CLAPTON AXE FETCHES $45K

Dallas — A guitar owned by British singer-songwriter Eric Clapton has sold at auction for $45,000 and the proceeds will be used to provide financial help to Johnny Nicholas of the band Asleep at the Wheel, whose wife recently died of leukemia.

Heritage Auctions in Dallas said in a statement Saturday the high bid for the 2014 Fender Stratocaster electric guitar was taken over the telephone. Heritage spokesman Eric Bradley said the bidder requested anonymity, but the bid was more than twice what was expected.

It was one of two guitars Clapton played last year at his “Slowhand at 70” concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The money will help Johnny Nicholas cover medical bills from his wife’s leukemia treatment and support leukemia research.