It would be great if that Hendrix Black Beauty Strat (his favorite at the time of his death) made it to the EMP in Seattle.

I have not heard of it being sold at auction. Of course, Uli could have sold it, as that article is very old (as mentioned in a previous post). We'd have to ask the retailers in that market (like Maverick or Gruhn) if they know who currently owns it. I cannot imagine Uli selling it, but it was a shock that Gary Moore sold the Peter Green Sunburst. Sometimes those guys need the money!

It was that Hendrix guitar that inspired me to buy my own "Blackie" 30-some years ago:

Perhaps we are dealing with a conundrum similar to Orville's infamous "serial number". Que significa '53 Strat'

Hendrix Black Beauty SN#222625 was last known to be in the hands of Monika Dannemann from there who knows? If you get a chance to see the August 2008 issue of U.K. published magazine Guitar & bass there is a great write up on Hendrix fav 10 guitars and whats known about them.

If I had a famous guitar, presumably very valuable, I'd take lots of pictures and have it inspected by a professional appraiser under a confidentiality agreement to authenticate it. Then I'd get an custom insurance policy covering anything that could happen to the guitar. Then I'd hire an auction house to sell the thing.

But here is a question for all you "Strats are for playing" nutjobs.....

Would you play that guitar?

And orville, lovely strat man. Still own it? What year?

EDIT: Interesting fact, the guitar wasnt heard of being sold. But the strap that accompanied the guitar was sold on an auction, now Gilmour owns the purple suede strap.

Well, Niki, let me first say that I respect your opinion immensly and I always enjoy your posts.

But I'll also say this. I think anyone would be nuts to routinely play that guitar. They'd be even more crazy to touch the original strings or alter that guitar in any way. Here is why....

Hendrix was well known for customizing his guitars. According to the biography Im reading right now, if he owned it, he changed it. This means his guitars reflect his personal preferences....they are his "fingerprint". To this end, he personalized every part of that guitar. Touched the parts. Filed the parts....his blood....his sweat....his tears.....his spit.

This sound a bit bizarre I know. But you must recognize that there are many many crazy people out there. Many of them will worship Hendrix as a god. These nutjobs will pay a ridiculous premium for artifacts that are personalized. The more personal the better.

So....consider those original strings for a minute.....if they are original, Jimi had his fingers all over them. Very likely he played that guitar with his teeth, as he was famous for. Well, how much would the crazies pay for guitar strings that were fondled, liked and toothed by "god"?

Guaranteed that if you remove those original strings, you will break one or several. What would that cost you at resale? $10k? $110k? $210k?

No way in hell I'd let anybody touch that guitar.

Of course, I'd probably have to fondle it a little. I'd take some video of me playing it....maybe "gyrating" with it the way Jimi did....then sell it.....then post the video on YouTube!