Celebrity Guitar Auction Underway

by Tom Watson

The Designer Gibson Guitar Auction is now underway on eBay Live. The auction, organized by Gibson Guitar, Julien's Auctions, and the Hard Rock Cafe, features Gibson SGs that have been designed, signed, engraved or customized by music and entertainment industry celebrities such as Melissa Etheridge, Kiefer Sutherland, Rod Stewart, and Jeff Beck.

Here's a list of the celebrities whose customized guitars are currently listed on eBay Live (link is to the guitar's individual eBay auction page):

Melissa Etheridge (designed)
Joann Jett (inscribed)
Tony Iommi (designed)
Carmen Electra (designed)
Brian Johnson (designed)
Mick Fleetwood (designed)
Gwen Stefani and No Doubt (designed)
Drake Bell (designed)
Soraya (designed)
Ben Stiller & Christine Taylor (designed)
Ellen Degeneres (designed)
Ty Pennington (designed)
Kiefer Sutherland (designed)
Rod Stewart (designed)
Jeff Beck (designed)
Billy Morrison (designed)
Lance Armstrong & Sheryl Crow (signed)
Andre Agassi (signed by Agassi, designed by Tami Agassi)
Courtney Cox & David Arquette (designed)
Kurt Cobain Family (designed)
David Carradine (designed)
Richie Sambora (signed)
Dick Dale (designed and engraved)
Diane Warren (designed)
Bette Midler (signed and customized)
Joe Perry (designed)
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni (designed)
Sheryl Crow (designed)
Duran Duran (customized)
Rick Nielsen & Cheap Trick (customized)

Link to the eBay Live auction catalog: Gibson & Hard Rock Cafe Celebrity Guitar Sale

Rock the Cure

The auction culminates with a celebrity event, which has been dubbed, "Rock the Cure", that takes place on May 3, 2005, at the Los Angeles Hard Rock Cafe. Proceeds from the sale of the guitars (donated by Gibson Guitar) will go to the Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research to help support breast cancer research at the USC/Norris and UCLA/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Centers. While the Rock the Cure auction event is not open to the public, the auction itself is.

How the auction works

The company serving as the auctioneer is Julien's Auctions and Darren Julien, who has extensive experience selling entertainment memorabilia via auction.

There are a number of ways interested bidders can participate: by placing absentee bids; bidding during the actual auction via eBay Live or telephone; or, by bidding on a guitar at the live auction event at the Hard Rock Cafe on May 3. However, bidding in person at the Hard Rock Cafe during the live auction is an option available only to those who have received an invitation to the Rock the Cure event and who attend.

Absentee bids

If you are not attending Rock the Cure or do not want to bid through eBay during the actual live auction, you can submit an absentee bid on any of the guitars that interests you by either calling Julien's Auctions (+1 310 836 1818, ask for Laura Woolley) or via eBay (link to auction catalog on eBay). An "absentee bid" functions the same way normal proxy bids on eBay do - you bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay for that item and if during the live auction your bid beats all other bids, you win the auction.

For example, let's say you were willing to pay a maximum of $10,000 for one of the guitars. If you placed an absentee bid in that amount through eBay, and the highest bid during the auction (not counting yours) was $1,000, you would win the auction and have to pay $1,000 plus one more bid increment (the minimum amount that can be bid at the $1,000 level), which in this auction would be $50, so your final winning bid would be $1,050.

It's not as complex as it sounds. eBay offers an even more detailed explanation of how absentee bids work: How absentee bids work. You can also call the auction house for further information.

Note: Absentee bids must be submitted via eBay no later than one hour prior to the start of the live auction, which is set to begin May 3, 2005, 8 p.m. PDT (though the auction house would prefer that eBay absentee bids be submitted no later than midnight of May 2). The cutoff time for absentee bids made by telephone or FAX to the auction house is normally midnight the day before the auction is held.

eBay Live

If you would like the thrill of participating in the live auction but can't be at the Hard Rock Cafe on May 3, you can still bid during the actual floor auction through eBay Live. Julien's Auctions has registered this event with eBay Live meaning that anyone, virtually anywhere in the world (as long as you have Internet access), can submit real time bids during the auction itself.

To bid via eBay Live during the auction, you must be a registered eBay user and comply with the auctioneer's user verification policy (both of which you must also do to submit an eBay Live absentee bid). The auctioneer will notify you that your participation has been approved and then you simply log on to eBay Live at the time the auction is scheduled and bid when you want using the eBay Live auction interface.

Here's eBay's explanation of how it works: How Live Auctions work.

Bidding during the auction via telephone

You can also bid during the live auction via telephone. Contact Julien's Auctions (+1 310 836 1818) and arrange to participate by this method. You will be given a telephone number to call to place your bid(s) during the live event at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The guitars

Gibson Guitar donated 50 Gibson SGs for the Rock the Cure event. Here are the specifications of the SGs used:

A 2004 Gibson SG Special 'Faded' electric guitar, natural finish, double cutaway solid mahogany body, black pickguard, Gibson Deluxe tuners with mint green key tuning pegs, mahogany neck, 22 fret fingerboard with pearloid inlays, Gibson logo on the headstock, one 490R Alnico magnet humbucker pickup, one 490T Alnico magnet humbucker pickup, four rotary controls (two volume, two tone), one three-way selector switch, Tune-o-matic/Stop bar tailpiece, chrome hardware, together with soft-shell case. Made in the U.S.A.

And a few of the instruments to be auctioned: