Gibson SG guitars up for Auction

Hollywood's Glamorous and Music Idols came out on May 3, 2005 to the Rock the Cure, Celebrity Guitar Auction. Held at the Hard Rock Café in Los Angeles and sponsored by Gibson Guitar, Julien's Auctions, and the Hard Rock Café, this exciting auction benefited the Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research.

Tea Leoni in the Auction Chair offered the 50 Gibson SG Special guitars, each individually decorated or signed by rock legends and celebrities, including Jeff Beck, David Carradine, Sheryl Crow, Ellen DeGeneres, The Edge, Melissa Etheridge, Mick Fleetwood, Brian Johnson, Billy Morrison, Bette Midler, No Doubt, Joe Perry, Kiefer Sutherland, and many others.

The guitar that got the party going had paint everywhere on it, even on the strings. It was decorated by Tammy Lynn Michaels, Melissa Etheridge's partner; Melissa signed it “Speak True… Melissa Etheridge”. Bidding for the guitar was furious and eventually won by Tea Leoni.

Bids for guitars designed by Joan Jett, Tommy Iommi, Brian Johnson, and Carmen Electra accelerated the support for new cancer research, which is conducted at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers, USC/Norris and UCLA/Jonsson. The guitars were up for bid online since April 24th at Julien's Auctions.

A particularly artistic SG, designed by Kiefer Sutherland, was an outreaching hand floating over a blood-red guitar body. Keifer splattered blood-red over the black back.

Dean Markley Strings contributed microamps, strings, and pickups to every gift bag. Dean Markley's David Lienhard (Artists Relations), and his guests, Josh Paul (Everlast's Bassist), and George Lynch, enjoyed the lightning atmosphere surrounding the bidders.

The night was young with plenty more guitars to become newly owned. Raising the stakes, were guitars designed by Latina Artist, Soraya, No Doubt, Ben Stiller, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Rod Stewart, and Dean Markley Endorsee, Ty Pennington.

A woman in a candy studded jacket danced up to the front when her offer earned the dazzling guitar licks from the custom guitar of Dick Dale, Legend of Surf Guitar and Dean Markley Artist. Rick Neilson, also a Dean Markley player, provided a black and white checkerboard axe that pulled in a generous bid.

A guitar was contributed by Wendy and Kim Cobain, the late Kurt Cobain's mother and sister. Kurt's mother, a breast cancer survivor, decorated the guitar with early family photos of the Nirvana front man.

Gary Shandling had the highest bid of the evening ending at $21,000 for a painted SG from U2's, The Edge.

With the bidding finished, the crowd was entertained by the rock-n-roll stylings of Dean Markley Artists, “Soul Dogs,” featuring David Carradine. Sharon Benson, violinist for Soul Dogs said, “It was an amazing night. It was a wonderful showing from celebrities, who took the time to come out to the Hard Rock Café. I love to see that we can make a difference in the fight against cancer. I am honored and excited to take part in this event.” The Rock the Cure efforts raised over $122,000 to help fight cancer.

David Carridine and Sharon Benson,
The Soul Dogs

Photography provided by Marc Mangano


For information about this benefit event, go to:

Expedition Inspiration

Juliens Auctions

Gibson Rocks the Cure!


For information about Dean Markley Strings’ full line of musical products, contact us via the links at the bottom of this page.

The Jeff Beck Guitar