Jimi Hendrix's guitar sells for over £160k at auction

11 August 2020, 11:19 | Updated: 11 August 2020, 12:46

Jimi Hendrix performs on stage on May 24, 1967 at Grona Lund in Stockholm, Sweden — Jimi Hendrix's guitar was only estimated to fetch £38,000. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

The late rock icon's Japanese sunburst electric guitar was expected to fetch £38,000 at auction, but went for much more.

Jimi Hendrix's Japanese sunburst electric guitar has sold for more than £160,000 at auction.

The late music icon who died at the age of 27 in September 1970 used the popular instrument after being discharged from the army in 1962 and when he performed for acts including the Isley Brothers.

The classic piece went under the hammer at GWS Auctions and was only expected to fetch £38,000, but it sold for £138,000 , plus fees, meaning the total spent on the sought-after instrument by the winning bidder was £165,000.

As described on the GWS' website, Hendrix used the instrument when he "played on the Chitlin' Circuit with the likes of Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner and Jackie Wilson before moving to Harlem, New York in early 1964."

(GSN) A guitar that Jimi Hendrix played in the early Sixties — when the guitar god was an R&B sideman and fledgling rocker based in New York City — sold at auction Saturday for $216,000, nearly four times its pre-auction estimate. https://t.co/SqAinZCdpH pic.twitter.com/NVgGvL2IVK
— HJ (Hank) Ellison (@hjtherealj) August 10, 2020

Hendrix's friend Mike Quashie - who influenced the Purple Haze rocker's music - signed a letter confirming the electric sunburst belonged to the rock legend before his passing last year.

The listing stated that the guitar is "in well-loved condition" and was "keep it in its original state" without any strings on it.

The Hendrix sale comes just two months after Kurt Cobain's acoustic guitar from Nirvana's iconic 1993 MTV Unplugged performance sold for a record-breaking $6m £4.85 million at auction.

The 1959 Martin D-18E - which was often out of tune - was expected to fetch between $1million (£810,835) and $2 million (£1.62 million) at the online 'Music Icons' sale hosted by Julien's Auctions, but it ended up breaking the record for the most expensive guitar ever.

The priceless instrument - which was bought by an Australian businessman - succeeded the black Stratocaster owned by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, which sold for $3.95 million in 2019, as the most expensive guitar.