Fender is soon to release an extra special guitar. They will be recreating the guitar belonging to David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. On September 22, 2008, the specially crafted guitar will hit stores, just before the release of Live in Gdansk. The guitar will be called the Black Strat.
The guitar has been long in the making, almost two years of discussion. Several versions have been created, but Gilmour is part of the project and makes the final decision. Several elements weren't perfect to the sound of his custom guitar used for over 30 years. Each part was carefully selected and made, so once released, copies will be easy to tell.
The guitar has no confimed retail price as of yet. However, Fender would like to make the guitar affordable and not a limited edition. The guitar at first may be hard to find as it will take some time to produce mass quantities of this guitar. But Fender is hoping it won't take long for customers to get their hands on the historic sounding instrument.
When purchased, the guitar made famous by David Gilmour will come in a hard shelled case along with a slew of extra items to enjoy the purchase thoroughly. Inside, buyers will find David Gilmour strings, a 3 disc version of the new album Live in Gdansk, a leather strap and a cable to connect to an amp. Other items will be included as well.
The "Black Strat" was customized by Gilmour and features many similar pieces to make the right sound. It features a maple neck with a nitro-cellulose finish to give it a clean shine. The body is made with the same design as the late 60's style. Uniquely, there is an extra switch to make the neck pickup added to the bridge or middle pickup. This is the same switch used on Gilmour's guitar for the extra tones.
The pickups were carefully selected by David himself to duplicate the exact sound of his guitar used to make famous his hits in Pink Floyd such as "Another Brick In The Wall" or "Comfortably Numb." The pickups are custom wound. The arm has been shortened as well, which was one of the changes David made on his own version of this guitar.