Legal Fight Launched Over Jimi Hendrix Guitar
(hennemusic) Jimi Hendrix’s estate is suing the late guitarist’s former brother-in-law, Sheldon Reynolds, over claims he tried to sell the legend’s Black Widow acoustic guitar for $750,000 although it doesn’t belong to him.
Courthouse News Service reports Experience Hendrix filed a suit in Superior Court on Monday against Reynolds and friend Brian Patterson over the guitar, which the company claims was stolen.
Reynolds is the ex-husband of Janie Hendrix, the guitarist’s sister and CEO of Experience Hendrix. The estate says it learned in June 2014 that Patterson had contacted Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles and asked it to sell the guitar; Julien’s then contacted the estate to determine if the guitar is legitimate, and the Experience confirmed it was but that it had been stolen.
The lawsuit claims that Patterson got the guitar from Reynolds, who says that he got it in a divorce settlement, or that he got it from a friend who helped him take his belongings from Janie Hendrix’s home, and that Janie’s teenage son had “directed” his friend “to take a pile of guitars and other belongings, that included the Black Widow.”
“Neither story is true,” the complaint states, which says Janie Hendrix owns the guitar.
