Guitar Jimi Hendrix torched is up for sale

London -- A guitar that Jimi Hendrix set on fire during a 1967 London concert reportedly is expected to sell for $1 million at an upcoming auction.

The BBC said the 1965 Fender Stratocaster was the first guitar Hendrix set on fire during a live show, although he did repeat the stunt at later performances.

The guitar is to go up for sale Sept. 4 at an auction conducted by The Fame Bureau and could fetch as much as $1 million, the British broadcaster said.

Hendrix's publicist and friend, Tony Garland, reportedly had taken the instrument to his family home after the London performance. The guitar was discovered there last year.

"When Hendrix set this guitar alight it marked a watershed in live performance," Ted Owen, director of The Fame Bureau, told the BBC. "He raised the bar of what could be expected and paved the way for a series of imitations and pastiche that exist to this day."
An article about the guitar appears in this month's Guitar & Bass magazine.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.