Pink Floyd genius David Gilmour’s “Black Strat” has participated in more of rock music’s history than possibly any other singular instrument. Heard throughout 1973’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, the fourth best selling album of all time, it painted its legacy through Pink Floyd’s music in the 70s and 80s, as well as Gilmour’s solo work. This week it sold at auction for the second time, raking in a record-breaking $14.5 million.
David Gilmour joined the fledgling Pink Floyd as singer and guitarist in 1967 shortly before the departure of maverick Syd Barrett. Following an incident in 1970 where the band’s gear was stolen in New Orleans and they cancelled their US tour, Gilmour purchased the fairly nondescript black Fender Stratocaster in Manny’s Music, a New York City guitar dealers. After several modifications to the paint and the features of the guitar, it was ready to make its mark on the world.
The Black Strat- David Gilmour’s well-worn 1969 Fender Stratocaster
Speaking to Prog Magazine before the Black Strat’s initial sale in 2019, Gilmour said “it became my main guitar, the one I used pretty much on everything, unless there was a reason to want a different sound. So that’s definitely on ‘Meddle’, it’s on ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, ‘Comfortably Numb’. The four notes at the beginning of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ popped out of this very guitar, because it was there and in my hands! What can you say? It’s definitely earned its keep.”
After rifts with Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters, Gilmour reignited his solo career with UK number one album ‘On An Island’ in 2006, which saw the restored Black Strat in use for recording and touring. In 2008, Fender’s Custom Shop created a Signature Black Stratocaster in its honour, fitting to Gilmour’s specifications. His guitar tech Phil Taylor, who was responsible for its modifications and upkeep, published ‘The Black Strat’ in 2007, a chronicling of its physical evolution.
In 2019, David Gilmour parted with the guitar at a charity sale in New York, at the famed Christie’s auction house. It sold for a then-highest value of $3.975 million (currently just shy of £3 million) to US billionaire Jim Irsay, whose collection also contained other top-selling guitars from Gilmour, Kurt Cobain, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and John Lennon. Its value was surpassed in 2020 by the $6 million (£4.5 million) sale of Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic guitar, best known for its use on Nirvana’s 1994 ‘MTV Unplugged’ set.
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Following Irsay’s passing in May last year, his collection estimated to be worth over $1 billion is currently being auctioned off, again at Christie’s. According to Billboard, the Black Strat was the subject of an intense 21-minute bidding war, before being sold to an as-yet unnamed online buyer for a staggering new peak of $14.5 million (£10.9 million). Also sold this week was Grateful Dead legend Jerry Garcia’s custom-made “Tiger” guitar, which went for over $10 million (£7.5 million).
David Gilmour celebrated his 80th birthday last week, on the 6th of March, also the 20th anniversary of ‘On An Island’. His latest release is 2024 album ‘Luck and Strange’ and it’s 2025 live performance recording ‘The Luck and Strange Concerts’, both of which are available for purchase on his website.
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