SHORT TAKES : Hendrix’s Guitar Nets $295,000
<i> From Times wire services</i>
LONDON —
A guitar owned by rock legend Jimi Hendrix set a record Wednesday when it was sold at Sotheby’s in London for $295,000.
The Fender Stratocaster guitar, which Hendrix gave to his drummer Mitch Mitchell, was bought by an anonymous European collector and fetched three times the expected price, setting a record for guitars.
The guitar was used by Hendrix to play the rock classic “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Woodstock pop festival in 1969. Hendrix, who died of a drug overdose in 1970, was well-known for destroying guitars as a spectacular finale, smashing them to bits or setting them on fire.
Mitchell said that the insurance costs of the guitar had become prohibitive and that he will give the proceeds of the sale to his daughter.