- Style: Transition 1965 CBS (worm route) Body for Fender Stratocaster
- Wood: Two-piece Alder (Japanese).
- Finish: Fiesta Red with custom Jimi Hendrix design (white with vines, hearts and floral design)
- Routing: 3 Single Coil
- Weight: approx. 4lbs (1.8kg)
On the third and final day of the third and final day of the Monterey International Pop Festival (Sunday, June 18, 1967: The Summer of Love), the bill that night included: the Who, Buffalo Springfield, the Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin. But before the Who took the stage, a (then) relatively unknown 24-year-old guitarist delivered a feast of sight and sound which in an industry whose marketing departments today churn out "legends" monthly, is nothing short of mythical.
The Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix was playing that day (which he smashed into the stage and amps before setting alight at the end of the set - see here for the video on YouTube) was a "transition" 1965 Fender Stratocaster - built under CBS control and with the larger, bolder headstock decal but still using predominantly pre-CBS stock parts, and with the smaller headstock.
The guitar was originally Fiesta Red which Jimi Hendrix had personally painted, with the top half over-painted in white spray-can aerosol and with intricate drawings of vines, roses and love hearts adorning the scratchplate, upper horn area, and lower curve around the jack cup.
The Fender Custom Shop released their own limited edition (210 guitars were produced) version of this guitar in 1997 - the thirty year anniversary of the Summer of Love (and the Monterey Festival). Pamelina H who had been at the festival (although seven years old at the time) was tasked with reproducing Jimi's artwork from the guitar, but later changed it under pressure from Fender to smooth out the graphics and including the "backstage pass" sticker featuring a photograph by Ed Caraeff of Hendrix burning the guitar - certainly not part of the original guitar.
Designed from Hendrix's hand-painted Stratocaster from the Monterey Pop Festival, and built to be as close to the original as possible, we are proud to be able to offer this body and guitar parts to the UK. The guitar was less than two years old when it was destroyed but had been played heavily during that period and then repainted by hand. The relicing of the body and parts that make up this kit reproduces the very light level of aging the original guitar displayed at the time: not pristine, but not heavily worn nor battered either.
We offer either the body alone, or as part of a kit which includes the body, scratchplate, back plate and the Monterey Pop Festival "backstage pass" sticker, all you then need is a '64 (before the introduction of big headstocks) CBS neck, suitable aged plastics and your choice of electronics! Since each one of our Jimi Hendrix Monterey Pop Stratocaster bodies is created by hand, each and every one is slightly different and unique.
We also offer a complete Tribute Monterey Pop Stratocaster, and all the parts you need to build this guitar as a separates kit so that you can mix and match to your heart's content.
Please note that due to the intricate nature of this piece production times can be considerably longer than other standard bodies and parts would take.
