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Hendrix Guitar: What's it's value?
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:05 am    Post subject: Hendrix Guitar: What's it's value? Reply with quote

My husband went to school with and was friends with Jimi Hendrix. The Music Experience interviewed him regarding his memories during creation of the Experience. My husband's picture is next to Jimi's in their middle school yearbook. He and Jimi were good friends before it all started happening for Jimi and they played instruments together, living in the same Seattle neighborhood. My husband sold Jimi his guitar on payments and Jimi used that guitar for quite a spell. When my father-in-law found out that Jimi was behind on the payments, he made my husband repossess it. So he's had it ever since. My husband is now in adult care with dementia and it would be great if there was a market for the guitar so we could pay for his care. I can get a copy of the interview that the Music Experience did with my husband. They wanted him to donate the guitar to the museum, per my husband, but we still have it. Where would I go, you think, to find out its value and how would I contact interested parties? This is not a hoax. I will be out of town for a few days and will check the board for responses when I return. (My husband always said Hey Joe was written for him, but I don't know about that.) Thanks.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:06 am    Post subject: P.S. Reply with quote

We also have their original yearbook!
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: London

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow!!! ..

I would try an reputable auction house that deals in memorabilla. Although there are probably others on here that are collectors that could advise you better.

However please do post the interview I think we would all be very interested to read it.

Good luck with everything.
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: London

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not sure about Hey Joe..it was written by Tim Rose not Jimi.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:39 am    Post subject: Thank you. Reply with quote

Thanks, Georgina. I will write to the Music Experience and get a copy. It's very long. It also goes into other Seattle bands that were very popular in the 50s and 60s since my husband was quite the guy around town back then. And thanks for letting me know about the song Hey Joe. I never noticed who wrote it. I'll repost with more info.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:29 pm    Post subject: Hendrix Years and Guitar Reply with quote

The guitar is an older electic Silvertone. The yearbook is 9th grade, so 1958-1959. I will do an online search for the Silvertone to see about what year it could be.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:08 pm    Post subject: Looks kinda like this Reply with quote

The guitar kinda looks like a Danelectro, but not exactly. The nose has six places where the strings go, ivory in color and three on each side. The red round tags with the number 1-3 are still on the bridge. The guitar is a golden brown color with an ivory colored leatherish perimeter. The knobs are ivory colored with a silver on/off switch. I don't have my camera right now or I'd post the picture.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:17 pm    Post subject: Peghead Reply with quote

On a site I found an illustration of a peghead that matches. The site identified the peghead as a 1954-55 Sears lightening bolt coke bottle peghead. It is coke-bottle shaped. It is labeled as a Silvertone, not a DanElectro, on the peghead.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:14 am    Post subject: Hendrix Guitar Reply with quote

Jimi and Joe were still in junior high school, so it was most likely before the 1959 purchase. As for pictures, I don't know. That was a long time ago before everybody had a camera. I am trying to get a copy of the interview. I can also get a statement from Joe's sister regarding the guitar and I can see if she knows who else I could get a statement from.

I found my digital camera but don't know how to attach a photo to a reply. I might have to post it on a photo server first, I guess. I am kinda reluctant to do that at this point. I am not sure how to go forward with all this, but I do realize I will have to document Jimi's ownership of it first. The Music Experience interview will help and I'll work on other statements.

My husband also "sold" Jim an amp that went with the guitar, but he never got the amp back, just the guitar. I have not followed Jimi's career and so don't know a lot about his family except that Joe knew his dad back then. Joe also has two sisters and they were all quite popular in that neighborhood in those years. (Also other neighborhoods, other years.) I mention these things because I don't know if Jimi had any siblings since I've not followed his life story. I just know about Al. But the siblings should know the family if they were anywhere close in age. Now how to get ahold of them if there are any I haven't a clue. I am not too far from Seattle, so I guess I should take it upon myself to find out.

====

I am editing this post because I just talked to Joe's sister. Their family lived on 16th Street in Seattle in the Central District, a few blocks from Jimi's family. She remembers the story a little bit differently than Joe told it to me, but it's basically the same. She suggested that if the amp is still around, the amp and the guitar may have the same serial number. She also mentioned a documentary that discusses an amp that Jimi used in Seattle at the Spanish Castle to bargain his way on stage when he worked there setting up band equipment for the dances. That could be the same amp. The amp story was documented by Pat O'Day, a Seattle DJ with whom Jimi bargained. I'd have to find the documentary to discern the date. (I just read one story that says the amp he used at the Castle was a Gibson amp, but the old Silvertone amp may still be around.)

Joe's sister also mentioned a book out that described Jimi's young friends but it doesn't mention Joe by name. Joe's family moved from the neighborhood around 1959 and Joe went to Franklin High School and Jimi to nearby Garfield. Joe was also not around Seattle much when the documentarys and books were being written. He worked in construction and traveled a lot. He was in Eastern Washington, for example, in the late 70s, which I think is when Jimi died. I met Joe in SW Washington in late 1980. We moved back to Seattle in 1984 then moved again around 1991. He now lives in SW Washington again.

By the way, Joe tried to get into the funeral in Seattle, but there were too many people. Joe's parents are buried at Greenwood, where both Al and Jimi Hendrix are buried. In fact, they are not too far away from each other. Joe will be buried there too when his time comes. In the yearbook for Washington Junior High School, Joe and Jimi are in the same class with the same teacher. There are only 31 ninth graders in that class, so there is NO doubt that they were friends. Several of the neighborhood friends learned to play the guitar together at each other's houses. Joe is also in several other pictures in the yearbook, among them concert band. Some of the unidentified pictures may also contain him, Jimi, or their friends.

Joe's sister says she wasn't "allowed" to come in her brothers room when he was "jamming" with his friends so she can't say 100 percent who was in the room. She can write a statement about what she does know for sure, though, and she gave me the names of a few childhood friends that may be able to help document the facts if they are still around. Joe got the guitar for Christmas from his parents. His father got it at Sears. His sister can't recall the exact year right now, but thinks it was the mid 1950s. The only difference between what Joe said and his sister said is that Joe said he sold the guitar to Jimi and then had to get it back, but Joe's sister said she thinks Jimi borrowed it to use it and was VERY reluctant to give it back and it took quite some time and lots of convincing. When Joe finally got it back, the amp was not returned.

Joe's sister also told me about various dances they went to where Jimi would play, like the Spanish Castle and the Yessler Terrace. The kids groaned when it was Jimi's turn to play solo because once he started, he played forever and they couldn't get him to end. He was born to play, she said.

Joe also said he knew Quincy Jones when he was in Seattle, but I don't have any memories to share about that. I'll ask his sister that one too.


Last edited by HeyJoeWhereYouGoing on Wed Aug 09, 2006 6:00 am; edited 3 times in total
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:33 am    Post subject: Pix Reply with quote

Here is a pix of the front of the yearbook:


The book listed below contains interviews by some of my husband's childhood friends, notably Terry Johnson and Pernell Alexander. It was written by a woman from the same area that my husband and Jimi lived in. I haven't yet read it or looked at the photos, but Terry and Pernell are the ones I mentioned in the above post regarding trying to contact them for statements regarding the guitar. Those were the names given to me by his sister and then I found this book while searching for sites with Jimi and Washington Junior High in them.

TITLE: Jimi Hendrix, Voices From Home
AUTHOR: Mary Willix

I am hesitant to post a pix of the guitar at this point. I want to protect its value.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:01 am    Post subject: Pix of Guitar Reply with quote

OK, I relented in order to get this thing rolling. At 4K per month, my husband's care is not waiting for my reluctance. Note the red stickers still on it. They are of the numbers 1, 2, and 3. My husband's name, Joe Gray, is listed on the following Experience Music Project as people who have done interviews, but there is no link there to his interview. I have not heard back from EMP yet.

http://www.emplive.org/exhibits/index.asp?categoryID=60&ccID=103

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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: London

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi

If it helps Jimi had a younger brother Leon who is still alive and who grew up with him and lives in Seattle. You may be able to contact him, if you like, at the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation. I think that is his organisation.

The estate is actualy run by their step sister Janie-but I dont know if you have seen in the press there has been an ongoing fued between them since Al Hendrix died. She was adopted by Al and his second wife and she was around 6 I think when Jimi died.
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: London

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You said you thought Jimi died in the late 70's. The date of his death I believe is the 18th September 1970. He was 27.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:31 pm    Post subject: Hendrix Guitar Reply with quote

I knew about Leon but with his reputation, I don't know. Thanks for updating me about the date of death. My husband also went to Viet Nam and lost touch with a lot of his friends in addition to moving around. He was also married young the first time. I'm not sure where he was in 1970, but maybe Seattle. He was just not around when all the biographies and whatnot were being done. I will try to contact the Foundation. Thank you.
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HeyJoeWhereYouGoing



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 14

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:35 pm    Post subject: Yes, but .... Reply with quote

Joe's sister's remembrances of the facts, then, fit with the circumstances. She remembers that Jimi borrowed the guitar and kept it for a quite a spell. She does not remember the part about Jimi buying it on payments from Joe. So Jimi could have indeed purchased his own first guitar. Jimi's dad Al is also said to have bought him a guitar. The happenstances of Joe and Jim were most likely mid-50s. The fine line between Jimi owning it and Jimi having possession of it for quite a spell is minute.

Since it is more likely that Jimi borrowed the guitar than bought it on time, I don't feel that this passage dilutes the value of the facts as they happened or the value of the guitar. What happened happened. My husband almost got the beating of his life for letting that guitar get into Jimi's hands. His dad bought it for him for Christmas and expressively told Joe not to let Jimi take it home. I know there is going to be skeptics all the way around and I will work on quelling those doubts if it can be done.

I have ordered the book. I talked to Terry Johnson, who is also in the book you just quoted from, this morning. He knows Jimi and Joe were friends and that they both played the guitar. He is going to try to come visit Joe next time he is in the area.

Thank you.
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