THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Neville Marten remembers his brush with a possible Hendrix artefact…“In 1971 I saw Free on TV with Paul Kossoff playing a white Strat. Instant lust set in so I trawled the London shops but to no avail.Then, in the Melody Maker ads I spotted it: white Fender Stratocaster, rosewood neck, £115. I rang the number (Romford) and agreed to buy it. They would deliver it. “On the day, two besuited gents turned up with the guitar.They’d said it was nearly new, but even then I knew a small headstock meant otherwise. Still, I bought it. It looked stunning.When I took it to bits I discovered the neck was a slab ’board, pre’63,the neckplate was F-stamped with a 1966 serial number (which I still remember), and the pickups were different again; it had an extra strap button on the lower horn and the nut was loose in its slot, clear indications it had been used upside down. “Who, at that time, could afford to make one Strat out of three and played a right-hander upside down? And who were those guys? I’ll never know for sure, but odds on it was Jimi’s. Sadly, it was a pretty poor guitar – probably the runt of the litter – and I sold it a year later. For £115. D’oh!”