We join David Gilmour’s long-serving tech Phil Taylor to examine in full detail the instruments, amps and effects that the Pink Floyd legend used to summon up the rich soundscapes of The Endless River.

David Gilmour clearly likes water. His famed houseboat studio, Astoria, is moored on the Thames near Hampton. Today, Guitarist is at his other studio, Medina, near Brighton and overlooking the Channel. Aptly, it was these two venues that were employed to record the bulk of the final Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River.

"Gilmour has his own custom control room rack, with switching that allows him to turn on any combination of amps in the live room"

Gilmour has declined to talk any more about The Endless River: he thinks there’s been “too much fuss” already. But he has sanctioned his guitar technician Phil Taylor to guide Guitarist through some of his studio set-up. Prepare to be boggled.

Medina is smaller than you may expect for a musician of Gilmour’s legendary status, but size isn’t everything: Medina is bespoke to Gilmour’s needs.

“It was a derelict storage unit when David bought it three years ago,” Phil Taylor explains. Once the building’s ‘shell’ had been renovated, Taylor got to work on bespoke appointments. The control room’s mixing desk is hand-built and on wheels so Taylor can access its rear for servicing.

Gilmour has his own custom control room rack, with switching that allows him to turn on any combination of amps in the live room - if he fancies recording in the control room. Even the wiring of Medina is custom-designed by Taylor.

He explains: “Because David records with single-coil guitars - his Strats, his Teles - particular attention was paid to the electrical installation to avoid creating mains power ‘radiating’ and interference.

The entire building was wired in shielded mains cable. All earthing is connected to the regular main ‘company’ earth - except the audio-technical earth, which has two 60-foot copper rods sunk into the ground.

All lighting systems are run in 12 volts DC, and the technical studio power is derived from a balancing transformer.”