Slash, Paul McCartney, Queen‘s Brian May, Rush‘s Alex Lifeson, The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale are just some of the artists who are helping raise money for the Ukraine war relief effort this weekend.
Gibson created several limited-edition “Guitars for Peace” Les Paul custom guitars in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag. They sent those guitars on tour with the various artists this summer, along with autograph books.
Through November 13, the guitars and the autograph books — which were also signed by artists and bands like Mark Knopfler, My Chemical Romance, Nile Rodgers and Madness — are being auctioned off by Juliens Auctions. Visit JuliensAuctions.com and navigate to their Icons & Idols: Rock ‘N’ Roll auction page for all the details.
Bidding on one of the guitars played onstage by Slash was up to $12,600 the last time we checked, while one played onstage by McCartney is at $22,500. One that’s signed by several of the artists — including Richards, Wood and May — comes with an autograph book with all the artists’ signatures. Bidding on that one is up to $9,000. Don’t want a guitar? You can bid on just an autograph book starting as low as $500.
One hundred percent of the money raised from the auction will go toward humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine and the rebuilding efforts once the conflict ends.
“I’m happy to auction this beautiful guitar of mine to benefit the fine people of Ukraine,” says McCartney in a statement. “Hopefully it will help them through this aggressive Russian invasion.”
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