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Paul Davids removes Monterey Stratocaster Video from YouTube

The saga of the controversial guitar continues.

Paul Davids

Image: Paul Davids via YouTube

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YouTuber Paul Davids has made his video on the controversial Jimi Hendrix Monterey Stratocaster private. The move comes after several outlets took a sceptical view of the guitar, with several doubts being raised about whether the instrument was the same one Hendrix played at Monterey Pop Festival.

Guitar.com reported on the concerns some viewers were raising about the instrument: the fact that it was removed from sale at Heritage Auctions and some apparent visual discrepancies.

Following our coverage, and videos made by other YouTube channels such as CGS, Davids changed the title of the video from I PLAYED JIMI HENDRIX’ $10,000,000 GUITAR to I PLAYED JIMI HENDRIX’ GUITAR to, eventually, I PLAYED JIMI HENDRIX’ GUITAR – Or did I?. Following the latter change, he also posted a pinned comment underneath the video, which explained his own feelings on the matter.

“I’ve come to the point where I just can’t be sure whether it is the real deal or not. I feel like I can make a case for both sides of the story… At this point, I’m simply not sure anymore that I did play the Hendrix Monterey Strat,” he wrote.

Attempting to view the video now takes you to a page informing you that the video has been made private.

In the wake of the controversy, Myles Poulton, the PR consultant behind the video, gave a lengthy statement to Guitar.com asserting that he and the owner “are completely satisfied with the provenance of the guitar.” His statement also accused the YouTubers who made sceptical videos about the guitar of trying to unscrupulously gain views and income off the back of Davids’ initial video.

CGS, a YouTuber who had responded to Davids’ video, denied this accusation in his own statement to Guitar.com, and repeated his stated questions about the guitar’s authenticity.

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