The guitar, which Gilmour played on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall – where it featured on the iconic solo from Comfortably Numb – was sold as part of an auction of guitars belonging to the late Jim Irsay, former owner of NFL team the Indianapolis Colts, who died last year.
The black Strat was previously sold for $3,975,000 at another Christie's auction in 2022, during a sale of 127 items from Gilmour’s personal collection to raise money for ClientEarth, a group of lawyers and environmental experts fighting against climate change to protect nature and the environment.
Guitar World, who have been blogging live from the auction, report that other sales include a 1964 Rickenbacker owned by John Lennon ($1.27m), a 1964 Gibson SG used by George Harrison ($2.27m), a one-off Vox made for the Beatles in 1966 ($600k), Eric Clapton’s "The Fool" Gibson SG ($3m), the Fender Mustang played by Kurt Cobain on Smells Like Teen Spirit ($6m) and a Martin 000-42 acoustic guitar used by Eric Clapton used on his MTV Unplugged album ($4.1m).
David Gilmour explains his Guitars Collection
David Gilmour explains the Pink Floyd' sound by talking of his guitars and stuff - watch all videos and pics.
His sound has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine at number 14 on their list of the greatest guitarists of all time.
As for gear, David is mostly known for playing Fender Stratocaster(s). Perhaps his best known guitar is a 1969 model with black finish and matching pickguard, which he started using around 1970. In the 80s he mostly relied on 57′ Stratocaster reissue models, and on his solo album he 1995 Fender Esquire nicknamed “Workmate”. One piece of equipment that is perhaps David’s signature thing is the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, which he used extensively over the years.
