Fender Jimi Hendrix Tribute Stratocaster. 1997

The above image is what the guitar would look like, the idea is to picture yourself and not Jimi in the picture but you’re holding his guitar…

I don’t believe I have ever wanted a guitar as bad as I wanted one of thesebad boys.

It began in early 1997 when I read a report in a Fender Frontline magazine I picked up in my local Dawsons music shop after high school one day.
The Hendrix family, hot on the release of yet more posthumous Hendrix material, had decided to team up with Fender a release a tribute guitar to the man that inspired millions of guitar players.

This guitar was set out to be part of a three guitar release, one for the hyper wealthy, one for the gigging professional and one for everyone else to attempt to be their hero.

The Tribute model, the latter of the three was the object of my lust and desire, it was based wholly on the model Jimi played at woodstock but it was a complete mirror image aesthetically. It was a maple capped neck with golden lacquer with an olympic white finished body which wasn’t too glossy like the custom shops ‘white’ the whole guitar was left handed to go with the look, the larger CBS logo on the headstock was even in reverse making it correct when viewed in the mirror!

The guitar can loosely be described as a left handed model strung right-handed with the strap button on the lower body horn and the fret markers on the ‘wrong’ side of the neck so that players didn’t go running around the wrong frets.

I finally saw one in the flesh at Dawsons music but was not allowed to touch, so I went off to another local music store to ask if I may hold one.
when I arrived, I finally got chance to inspect one up close, they were selling it for £849 so I was only going to get one chance to hold the holy grail before handing it back.

When I first held it, I caught a glance of myself in the shop window and as it was pitch black outside, the lights illuminated my so I could see what I looked like and if i didn’t feel like I was about to take the large revolving stage at Woodstock in 1969, then nobody did.
I handed the guitar back with a sigh after inspecting the whole thing down to the metallic purple Hendrix sticker on the pickguard realising that I’d probably never have £850 to spend on a guitar, therefore i’d never get one.