CLAPTON'S SOBERING GENEROSITY.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

The residential rehab center Eric Clapton is funding on the West Indies island of Antigua is apparently turning into something of a financial drain on the legendary guitar slinger.

In fact, Clapton is auctioning off 100 stage and studio guitars, including Brownie, the famous 1956 Fender Stratocaster he used for the ``Layla'' sessions, as well as a rare 1958 Gibson Explorer, a 1974 Martin 000-28 steel string, a 1959 Gibson ES-335, a 1952 Fender Telecaster and a 1956 Gibson ES-350TN, in order to fund the facility.

Brownie, for example, is expected to fetch $80,000 to $100,000 at auction Thursday at Christie's in New York.

Selected highlights from the collection were on display last weekend at the Beverly Hills auction house.

It was a strange and frustrating feeling wandering through the exhibit. Although only a couple of guitars were behind glass, the last thing you were encouraged to do was touch the instruments.

Heck, some worry wart was loudly complaining that visitors were getting too close to the precious Gibsons and Fenders, and the velvet ropes would arrive the next morning.

It was frustrating because you so badly wanted to play some of the 40 rare instruments, especially the magnificent '52 Tele or the Explorer.

Clapton, 54, says the idea to sell the guitars came from a member of the Crossroad Centre's fund-raising committee. The auction is expected to earn around $1 million.

Clapton wrote in the catalog that it wasn't an easy thing to say goodbye to these guitars, ``but it's time to let others share in these beautiful things that have given me such joy and brought such meaning to my life.''

So far, the 36-bed Antigua center, which Clapton founded last year, is apparently not treating very many rich patients from overseas. Instead, islanders are taking advantage of Crossroad's free medical care for Caribbean residents, on Clapton's dime.

Oh well, at least some lucky folks are going to get a dose of the restorative powers of fine guitars when the auction closes.

Light lunch

Last week's Radio & Records Convention luncheon featuring a conversation between Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector and Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun was something of a letdown.

Moderated by former record exec Joe Smith, the event - billed as a rare chance to hear about ``the real history of rock 'n' roll'' - found a tight-lipped Spector mouthing bad jokes off the Internet while avoiding any serious discussion of why he stopped producing records decades ago.

An aging Ertegun was more friendly, but the lunch was dominated by Smith, who filled time by telling Rat Pack stories.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) A collection of guitars, left, owned by Eric Clapton is displayed at Christie's auction house in Beverly Hills. Among the instruments to be auctioned is the 1956 Fender Stratocaster, above, used for the ``Layla'' sessions.