Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar Formerly Owned by Jimi Hendrix and Played at Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969

Jimi Hendrix played this Olympic White Fender Stratocaster electric guitar most famously at the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in Bethel, New York on August 18, 1969.  

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who gained mainstream prominence in the late 1960s with hits such as “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Fire,” and is now celebrated as one of the most influential electric guitarists of all time. 

While Hendrix owned many Stratocasters in his lifetime; this Strat seemed to be a favorite. He purchased it new at Manny's Music in New York City, most likely in the fall of 1968, and played it at several shows between October 1968 through September 1970. The guitar has survived relatively unscathed given Hendrix’s aggressive playing style, but upon close inspection there are many indications of use, including small indentations along the body, which could be from Hendrix’s rings as he played. There is also worn finish on the headstock near where the strings attach, where Hendrix may have wedged a cigarette during performances. 

As he was left-handed and left-handed guitars were hard to find at the time, some modifications needed to be made to this right-handed guitar, including reversing the strings and the bone nut near the headstock, switching the position of the strap pin from the longer horn to the shorter horn, and then playing the guitar upside-down. 

The 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair was one of the decade’s defining cultural events, and Jimi Hendrix’s extraordinary, unprecedented rendering of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was a defining moment of the festival. With this guitar, Hendrix evoked the majesty of America while also summoning the howling undercurrents of dissonance and violence echoing the Vietnam War and the nation's deep racial struggles. 

Shortly before his death on September 18, 1970, Hendrix gave this guitar to Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008), the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.