Bob Dylan's electric guitar sets auction world record

The guitar folk icon Bob Dylan used as he attempted to relaunch himself as an electric rock 'n' roll star in 1965 has gone under the hammer for a record-breaking $965,000 .

The legendary musician strummed the 1964 Fender Stratocaster as he took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island to perform three new tracks that failed to win over the crowd. The set even prompted some of his acoustic-loving fans to boo.

Dylan left the instrument on a private plane after the disastrous gig, and it was expected to fetch up to $500,000 at auction.

However, bidding at the Christie's New York sale on Friday (06Dec13) was fierce and the item was eventually snapped up for the six-figure sum - a world auction record for a guitar, according to sale officials.

A statement from Christie's specialist Tom Lecky reads: "A tremendous amount of international interest was generated at the time of the sale's announcement, and today's result justifies the mythic status of this guitar in the annals of music history."

The previous record for a guitar was set in 2004, when Eric Clapton's Fender Stratocaster sold for $959,500 .

The Christie's auction also featured five Dylan lyric sheets, with prices ranging from $3,000 to $30,000 , but only one of the lots managed to sell at a price of $20,000 .

The high-profile sale took place a day after an early draft of lyrics for Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run song classic went under the hammer for $197,000 .