£280,000 for burnt Hendrix guitar

The first guitar torched on stage by Jimi Hendrix has been sold for £280,000 a London auction of rock memorabilia.

The Fender Stratocaster, burnt at the end of a show in north London in 1967, was bought by collector Daniel Boucher from Boston, Massachusetts.

"It was something I wanted to have," he told the BBC after the sale. "I decided I would go the distance to get it."

The instrument was only recovered from a garage last year and still bears the scorch marks of Hendrix's performance.

"It's one of a kind from one of a kind," said Mr Boucher, who described Hendrix as a "unique person" who "changed the game".

Fingerprints

The Fame Bureau's It's More Than Rock and Roll memorabilia auction also included the Beatles' first management contract.

Signed in 1962 by the four members of the group and their manager Brian Epstein, the four-page document fetched £240,000.

Other items sold on Thursday include a notebook of lyrics and poetry that once belonged to Doors singer Jim Morrison, which went for £58,000.

A guitar once owned by Elvis Presley fetched £26,000, though a concealed gun permit featuring what are claimed to be his only remaining fingerprints failed to meet its reserve price.

Neither did the audio archive of legendary music producer Joe Meek, a set of almost 2,000 master tapes that had been expected to fetch up to £300,000.

"The auction has the largest array of star lots we've seen for 15 years," said Ted Owen, The Fame Bureau's managing director.

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