RICK HARRISON: So what do we got here?
I think there's something in here you're
really going to like to see.
OK.
1963, American-made Fender Stratocaster.
RICK HARRISON: Oh, to me, this is the guitar.
DAVID: But there's something very, very special
about this specific guitar.
RICK HARRISON: All right.
DAVID: This guitar was actually played by Jimi Hendrix.
RICK HARRISON: That's a big wow factor right there.
DAVID: Jimi Hendrix, man.
He's one of the greatest rock and roll legends of all time.
What I'm bringing to the table today
is not only a piece of rock and roll history,
but it's very well-preserved.
RICK HARRISON: Jimi Hendrix, he was an icon.
This guy did things with the guitar that no one did before.
He played a Strat.
DAVID: Yeah.
Left-handed guitars are far and few between.
His first guitars were used.
He couldn't find a left one, so he started
playing with a right-handed guitar with the strings
upside down.
Even when he had money, he continued
playing guitars that were right-handed guitars
strung upside down.
OK.
You mind if I pick it up?
No, absolutely.
By all means.
All right.
This is the Holy Grail.
DAVID: He actually held this guitar
that you now have in your hands and made
wonderful music with it.
Is there any pictures of him playing it on stage or anything
or--
DAVID: No, because it was exclusively
played in the studio.
This was his really favorite sort of recording axe.
I'm going to set this down.
[laughter]
And where did you get this?
DAVID: It was actually owned by a guy named Skip Juried.
There was a studio called Juggy Sound Studio that Jimi
loved to cut in up in New York.
Skip was the chief engineer at Juggy Sound Studio.
And after they wrapped up all the production
on "Band of Gypsys" and all that,
they gave this guitar to Skip.
When he passed away, one of my business associates and I
acquired the guitar.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
This guitar was on "Band of Gypsys"?
DAVID: Yeah.
He played this guitar on several records.
He actually played it on "Nervous Breakdown" as well.
RICK HARRISON: OK.
DAVID: Here's just something that
came out this year in this magazine
about this specific guitar.
The guy that wrote this article, you know,
did a lot of extreme diligence.
Plus, I have, you know, letter signed by Jimi's brother.
RICK HARRISON: I have seen items where people
had letters from the family. DAVID: Right, right, OK.
RICK HARRISON: OK?
And it turned out not to be what they said it was.
DAVID: Right.
OK?
That's the one big thing that scares me.
How much do you want for the guitar?
DAVID: I think this guitar, you know,
from everyone I've talked to, I'd be willing to take
say 750,000 for it.
[music playing]
[sigh]
I have a friend who, if this thing is real, he will know.
And if not, he'll call bull-bull-[bleep]..
Bring it.
You know what I'm saying?
[sigh] All right.
I'll be right back. Give me a few minutes.
Awesome. OK, thanks, man.
[music playing]
I have nothing to hide.
Let's turn the lights on real bright.
This is an authentic Jimi Hendrix guitar.
I'm happy to challenge anybody that he wants to bring
to the table to look at it because he'll
authenticate the guitar.
JESSE AMOROSO: This is stupid cool.
I mean--
RICK HARRISON: [laughs]
--Jimi's-- one of Jimi's guitars.
Hendrix turned the guitar into an extension of his body.
Every way he moved was altering the sound of the guitar.
When you see him dip down real low, he's bending the--
The sound out of it, right.
--physically bending the guitar.
Right, right.
There's very few guys that can make their own statement
with the guitar anymore.
But guys come along like Jimi Hendrix
and just take it to a completely new place.
RICK HARRISON: I want to make sure this is 100%
before we start talking a lot of money.
JESSE AMOROSO: Yeah.
You mind if I take a look at it? - No, man.
By all means.
That's why you're here.
Awesome.
There's a couple of things you'd want to look at.
The tremolo bar.
These are usually bent and angled up.
He'd play the guitar upside down,
he flattened a lot of these out, made them straight
so they probably weren't ramming into his arm and stuff
like that.
Another thing is what they call ring wear.
If you're playing the guitar like this,
my wedding ring hits the guitar, removes a lot of the paint,
finish from there.
If you look at this guitar, the top side of the neck
has a lot of that wear.
That's from the guitar being this way,
how Jimi would have played it-- left-handed.
The article that you guys have sitting over there,
they asked a bunch of vintage dealers
to take a look at this guitar with photos and stuff
like that.
This serial number here, L14985.
This guitar has actually been documented.
No doubt this is definitely one of Jimi's guitars.
RICK HARRISON: That's really, really cool.
In my head, I think I know what it's worth.
But what do you think?
No guitar is worth anything unless everything's
working on it, in my book.
[laughs]
DAVID: Plug it in, let it rip.
Let's do this.
Let's turn it up loud.
JESSE AMOROSO: Cannot believe this.
[playing guitar]
[laughter]
How about it?
Come on.
[applause]
That's a good guitar, man.
RICK HARRISON: So what do you think it's worth?
Anywhere from 750 to, good auction, million.
RICK HARRISON: [sigh] All right.
Thanks, man. JESSE AMOROSO: All right, man.
Thank you. - Jesse, thanks, man.
Thanks again for letting me play it.
- Yeah, you're welcome, man. - Thanks a lot.
It felt crazy to hold one of Jimi Hendrix's guitars, man.
You can see why he liked it because it was a really good,
balanced, nice-feeling guitar.
RICK HARRISON: At a personal level, I absolutely love it.
But you have to find the right auction, has to be advertised.
And the least amount of time would be a year, most likely.
DAVID: Right.
[music playing]
[sigh]
Let me give you 450,000.
DAVID: 450?
Man.
RICK HARRISON: I-- my thing is, I take all the risk,
you walk away with the cash.
DAVID: For a guitar that could fetch maybe
a million dollars on any day, your own guy
just told you that.
RICK HARRISON: OK, but what we do--
Come on.
450 grand?
Yeah, I'm thinking 750, man.
RICK HARRISON: A lot of commissions and a lot of people
got to get paid to sell this thing, OK?
It's the way the world works.
DAVID: All right.
OK.
RICK HARRISON: I'll give you half a million.
This guitar is worth more than that.
It just is.
RICK HARRISON: If you want the money now, I can go 550.
DAVID: Knowing that it could potentially
fetch a million dollars at an auction,
I can't leave that much money on the table.
750, really, man.
That's the bottom dollar I can take for the guitar.
[music playing]
[sigh]
OK.
Well, have a nice day.
Tell me if it goes to auction. I might bid on it.
DAVID: OK.
Thanks, man.
Well.
[music playing]
6?
[music playing]
I can't do that, man.
But I'll call you if I change my mind.
RICK HARRISON: Call me. DAVID: OK.
All right.
DAVID: He's fired one last bullet across the boat
there with the $600,000 offer, you know?
Honestly, I was starting to kind of get a little bit more
tempted by that.
But you want to come to a fair point
in selling something of great value,
don't be desperate about it.
And that, I am not.