fund his retirement in Florida.
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