Last month, Chrissie Hynde asked for help in finding the guitars that belonged to The Pretenders late guitarist James Honeyman Scott. Well, she says the mystery has been solved.
She writes on Facebook that she spoke to Scott's sister Lynn who told her that he "made a will leaving his entire guitar collection to his nephew, but died before signing it. Then (despite being aware of his wishes), Jimmy’s wife immediately sold them all to the highest bidders.
"The moral to the story is: Make a will and sign it NOW, because if you don’t there’s no guarantee that someone won’t cash in on your most prized possessions."
Etched on Scott's gravestone is a Gibson guitar, which Chrissie says if she could track it down she would give it to Johnny Marr of The Smiths, who was influenced by Scott, but adds that "the price might be prohibitive if it’s the hands of one of those (evil) collectors. Guitars should be played. (That’s what mine seems to say every time I walk past it while it’s collecting dust. Shame on me)."
Scott died on June 16th, 1982 in his girlfriend's apartment from heart failure caused by cocaine intolerance. He was 25. It came two days after the firing of bassist Pete Farndon due to his drug issues. Farndon died less than a year later -- April 14th, 1983 -- from a heroin overdose.