A COMPOSITE SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, STRATOCASTER ELITE

Invited to the CBS Fender UK warehouse in Enfield, Middlesex, to trial Fender’s new reissue line, David Gilmour hand selected this guitar, serial number E325073, along with a 57V Stratocaster in Vintage White, serial number V015052 (lot 53), a 62V Stratocaster in Fiesta Red, serial number V007911, and a 52V Telecaster, serial number 2596. The accompanying note from the Fender warehouse, reading These guitars are all for Dave Gilmour, lists the four guitars to be put aside for collection. Following receipt of the guitars on 31st January 1984, the Elite was extensively modified to accommodate David Gilmour’s requirements, including the fitting of a custom 22 fret birdseye maple neck by Charvel Manufacturing, from the same batch as the neck that had been fitted to Gilmour’s primary Black Strat in 1982, and the fitting of a Kahler bridge to replace the stock Fender one. The flatter profile and additional fret enabled Gilmour to play a semitone higher at the top end. The guitar was carried on Gilmour’s 1984 About Face Tour as a spare for The Black Strat and thereafter kept for studio use.