1957 Re-issues

By Richard Mahon

In this column, I'll be examining Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's gear and playing techniques from a musicians point of view. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions and ideas for future articles at RichM66@Compuserve.com if you feel you have an idea that readers of Spare Bricks might find of interest. Past articles are posted here.

April 30, 1984

With his second solo album About Face completed, David Gilmour began to plan his first solo tour. He'd had many guitars stolen during his years of touring with Pink Floyd and didn't want to run the risks involved in taking his older, more valuable guitars on the road.

In the meantime, a group of executives from the early years of Fender purchased the Fender guitar company back from CBS. One of their first moves was to create re-issues of two of Fender's most distinctive models of the Fender Stratocaster - the 1957 and the 1962 Stratocaster.

Gilmour went to visit the Fender factory in Fullerton, California in early 1984 with the intention of buying Fender's new re-issue guitars to take on the road with him for his upcoming tour. He spent the day playing various guitars and settled on six re-issues.

These guitars are first seen on the video of Gilmour's performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, April 30, 1984. He begins with a creme colored '57 re-issue then immediately switches to a '62 Candy Apple Red re-issue for the 2nd song. The creme '57 is re-issue used for the majority of the show.

July 13, 1985

Gilmour appeared with the Bryan Ferry band at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London, July 13, 1985. When the first song in the set begins, Gilmour is playing what appears to be a sunburst '57 re-issue. He's forced to switch guitars when the guitar fails. The guitar he switches to is the earliest documented appearance of Gilmour's signature '57 Candy Apple Red re-issue, with EMG pickups.

Gilmour's long time guitar tech Phil Taylor encouraged Gilmour to try the EMG setup. Important parts to Gilmour's EMG setup are the SPC (a mid-range booster) and the EXG (which cuts the midrange and raises the high and low end.) This is similar to having a graphic equalizer built into the guitar. The pickups are internally grounded and active (running on a 9-volt battery.). They do not hum like passive single coil pickups will. This could've become a major problem with the mass of wires and lighting equipment that surround Gilmour during every show.

This setup was used on two guitars at the start of the 1987 tour for A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. The creme '57 re-issue could be the same guitar used on the About Face tour with different pickups. Gilmour would alternate between this guitar and the Candy Apple Red guitar in the early dates of the tour. As the tour progressed, he began to use the Candy Apple Red '57 re-issue exclusively.

Richard Mahon is a Spare Bricks Staff Writer