David Gilmour - The Black Stratocaster

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There’s always been a lot of stories and rumors about the Black Strat. In Phil Taylor’s book “The Black Strat – A History of David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster”, one of the biggest rumors is finally verified: the Black Strat is the one used on Live at Pompeii. The Black Strat was David’s second Black Stratocaster. The first was also bought at Manny’s in New York on Floyd’s tour in the States in April-May 1970. However, this guitar got stolen on the same tour and David made a trip back to Manny’s on their way home to London and bought what is now his legendary Black Stratocaster. The guitar made it’s live debut at the Bath festival in June 1970.

During Pink Floyd’s mid summer rehearsals at King’s Cross in London in 1974 David replaces the original white pickguard with a black 1-ply. The guitar has gone through many changes both before and after:

October 1971 – Live at Pompeii
Volume knob replaced with a silver knob with a rubber band for easier action. This was taken off right after the film shooting in Pompeii, which results in a small continuity error when the original white volume knob is back on the additional filming later that autumn.

Guitars
- The Black Strat is indeed the one used on Live at Pompeii – here pictured at the second filming sessions in Paris, France, December 1971.

Early 1972
David drills a hole in the side of the Strat to install an XLR input to eliminate noise from Fuzz Face. He soon removed the socket and sometime later filled the whole with wood and painted it black. Also at this time, the stock F tuners were replaced with Kluson tuners for better action.

During the early months of 1972 David refitted the silver volume knob back on the guitar and installed a mini pickup switch similar to the current switch. Both the volume knob and switch was taken out later in the spring.

June 1972
The original maple neck is replaced by a Fender 1963 rosewood neck. The neck was taken off a 1959 (body) sunburst Strat David rock and roll had been using on/off since mid 1970. The Black Strat maple neck was now fitted onto the sunburst Strat. The rosewood neck features on Dark Side of the Moon (album and tour), WYWH (album and tour), Animals (album and tour) and David’s 1978 solo album and live promo clips.

Summer 1972
David reinstalls the mini pickup switch.

Guitars
- David pictured during the soundcheck for the Roland Petit ballett performance in Paris, France, January 1973. The Black Strat featured a humbucker for a very brief time in early 1973 but was soon taken out. At this point the guitar also featured the 1963 rosewood neck.

January 1973
A Gibson PAF humbucker is custom fitted into the Black Strat placed between the bridge and middle pickup. The mini pickup selector switch now switched on/off the humbucker.

June 1973
David installs the whole bridge assembly from his 1972 bullett truss rod Strat now giving the Black Strat its original look and sound. The neck and middle pickups are still in the Strat today.

Summer 1974
An 1-ply .120” beveled black acrylic, 11 hole pickguard replaces the white. The pickguard is in the Strat today.

Early 1976
David installs a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup with black cover. The pickup is featured on Animals (album and tour, David’s 1978 solo album and live promo clips and The Wall (album only).

Late summer 1978 (post solo album)
The rosewood neck is replaced by a custom Grover Jackson/Charvel maple neck with a Fender guitar logo. The rosewood neck was fitted back onto the sunburst Strat. A new mini pickup selector switch was also added, which is still in the Strat today.

Guitars
- A shot from the Animals tour in 1977 with the black DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup (left). During the Wall era the guitar had a Charvel maple neck (right).

Guitars
- A close up of David’s Black Strat from a 2006 promo sessions. Notice the additional pickup switch. This was added sometime during the recording of David’s first solo album in ’78 combining the neck and bridge pickups. Notice the filled in space just behind the bridge where the bigger Kahler system used to be.

Late 1979 (post Wall recording sessions)
A custom wound Seymour Duncan SSL1C bridge pickup replaces the DiMarzio FS-1. The pickup is first used on the The Wall tour in 1980 and remains in the Strat today. The SSL1C is the forerunner to current SSL5.

Spring 1982
Just prior to the Final Cut recording session, the Black Strat is fitted with a new custum Charvel maple neck with 22 frets, Fender logo and Kluson tuners. The neck was also featured on About Face (album and tour).

Medio 1983
A Kahler tremolo bridge with locking tuners is fitted onto the guitar. Its big size demanded that a piece of the body needed to be removed. The new tremolo system was first used on the About Face recording sessions in autumn 1983 and was also featured on the following 1984 tour.

Early 1984
David starts using shortened tremolo arms – about 4.25?.

Guitars
- A closeup of the Kahler tremolo system fitted on the guitar for the About Face tour in ’84.

1985
The original 3-way pickup selector is replaced by a 5-way.

August 1986 – May 1997
The guitar is lended to Hard Rock Cafe where it hangs unprotected at an restaurant in Dallas, Texas. When getting it back upon request in May 1997, the guitar had some of the paint scratched off with many bumps and dings. The volume and lower tone knobs were also missing.

Guitar technician Charlie Chandler refitted the original Fender tremolo bridge and filled the whole from the Kahler system. A new ’57 reissue maple neck replaced the Charvel.

Early 2003
David is seen using the Black Strat on the Classic Albums – Dark Side of the Moon DVD. The guitar features a ’57 reissue maple neck with an “original body contour” decal on the headstock.

October 2003 – July 2005
The Black Strat is featured in the Interstellar Exhibition in Paris, France (October 2003 – January 2004) – an exhibition displaying most of Pink Floyd’s gear over the years. The Black Strat is now seen with a second ’57 reissue maple neck without the “original body contour” decal on the headstock.

After nearly a decade after it’s last stage performance The Black Strat made its trumphant return Pink Floyd’s reunion at the Live 8 concert July 2. 2005. The Black Strat still featured the ’57 reissue neck without the “original body contour” decal on the headstock.

Guitars
- Details of the necks between 1997-2006

Note: The fact that there’s a different neck between 1997-2005 is not documented in “The Black Strat – A History of David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster” by Phil Taylor but pictures from the events clearly shows that there was indeed two different necks. With the current neck fitted in late 2005, this makes it indeed three ’57 reissue necks – 7 necks in total since 1970.

Late summer 2005 – present
The Black Strat is fitted with the C-shaped maple neck from David’s cream coloured 1983 ’57 reissue Strats – used on the About Face tour 1984 and early Momentary tour 1987. This is new neck was featured on the latter part of the On an Island recording sessions and the 2006 tour and it’s now the current neck.

General modifications
The guitar has a lot of features that have been done over the years to improve the sound quality and to eliminate as much noise as possible, – The ground is re-wired to improve the shielding and a copper foil is covering the backside of the pickguard. The volume and tone knobs are connected directly to the output jack to cut down on bad connections. To help the guitar stay in tune, the two outer screws on the bridge plate are tightened all the way down while the four middle screws are left just off the plate. David mostly use three springs for the tremolo.

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