1969/83 Fender David Gilmour "The Black Strat" Stratocaster

1969/83 Fender David Gilmour "The Black Strat" Stratocaster is the World's Most Expensive Stratocaster ever sold at Auction for $3.975M

The Black Strat was David Gilmour's PRIMARY Guitar used from 1972-84, and was used on ALL Pink Floyd albums and tours including Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall.

 

    • in early April 1970. David visits the legendary Manny’s Music on West 48th Street in New York and buys a 1969 Stratocaster, with black body and a rosewood neck, with the typical large headstock of the era.
    • On May 22nd, 1970 after having played two nights in New Orleans, the band discover that the van with all their gear is stolen. The van is tracked down by the local police but a few items are missing. Including David’s new Stratocaster. The rest of the tour is cancelled and the band heads back to New York on their way back to Europe. David Gilmour pays Manny’s a second visit and buys the Black Strat, 1969 black body and a maple neck
    • The Black Strat makes its debut performance in front of 200.000 people at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, England on June 27th 1970
    • It is not until summer or autumn of 1971 that the Black Strat seem to become David’s go-to guitar and by January 1972, with the premiere of Pink Floyd’s new suite Eclipse, the guitar had unquestionably become David’s main guitar. It would remain as such up until 1984

    • June 1972 at Abbey Road recording Dark Side of the Moon, David replaced the stock 1969 maple neck on his Black Strat with the 1963 rosewood neck of the sunburst Strat he frequently used during the 1970 Atom Heart Mother tour, but used the original 1969 stock single coil pickups
    
Dark Side 1973 > 1963 rosewood neck 
    • In June 1973 he installed the three stock single coils and the white pickguard of his 1971 bullet truss rod Strat. The neck and middle pickups are still present in the Black Strat.
    • In July 1974 1-ply .120” beveled black acrylic 11 hole pickguard installed
    
Wish you were Here 1975 > Dark Side + ‘71 stock pickups & Black pickguard 

Animals 1977 & The Wall 1979 > WYWH + Dimarzio FS-1 + Grover Jackson/Charvel maple neck
    • In 1976 he installed DiMarzio FS-1 pickup, with a black cover, in the bridge position while recording Animals. The pickup had a higher output compared to the 1971 pickups that were in the Black Strat at the time. 
    • The DiMarzio FS-1 was also used for the following 1977 Animals tour, David’s 1978 self-titled debut solo album and the 1979 Wall recording sessions. 
    • David employed a number of different guitars for the Wall recording session, including the 1955 Fender Esquire, 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop and the Black Strat, which now featured the Grover Jackson/Charvel maple neck, the 1971 neck and middle pickups and the DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup, with the black pickguard and the extra pickup toggle switch.
    • Comfortably Numb 
    https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/complete_guide_to_pink_floyd_comfortably_numb-49707
    https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-secrets-behind-david-gilmours-tone-on-pink-floyds-comfortably-numb
    https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=20
        ○ Black Strat, , rhythm/solo; Muff
            § Solo: DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup
                □ Big Muff – sustain 70%, tone 30-40%, volume 50-60%
                □ Electric Mistress Flanger Chorus - colour 10:00, range 10:00, rate 10:00 (o’clock)
                □ Electro Harmonix Memory Man Delay
            § rhythm 1; 
            § rhythm 2; acoustic guitar 
            
        ○ Rhythm 1: 1976 Ovation Custom Legend 1619-4 acoustic steel string guitar (high strung) David ended up stringing the guitar with the following gauges  
        ○ .10, .12, .09, .11, .16, .10., all of which were of course unwound. The strings were tuned to the standard tuning but the G, D, and A were an octave higher, and the low E was two octaves up.
            1. E same as high e string
            2. A high A from a 12-string set
            3. D high D from a 12-string set
            4. G high G from a 12-string set
            5. B normal b string
            6. E normal e string
            
        ○ Rhythm 2: Studio version played by Lee Ritenour
        ○ Speaker cabinets were mic’ed with Shure SM57 microphones
    
The Final Cut 1983 > Animals - Dimarzio FS-1 + Seymour Duncan SSL-1C + Charvel maple neck
    • October 1979, David replaced the DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan SSL-1C (The SSL-1C is the same pickup as the current SSL-5). The Seymour Duncan SSL-1C was first used on the 1980 The Wall tour and is still present on the Black Strat.
    • In early 1982, just prior to recording Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut, David replaced the Grover Jackson/Charvel maple neck, with a new custom Charvel maple neck with 22 frets, Fender logo and Kluson tuners.
    • 1983 Kahler tremolo bridge with locking tuners
    • 1984 David shortened his tremolo arms to about 4.25″.
    • 1985 original 3-way pickup selector is replaced by a 5-way.
    • 1986 Black Strat retired and displayed at Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas
    • 1997 Returned to Gilmour > refitted the original Fender tremolo bridge and filled the whole from the Kahler system. A new 1997 Fender 57 reissue maple neck replaced the Charvel neck
    • The Black Strat makes its definitive return at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London, England on July 2nd 2005
    • 2005  neck replaced with a 1983 Fender 57 reissue neck and is is still featured on the Black Strat today
    • 2008 fender issues  Replica and NOS, David favoured a Fender Fat 50s for the neck, a custom wound middle pickup similar to late 60s specs and a Seymour Duncan SSL-5, Duncan’s new version of the SSL-1C.
    • 2016 - Retired again
    • 2019 - Auctioned for $3.975M
 

 

 

The M5 Guitar is a 2010 Fender Stratocaster "The Black Strat" Conversion SN MX10134552, DiMarzio FS-1 pickup in the bridge position, 4.25" shortened Tremelo Arm, Mojotone Black Pickguard, Aged white knobs, switch tip, & tremelo tip

In 1976 he installed DiMarzio FS-1 pickup, with a black cover, in the bridge position while recording Animals. The pickup had a higher output compared to the 1971 pickups that were in the Black Strat at the time. 
The DiMarzio FS-1 was also used for the following 1977 Animals tour, David’s 1978 self-titled debut solo album and the 1979 Wall recording sessions. 
 

David Gilmour’s Black Strat – gilmourish

David Gilmour's guitar tone on Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb: how he got his sound | Guitar World

 

The David Gilmour "Black Strat": A Short History