The custom guitar that Def Leppard‘s Phil Collen has played throughout this summer’s Rock of Ages Tour is heading to the auction block to raise money for cancer research. The guitar will be up for auction on eBay from September 5th until September 15th, when Def Leppard’s tour comes to an end.

In early 2012, a music store owner named Jake Willoughby had asked Collen for help raising money for cancer research after Willoughby’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer. Phil was more than willing to help, after losing his own father to the same struggle back in 2004.

Willoughby donated a custom Jackson PC1 guitar to Collen from his own music store, to later be customized with a new paint job and renamed “Wings” in spirit of those who have lost their battles to cancer. The artist behind the customization, Mike Learn, also lost two of his own family members to the disease.

The winner will be announced during November with proceeds going to the Gerson Institute, a non-profit organization that focuses on alternative treatments for cancer and other degenerative diseases.

For more information on the auction, visit Phil Collen’s website.

– Vincent Roszkowski, WCBS-FM