This year marks the 50th anniversary of ‘The Summer of Love’, a milestone that is being celebrated by a dedicated sale at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, on June 17-18.
A highlight will be one of the most important guitars ever to come to auction: Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Salt and Pepper’ black Fender Stratocaster which has been dubbed the ‘guitar that changed music’.
The landmark Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 pulled in crowds of over 200,000 and featured artists such as The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and Otis Redding.
Hendrix took to the stage with this guitar for what has been described by some as one of the defining musical performances of the 20th century.
Before playing Wild Thing he swapped the Strat at the last minute and famously went on to set the replacement guitar on fire. He subsequently used this instrument on many later dates.
It comes to auction from a private UK collection with an estimate of $750,000.
By Katherine Boyle
