A rare piece of JIMI HENDRIX memorabilia goes under the hammer at the specialist auction house Cameo Auctioneers in Midgham, Berkshire, UK.

This guitar was played by Jimi Hendrix in the early stages of his career could be the piece de resistance for a serious Hendrix collector

During a nine-month stint from March to November 1964, with THE ISLEY BROTHERS, when he was known as Jimmy James, Hendrix got his first Fender guitar - a blond (tan) '59/ '60 Duo-Sonic.

The one Jimi used was manufactured as a short scale guitar 22 ½ inches long, selling in those days for $160. The common blond (tan) finish was discontinued in 1964. He found the Duo-Sonic affordable and that it worked great for the funky rhythms he played while working as a backing musician with the Isley Brothers backing band.

Jimi had at one stage fitted his Duo-Sonic with an EpiPhone (Maestro) Vibrato unit but had later taken it off. The rumour is that this guitar went missing whilst on tour in the USA but contrary to this Jimi just tired of using it and it was put away for a while and resurfaced years later in Chas Chandler's London studio.

Chas Chandler discovered and managed Jim, and later sold the guitar in 1982 for £400 to Rod Weinberg, who in 1983 reunited THE ANIMALS for a world tour.

In 1956, Fender introduced the Music Master and Duo-Sonic guitars as affordable 3/4-size short-scale student models. The Duo Sonic was always a student level guitar. The Duo-Sonic is considered rare and has displayed growing collector value.

The guitar has most recently been on loan by Cameo to The Jimi Hendrix Exhibition held at the Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, London W1 for public exhibit from October 15th to 25th.

This is a very rare and exciting item, and is expected to attract a significant amount of interest from collectors.

Estimate £150,000 - £180,000

Other Hendrix original items include:

Lot 430 - Jimi Hendrix, an original hand coloured drawing / painting circa 1967. This drawing comes with full provenance from Tappy Wright, Jimi's roadie

Estimate £10,000 - £12,000

The music memorabilia sale includes hundreds of items of interest and is followed on November 3rd by a rare sale of photographic negatives to include many images of THE BEATLES.

Complete auction catalogues for both sales are available to view at Cameo-auctioneers.co.uk.

For more information on these lots or any others, contact the auctioneers directly on or via email at office@cameo-auctioneers.co.uk.

Live bidding on the internet available for all countries at The-saleroom.com.