Hendrix’s white Fender Stratocaster, and Kurt Cobain’s Fender Jag-stang, the rock world is filled with iconic star guitars. And among them, David Gilmour is not an exception. As a lead guitarist of one of the most popular bands, Gilmour has a bunch of them.
As a leader in the psychedelic realm, David is the owner of many iconic guitars. Here is the story of Gilmour’s #0001 Stratocaster.
The serial number of his Fender Stratocaster is ‘#0001’. With the widely speculated assumptions that it was the very first Stratocaster that was made, well it isn’t. It was one of the first Stratocasters which was manufactured in the year 1954 but it is not the first one. The first Stratocaster was printed with the serial number 0100. It is currently owned by vintage guitar collector, George Gruhn.
Gilmour’s first bought the #0001 from one of Pink Floyd’s guitar techs, Phil Taylor. And it was back in the 70s. Also, Phil Taylor bought the guitar from Seymour Duncan a famous luthier and guitarist just a few years ago. It is revealed that Phil purchased the guitar for $900 but sold it to David for just $600. Back then, Gilmour lent the money to Phil so that he could buy a house. Gilmour remembered while speaking to Guitar Magazine,
“Eventually, Phil wanted to borrow some money to buy a house, so I blackmailed him! I said the only way I’d lend him the money to buy the house, was if he sold me the white Strat…”
After getting his hands on the guitar he has used the signature guitar on a bunch of different occasions. It is kind of rare for him to use that guitar in live performances. But looks like he has used it for recording sessions.
Gilmour used his signature #0001 on the 1979 album The Wall. He used it to record the guitar on ‘Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2’. It was said that it was plugged directly into the mixing console with no need for amps and mics. His guitar was also used on Wing’s album ‘Back to the Egg’ on the song, ‘Glad To See You Here’. The last known use of his signature #0001 was when David performed at Fender’s Strat Pack concert.
