For those with money to burn, the £1m Hendrix guitar

Published on Thursday 24 July 2008 21:56

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

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

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

For decades the guitar was thought lost, but it 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 burn marks.

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

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. Hendrix became famous in the UK before he broke through in the US, his home country. He died in a hotel room in London in September 1970.