David Gilmour’s legendary ‘Black Strat’ comes to auction

View more than 120 guitars coming to auction from the personal collection of the Pink Floyd singer and songwriter, including the iconic Fender Stratocaster played on The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall

David Gilmour’s 1969 Black Fender Stratocaster has earned its place in rock’n’roll history. Known as ‘The Black Strat’, the guitar was purchased in 1970 at Manny’s on West 48th Street in New York, and has become the Pink Floyd singer and songwriter’s most identified instrument over the course of nearly 50 years. Between 1970 and 1986, The Black Strat was Gilmour’s primary performance and recording guitar, and was key to the development of the Pink Floyd sound. It was played in the recordings of landmark albums such as the 1973 masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon, which includes the track Money and is widely regarded as one of the greatest LPs of all time; Wish You Were Here (1975), featuring the track Shine on You Crazy Diamond, which Gilmour reveals ‘came out of’ The Black Strat; Animals (1977); and The Wall (1979), which features Gilmour’s legendary guitar solo on Comfortably Numb. The Black Strat, which has been extensively modified over the decades to accommodate Gilmour’s evolving style and performance requirements, can also be heard on his critically acclaimed solo albums including David Gilmour (1978), About Face (1984), On an Island (2006) and Rattle that Lock (2015).

Fender Electric Instrument Company, Stratocaster, Fullerton CA, 1969. A solid-body electric guitar known as The Black Strat. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Offered in The David Gilmour Guitar Collection on 20 June at Christie’s in New York David Gilmour playing ‘The Black Strat’ with Pink Floyd live at The Rainbow Theatre, London, 4 November 1973. Photo: Jill Furmanovsky

On 20 June at Christie’s in New York, this iconic, solid-body electric guitar (estimate: $100,000-150,000) will be a highlight of The David Gilmour Guitar Collection, which comprises more than 120 instruments and focuses on a selection of his preferred Fender Broadcasters, Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters. Not only the largest and most comprehensive sale of guitars ever offered at auction, the collection details the musical history of one of the world’s most influential guitarists. All proceeds from the sale will benefit charitable causes. ‘Many of the guitars in this sale are guitars that have given me a tune,’ says Gilmour in our short film, in which he plays for us a few chords from his best-loved songs on the guitars that helped to inspire them. ‘So a lot of them have earned their keep, you might say. ‘These guitars have given so much to me, and it’s time for them to move on to other people who hopefully will find joy, and perhaps create something new.’

‘Many of the guitars in this sale are guitars that have given me a tune, so a lot of them have earned their keep, you might say’ — David Gilmour

After a period of temporary retirement while it was on semi-permanent loan to the Hard Rock Café in Dallas, Texas — in return for a donation to The Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Charity — Gilmour reclaimed The Black Strat for Pink Floyd's historic reunion concert at Live 8 in London on 2 July 2005. During the first two days of rehearsals for the Hyde Park gig Gilmour had been playing a different guitar, a red Stratocaster. On the third day, it was suggested he should try The Black Strat, since he had used it on the original recordings of songs to be performed. The concert, which was watched by an estimated global TV audience of more than three billion people, marked the moment that the instrument was reinstated as Gilmour’s guitar of choice. It remained so for the next decade, reaffirming its place in the annals of rock music.

Further Fender highlights include the 1957 ‘Ex-Homer Haynes’ Stratocaster, with gold-plated hardware and finished in the rare custom colour of Lake Placid Blue (estimate: $60,000-90,000), and a Candy Apple Red 1984 Stratocaster 57V (estimate: $15,000-25,000), which became Gilmour’s primary electric guitar during the 1980s and ’90s, and was used during recording and touring of the Pink Floyd albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994).



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