Hendrix's guitar sells for £280,000

12:40pm Friday 5th September 2008

The first guitar set alight on stage by rock legend Jimi Hendrix has been sold at auction for £280,000.

Hendrix torched the 1965 Fender Stratocaster at the end of his show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in March 1967.

Roadies put out the flames while Hendrix was being treated for minor burns and his press officer, Tony Garland, stored it in his parents' garage in Hove, East Sussex.

Hendrix later became famous for burning his guitars on stage but this instrument remained undiscovered until last year when it was unearthed by Garland's nephew.

After tense bidding at the Fame Bureau's It's More Than Rock And Roll auction at the Idea Generation Gallery in east London, the guitar was snapped up for just over the estimated price.

American collector Daniel Boucher is the proud new owner of the Hendrix guitar. He said: "I thought I'd have to pay a little bit more for it, actually. I am going to play it, I hope some of it rubs off on me."

Another bidder snapped up the lyrics for Sexy Sadie, a song which features on The Beatles' White Album.

The lyrics were carved into a wooden plaque by John Lennon and represent an attack on the Maharishi, the Indian guru much relied upon by the band. Lennon changed the name of the song from Maharishi to Sexy Sadie in order to save fellow Beatle George Harrison from embarrassment as he still supported the man.

The hand-carved slice of wood sold for £32,000 - well below its estimated price of £45,000.

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