The Edge of Compassion

April 23, 2007 — -- Some things are worth the pain that comes from separation. So reasoned the Edge, U2's guitar player, when he parted with one of his most prized possessions this past weekend, the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar that he used to record "New Year's Day" and has owned since 1982.

The rock 'n' roll legend was in New York City to host Saturday night's "Icons of Music" auction, which benefited Music Rising, a charity he co-founded with Gibson Guitars in an effort to replace some of the musical instruments lost to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"The initial idea was to try to help the [Bayou's] musicians, so we put a lot of instruments in the hands of professional musicians in New Orleans and that area," the Edge told ABC News. "Now we have got to the point where we want to try to focus on the local music…the churches, the schools of the areas that have been most badly hit."

In anticipation of this past weekend's auction -- which at last count has brought in $2.4 million -- the Edge called on friends and colleagues from the music world, and challenged them to donate marquee items by putting his cherished Gibson on the auction block.

"It will be hard to give up," said the Edge of the guitar, "but I just felt like this was a special occasion and I wanted to put forward something that meant a lot to me…Hopefully it will generate a lot of money."

Even by a rock star's standards, the $240,000 the instrument fetched surely qualifies.

Other big ticket items sold at the auction, housed at Manhattan's Hard Rock Cafe, included a pair of John Lennon's sunglasses and a 1964 Texan Model Epiphone guitar that was signed and hand-painted by Paul McCartney. The shades went for $30,000, while McCartney's donation took in $68,000.

In fact, signed guitars appeared to be the most popular items with bidders. The audience, both at the Hard Rock Cafe and online, purchased instruments from celebrities as diverse as one signed by most of the cast of "The Sopranos," to another from Les Paul himself. One of Bob Dylan's old instruments went for $160,000.

The most expensive buy of the night, however, was a 1966 red Fender Mustang guitar that belonged to Jimi Hendrix. The instrument was expected to bring in $80,000, but after a frenzied bidding war that brought the crowd to a roaring applause, the auctioneer drove the price to $400,000 before pronouncing the item "sold!"