Following on from last year’s hugely successful Gibson GuitarTown London charity campaign, supported by The Gibson Foundation, it was time for the cheque presentation to take place. Representatives from the three benefiting charities attended the presentation, held in the Gibson Guitar Showroom in London. Also in attendance was the campaigns curator Mark Tattersall and Mark Humphrey of Coutts & Co Bank who were one of the sponsors of the charity auction.

A total of 200,000 pounds ($400,000) was raised on the night of the auction which was held at The O2’s IndigO2 club last November. The charity auction consisted of Sixty individually hand painted and personally signed 10 Foot Gibson Les Paul replica guitars and regular sized Gibson SG guitars by many of The UK’s best known musicians and bands such as Sir Paul McCartney, Ronnie Wood, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler, Slash, Brian May, Ozzy Osbourne, Kaiser Chiefs, New Order, Kasabian, KT Tunstall, Depeche Mode, James Blunt and Roger Waters to name a few.

The visual artists who hand painted the guitars and collaborated with the musicians included Sir Peter Blake, Gerald Scarfe, Anton Corbijn, Rosie Brooks, Andrew Logan, Peter Saville, Mike Cahillane, Pete McKee, Mark Eurich, Mel A, Alex Echo, Paul Hart and the Inmates of HM Pentonville Prison to name a few. All the guitars were on public display between June 2007 to September 2007 on London’s South Bank at More London Riverside by City Hall and inside The O2 Arena in Greenwich.

The three benefiting charities were The Prince’s Trust, Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and Teenage Cancer Trust.

For more information on Gibson Guitartown London and to see all the guitars please visit www.guitartownlondon.com