FENDER ELECTRIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY, FULLERTON, 1969 AND 1983 A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, ... [+]
UPDATE: The David Gilmour Guitar Collection fetched $21.5 million on June 20 at Christies New York, making it the most valuable musical instruments sale in auction history. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay took home the famed ‘Black Strat’ for nearly $4 million, a world auction record for a guitar.
“Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!”
Come on, you lovers of art, you admirers of classic guitars, you curious enthusiasts of instruments of unrivaled legends, come all, to view the phenomenal personal collection of David Jon Gilmour, comprised of 126 guitars, including the superstar’s fancied Fender Broadcasters, Esquires, Telecasters, and Stratocasters.
The spectacular selection of jaw-dropping electric and acoustic guitars was on public view at Christie’s New York, following a global tour that launched at Christie’s King Street, London, and made its way for a partial view in Los Angeles.
The highlight of this historic collection is the 1969 Black Stratocaster, was estimated to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000. On June 20, in a packed saleroom with a record number of online bidders, the largest and most comprehensive sale of guitars, was 100% sold for a total of $21.5 million, with Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay taking home the Star guitar for a winning bid of a mind-blowing $3.975 million.
Carefully handling the famed “Black Strat,” Christie’s Musical Instruments Specialist Kerry Keane eloquently explained why this and the other guitars are works of fine art. The English guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known for his work with progressive rock band Pink Floyd, acquired the guitar in 1970 at Manny’s on West 48th St., and it played a pivotal role in decades of rock history.
“With any work of art, there is six features of valuation when you bring it to market,” including attribution, price, condition, quality, provenance, and fashion, Keane said in an interview following the press preview.
“When a musical instrument like this comes to us, it has been associated with great pedagogy, a great performer,” Keane explained. “Fashion is very fickle. The guitar has been a physical representation of pop culture for 50 years.”
Keane said he summoned many master musicians to play the “The Black Strat,” and “I had one say it plays like butter.”
‘The Black Strat” served as Gilmour’s primary performance and recording instrument for 15 years, and it was extensively modified to accommodate his evolving style and his state-of-the art, groundbreaking performance requirements.
Floyd fanatics, rock historians, and aesthetes who appreciate a story that meticulously unravels without any margin of factual error, marvel at the “The Black Strat.”
It was played on “Money,” the band’s first hit in the U.S., climbing to No. 10 in Cash Box magazine and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Recognized for its singular time signature and tape loop of money-related sound effects, such as a ringing cash register and jingling coins, the single from the 1973 album “The Dark Side of The Moon” has enduring appeal. Gilmour’s solo was voted No. 62 for “The Greatest 100 Guitar Solos” by readers of Guitar World magazine in 2008.
“The Black Strat” was played on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a revolutionary nine-part Floyd composition written by Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Rick Wright, featured on the 1975 concept album “Wish You Were Here.” The ubiquitous guitar was played on “Comfortably Numb,” released on Floyd’s 11th album “The Wall” (1979), and a year later as a single with “Hey You” as the B-side. Gilmour wrote the chorus progression and the two critically acclaimed guitar solos, and Waters penned the lyrics.
A glorious object to behold as a true work of fine art, “The Black Strat” is intrinsic to the rise of Pink Floyd on multiple studio recordings and live gigs throughout a dynamic and famed career.
Following a short stint on semi-permanent loan to the Hard Rock Cafe, Gilmour reclaimed “The Black Strat” for Floyd's reunion concert at Live 8 in London's Hyde Park in 2005, when more than 1,000 musicians joined for a concert broadcast on 182 television networks and some 2,000 radio networks. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid, the unrivaled event also organized by Bob Geldof, promoted G8 leaders to double 2004 levels of aid to poor nations from $25 billion to $50 billion by 2010, with half helping Africa. It was the quartet’s first performance together in more than 24 years, as Gilmour and Rogers had become so estranged that Geldof had to reconnect the two. Besides reuniting Waters and Gilmour, Live 8 also reinstating “The Black Strat” as Gilmour’s favorite for another decade.
The range of remarkable instruments on display is a testament to Gilmour’s love for his craft, and worth viewing by anyone with any passion for rock’s defining sound and symbol.
“These guitars have been very good to me and many of them have gifted me pieces of music over the years. They have paid for themselves many times over, but it’s now time that they moved on,” said Gilmour. “Guitars were made to be played and it is my wish that wherever they end up, they continue to give their owners the gift of music. By auctioning these guitars I hope that I can give some help where it is really needed and through my charitable foundation do some good in this world. It will be a wrench to see them go and perhaps one day I’ll have to track one or two of them down and buy them back.”
Proceeds from the auction benefit ClientEarth, Europe’s pioneering environmental law charity, which takes governments to court, forcing polluting industries to shut down, and protecting irreplaceable habitats and vulnerable species.
“This is a truly humbling and extraordinary gift, which goes beyond our wildest expectations,” ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said. “It’s difficult to express just how deeply grateful we are to David for choosing ClientEarth as the beneficiary of this historic auction. The law is one of the most powerful tools we have to tackle the world’s increasing environmental problems. This gift is a phenomenal boost to our work using the law to tackle climate change and protect nature. It will allow us to play an even greater role in addressing the climate crisis and securing a healthy planet for future generations.”
“David is very passionate about hunger and poverty,” Keane said in the interview. “ Davis is very erudite and reserved, with a dry sense of humor, but he is very passionate about these causes.”
“For the last half century David Gilmour’s guitar work has become part of the sound track in our collected popular culture,” said Keane. “His solos, both lyrical and layered with color, are immediately identifiable to critics and pop music fans as readily as the brushstrokes of Monet’s water lilies are to art historians. These instruments are unique in that they are the physical embodiment of David Gilmour’s signature sound throughout his over 50-year career. Like palette and brush, they are the tools of the trade for an iconic rock guitarist.”
