Paul McCartney Raises £60,000 With Gibson Guitars For The Gibson Guitartown London Charity

Last night at a special charity auction event at the IndigO2 at The O2 a 10ft tall hand- painted Les Paul guitar replica signed by Paul McCartney became the main attraction of the night. After a competitive bidding war the guitar was eventually auctioned off for an amazing £60,000. Paul’s guitar was designed by visual artist Rosie Brooks.

Gibson Guitartown London is a charity-inspired campaign, bringing the power of music together with art to raise money for Nordoff–Robbins Music Therapy, The Prince’s Trust and Teenage Cancer Trust. All money raised from the auction will be split equally between the charities.

Between June and September 2007, thirty 10ft hand painted, free standing Gibson Les Paul replica guitars were on exhibition on London’s South Bank. Each guitar had been signed by a music legend including such names as Brian May, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Robert Plant, New Order, Kasabian and Stereophonics to name a few. The guitars were designed by some of the most respected names in their field including Sir Peter Blake, Peter Saville, Anton Corbijn, Andrew Logan and the caricaturist Gerald Scarfe. These 30 guitars along with 30 hand painted guitars on display at The O2 all went under auction last night.

The auction was hosted by rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia auction house, Julian’s Auctions. Before the auction Darren Julien, president of the auction house, said, “With confidence falling in the housing market, we’ve seen a huge upturn in interest in rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. We’ve virtually doubled our database of customers from what it was a year ago. Last month, a similar auction we held in Texas saw two guitars going for $55,000 each. Now is definitely the time to star collecting.”

Paul McCartney said, "I'm really amazed and very happy that the guitar went for so much and for such a great cause."

Paul’s guitar beat the second highest bid of the night by an incredible £49,000. Ronnie Wood’s guitar went for £11,000, Roger Waters (Wall themed guitar designed by Gerald Scarfe, designer responsible for The Wall artwork) went for £10,500, Slash’s Gibson went for £8500 and Paul Weller’s (designed by Sir Peter Blake) reached £8000.

The successful bidder has announced he will donate the Paul McCartney guitar to Great Ormand Street Hospital at an event in December.