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And Finally Artist News
Jimi Hendrix guitar sells for $180,000 at auction
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 10 August 2020
A guitar played by Jimi Hendrix previously valued at $50,000 sold for $180,000 this weekend confirming that – whatever kind of economic meltdown COVID-19 may be causing – there are still plenty of rich people out there who will buy overpriced nonsense on a whim.
Not that this isn’t a genuinely historic instrument. According to GWS Auctions, Hendrix used the early 1960s Japanese sunburst electric guitar “after he returned home from the US Army in 1962”.
He then performed with it regularly while living in Clarksville, Tennessee “where he played on the Chitlin Circuit with the likes of Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner and Jackie Wilson”, and also when he subsequently moved to New York in 1964, “playing venues such as Cafe Wha and the Cheetah Club”.
However, when Hendrix moved to London the guitar remained in New York “at the apartment of one of his best friends, Mike Quashie”, ultimately falling into the hands of the seller who put it up for auction. And who is now $180,000 richer. So, some genuine musical history. But still silly money.
