A few days after the dream, I happened to be in my local guitar shop in Newcastle upon Tyne. I knew the owner, John, very well. He said, "Hey, I've just got a Jimi Hendrix Flying V!" He showed it to me, and I asked if it really was Jimi's. He said no, but it was the same model, and added: "Wouldn't it be something if it was actually Jimi's guitar?" At this point, in the mid-'90s, nobody had seen the Jimi guitar, the one with his hand-painted decorations on it, for over 20 years.
John's guitar had a 1967 serial number, just visible under an all-over thick black re-spray. The nut had been grooved out to take left-handed stringing, and there was a strap button on each point of the "V," also indicating left-handed use. John told me it had come from a guitar collector in Brighton who got it from a left-handed blues player. I went away and consulted some books to find out more.
Meanwhile, John told me he'd discovered the name "Ken Hensley" (of Uriah Heep) stencilled on the aftermarket case, and that he'd contacted Ken to try to sell him his old guitar. Time for action. I made an offer for the guitar along with a nice Gretsch hanging in the shop, and took both home. I figured even if the V wasn't Jimi's, it was still worth having. And it was a matter of weeks after that dream where Jimi approved of me using his gear, so it felt comfortable. People laughed, but now I had a Flying V that might have been Jimi's.
[link:https://reverb.com/news/how-i-discovered-jimi-hendrixs-psychedelic-flying-v]
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