Hendrix fire guitar 'to fetch £1m'

5:46pm Thursday 24th July 2008

A guitar set on fire by Jimi Hendrix during a live show is to go on sale, it was revealed.

Hendrix famously covered his Fender Stratocaster in lighter fluid at the end of his March 1967 show at the Finsbury Astoria in London.

He then ignited it, securing himself a place in rock history, and at the same time forcing him to go to hospital for treatment to his burns.

The guitar was for decades thought lost but had been taken by Hendrix's press officer, Tony Garland, and stored in his parents' garage in Hove, East Sussex. It was found there last year by Garland's nephew, still showing the burn marks from that famous show.

The instrument is expected to fetch £1 million when it goes on sale in September.

Hendrix became famous in the UK before he broke through in the US, his home country.

After the release of the Are You Experienced album he toured the UK and Europe and was supporting the Walker Brothers on their farewell tour when he hit on the guitar-burning stunt. He died in his hotel room in September 1970.

The guitar is part of a lot that includes a drum kit belonging to Led Zeppelin's late drummer John Bonham and a book of poetry and sheet music used by Jim Morrison before his death in 1971, which is expected to fetch £100,000.

Also on sale is the song-sheet for USA For Africa and Band Aid's We Are The World signed by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

The auction, on September 4, is being conducted by Fame Bureau at the Idea Generation gallery in central London.

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