Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley guitars up for auction, including a left-handed ’69 Fender Strat
Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley may no longer be with us, but their musical legacies left聽the world a better place. And now you have a chance to own one of their guitars! Julien’s will soon be auctioning, among others, Jimi’s first Lefty Stratocaster and an acoustic that Bob played one of his amazing songs on. You know they won’t be cheap, but wow, are they cool.
Jimi Hendrix Lefty Strat
This聽white left-handed Stratocaster聽belonging to Jimi Hendrix is a聽bit聽different from what he is known for, which is a right-handed guitar upside down, even though he was a聽left-handed player. So this guitar is certainly an聽unusual one
This Fender Stratocaster is from聽1969聽and in a factory聽original聽Olympic White.聽It’s equipped with original late 1960s specs聽as you would expect. As a south paw it’s pretty rare anyway, factor in聽the Hendrix connection and it becomes super desirable.聽It has聽the obligatory maple neck without a skunk stripe of the era, and a reversed headstock.
The guitar comes with a certificate of authenticity from the notary and a photo, and is expected to hit anywhere between聽$300,000 – $500,000聽at auction.聽So if you are interested, ask your bank about your credit line.聽Alternatively, you could just buy a modern day version of the model which is also available as a聽Reissue Signature* for a fraction of the price, and聽spend聽the聽money聽you save聽on something sensible… like a house!
I have a feeling it will go for a lot more than the estimate. Sure, it isn’t his classic聽Woodstock guitar, but at least it is the same colour. And considering Hendrix’s god-like status among fans of music and guitar alike, it’s likely to fetch far more than expected!
Source: Juliens Auctions
Hendrix acoustic?
There is also an聽acoustic guitar聽belonging to Jimi which was made by William C Stahl in the 1960s. It has a聽Spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a mahogany neck and an ebony fingerboard.聽The instrument comes with a聽letter of聽authenticity from聽Noel Redding, who saw Jimi with the guitar when they were in the cinema with Eric Clapton. It isn’t quite as desirable as聽the Stratocaster, but he could have written The聽Wind Cries聽Mary or聽Little聽Wing on it, or some other amazing Hendrix tune, which is still聽freakin’ cool!
Bob Marley acoustic
This next guitar is also pretty sweet. A Bob Marley owned and played聽Ovation 1612-4 Custom Balladeer聽with pickup is also up for grabs in聽the auction.
Bob had given the guitar to a friend of his car mechanic. It sports a broken headstock caused by a fight between Bob Marley and his girlfriend – she allegedly beat him up with it! 聽And if you’ve got聽80,000 – 100,000 USD聽lying around, this bit of guitar history could be yours to have.聽A current聽Ovation Balladeer* model will set you back a lot less and, as it聽won’t have been used as a聽weapon, will be shiny and new.
Auction
The guitars will be auctioned at Julien’s Auctions on December聽1st and 2nd.聽If you join in and buy one, do feel free to write us. We will invite you over for a jam and maybe a spot of tea with some biscuits (or some doughnuts with ‘jam’in’… sorry bad Bob joke). We could string that old left handed聽Stratocaster upside down and pretend to be guitar gods!
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One response to “Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley guitars up for auction, including a left-handed ’69 Fender Strat”
They are way off on the Stahl guitar. That is from the 1930鈥檚 not the 60鈥檚. Stahl was a Milwaukee music publisher who sold guitars under his name, made by various factories. That guitar was made by the Larson Brothers and is worth at least 拢10K without the somewhat tenuous Hendrix connection. Interesting that the pick wear is on the treble side, suggesting it was played mostly by a right hander.