Sunday 28 December 2008

Pink Floyd: The Black Strat: A History of David Gilmour's Black Fender Stratocaster

The Black Strat book is the first and only accurate and knowledgeable account of David Gilmour's favorite Stratocaster guitar. Written by Phil Taylor - David's personal guitar technician since 1974 - to coincide with the release of the long awaited and much requested Fender 'David Gilmour Signature Strat': an instrument replicating the look, set-up, sound and feel of David's famous black guitar as it is today. The chronological story begins with David Gilmour joining Pink Floyd in early 1968, his guitar at that time, his subsequent instruments leading to the purchase of the Black Strat in 1970, and the other guitars that have come and gone. The book details all of the changes and modifications made to the Black Strat, its use on Pink Floyd tours and iconic albums, David's solo projects, and various guest appearances throughout the years.
Customer Review: Pink Floyd: The Black Strat A history of David Gilmour's Black Fender Stratocaster
After reading this book in one sitting, it became an inspiration for me to build my own Gilmour black strat. It is a must for any fan of Pink Floyd as well as David Gilmour fan. A very detailed history of the guitar and it's owner and the various changes the guitar went through 'til it reached its current state. A wealth of pictures as well as info, so much as i said that i built my own gilmour strat. The only changes i made were in the neck, it is a C-shaped but a bit smaller to fit my hand, i did put a duncan ssl5 in the bridge, but instead of the fat 50's in the neck and 69 in the middle, i put 2 duncan ssl-3 in the neck and middle but the middle pickup is reverse wound, and instead of drilling a hole in the pickguard for the extra switch to turn on the neck pickup, i used a push-pull pot on the lower tone control to add the neck pickup. I decided to do the N.O.S version instead of the relic'd version. See if this book had that kind of inspiration for me, imagine what it may do for you. Go out and get it, enjoy yourself reading it, even if you don't build guitars.
Customer Review: David Gilmour's Black Strat-GRN
I, at first, scoffed at this story of David Gilmour's Black Strat; however, the more I thought about it, the more I believed that it would offer something of a storied journey. This proved to be a good historical read and journey of not only David and Phil Taylor, Daivid's Guitar Technician, but also of the journey of the Black Strat and several other Floydian Guitars. I am glad that I purchased and read this account.


Every guitar player that has ever been born lives for the day when he/she can pick up a vintage guitar. Vintage guitars are available in all major manufacturers and brands. But it's not only musicians and guitar enthusiasts that are attracted to these masterpieces. Vintage guitars can also be viewed as an investment.

You're probably saying to yourself right now "How can a guitar be an investment?", "Is buying a vintage guitar really a good investment?" Allow me to enlighten you a little. To the untrained eye, a guitar is a guitar. Now we aren't talking about the walls of instruments you see at Guitar Center or Sam Ash. We are talking about those special few extraordinary guitars that just scream to be torn into.

Guitars are a great investment for a few reasons. First, they are beautiful and command a room where they are displayed. Second, vintage guitars don't depreciate or lose value with time. On the contrary, these babies appreciate and gain value as they age, especially if they are kept up nicely. Third, they have superior tonality and action when played due to the quality workmanship that went into their construction.

Undoubtedly, the most popular is the Les Paul by Gibson. This guitar carries the name of the man who invented the solid body electric guitar. In the 1960's, the Les Paul was just about THE choice of instrument. These are still made today, but the older ones were made of superior materials like mahogany and oak. Some even had gold frets and mother of pearl inlays on the fret board.

Fender also has a stranglehold on a couple of highly sought after guitars, especially the Stratocaster, the Telecaster and the Thunderbird. These were favorites among blues and rock players alike. Again, the ones everybody wants were made in the 1950's and 1960's.

Certainly among the reigning Kings of vintage guitars are those made by the CF Martin company. Martin emigrated here from Europe in the late 19th century and set up shop in New York. The craftsmanship he imparted is not only extraordinary. It is absolutely earth shattering. Martin pioneered the X-bracing system for acoustic guitars adding years to the longevity of the instruments he made. Many Martin's are still in use at nearly 100 years old!

Guild is another vintage guitar that is vastly overlooked these days. Guild was only in operation for about 25 years and was bought by Fender in the 1990's. Some of the older Guild guitars are extremely rare and sought after as they exhibited the same quality as the Martin instruments of the same time period.

Every one of these guitar manufacturers has made an exceptional line of guitars. Players like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark and Les Paul have chosen them time and time again as their guitar of choice.

When bought as an investment, the vintage ones hold the possibility of giving a fantastic ROI (return on investment).

To see a collection of vintage guitars that are available right now, get on over to Vintage Guitar Zone and see what you can get your fingers around for a great price.

http://www.vintageguitarzone.com/investing

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Fender Custom Shop No Way Out Skull Studs Rocker Shirt. Black Short sleeve Button Front Fender Guitars Shirt

New Fully Licensed Mens Fender Guitar Tour Wear Shirt. Fabulous rock band stage wear shirt for Musicians or a just a great shirt for Fender Guitar lovers. Great Rocker shirt for those special nights on the town. From the Fender Custom Shop. This Design is Killer - it is called No Way Out. It is a short sleeve Black Cotton shirt with a small Fender Custom Shop Skull embroidery design on the front. The front features Fender Snap closures in a Rockabilly style. The back has a large print of the Fender Skull and crossed Fender Guitars Design and says Rock n Roll Religion on it. The Skull has Metal Studs in his eyes and there are Metal Studs between the words. Great for all musicians from Heavy Metal to Rockabilly and as a clubbing shirt for anyone. These shirts are new but made to look vintage with wicked cool detailing. Fabric is 100% Cotton for a soft comfortable fit and ease of care.Sizing on This Mens Short Sleeve Button Front Cotton Fender Guitar Shirt:Medium: 43 inch chest.Large: 45 inch chest.XL: 47 inch chest.XXL: 49 1/2 inch chest.


The two main choices in beginner electric guitars.

There can be a fair amount of disappointment when the wrong choice is made, and all it takes is a look through the guitar user reviews of popular beginner electric guitars to see the truth of it.

There are two main types of electric guitar, and they're the two most popular electric guitars available. They are the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster. These guitars sound totally different, in fact you could say that they are the two most distinct sounding electric guitars available.

I'm not saying that you should buy a Gibson or Fender to get the right sound for the kind of music you like, although that's certainly an option.

What I am saying though is that there are some excellent copies of Gibson Les Paul's and Fender Stratocasters that you might want to take a look at.

Let's first look at the Stratocaster as a beginners choice.

The Stratocaster is a very comfortable guitar design, with contouring to accommodate your strumming hand as well as your stomach. The main feature that makes a Stratocaster sound the way it does, is its pickup configuration.

The standard pickup configuration on a Strat is 3 single coil pickups, a 5 way pickup selector switch, one volume control and 2 tone controls.

The typical single coil pickup is made from 6 pole magnets, one for each string, around which copper wire is wound. When the guitar string vibrates, the magnetic flux of the magnet is disturbed and a corresponding electrical current is produced in the coil surrounding the magnets. That's the signal that gets sent out to the amplifier.

Single coil pickups typically sound very bright, and this is the signature sound of the Stratocaster. A good example of this is the guitar sound of Mark Knopfler on Sultans of Swing. Guitarists who's sound comes mainly from a Strat are Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Hank Marvin of The Shadows, Eric Clapton, and a whole list of other guitarists who's names would make this article way too long.

A lot of beginner guitarists complain about the Stratocaster, and the main reasons for this are:

1.) The Strat is best suited to clean sounds, and a lot of beginner guitar players become disappointed when they don't get a good distortion, or overdriven sound out of the guitar.

It is possible to get a good distorted rock tone out of a Stratocaster, but you need to know how to get a good guitar sound and tailor your sound to suit you. A beginner guitarist won't know how to do this and a Strat isn't very forgiving, mostly because of its treble sound.

If you're into heavy metal then this is not the beginner guitar for you.

2.) The single coil pickups you'll find on a beginners Strat, or any standard Stratocaster for that matter, will pick up a lot of electromagnetic interference from flourescent lights, TV's and computer monitors, and any other sources of electromagnetic radiation. There are ways around this, but it's important to remember that this problem only really shows itself when you put your guitar through a distortion unit.

The guitar was designed in the 1950's at a time when distorted guitar sounds weren't that common. Some of the more expensive models of Fender Stratocaster have improved pickup design that eliminates the electrical hum. This won't be on the beginner Stratocaster models.

Why the Stratocaster is still a good choice for a beginner electric guitar.

Despite the problems mentioned above, the Fender Strat still remains one of the most popular electric guitars available today.

The three single coil pickups that it has are capable of producing some beautiful shimmering clean tones, especially when the five way selector switch is in positions 2 or 4. These positions are also hum cancelling, but unfortunately don't lend themselves to a great rock guitar tone.

Of the 3 pickups, the one at the neck position is the most capable of producing a classic blues rock tone, and a very desirable one at that. The pickup that normally puts people off when it comes to rock guitar tone, is the bridge position. This is the brightest sounding pickup on the guitar.

I personally don't mind it too much, seeing as it adds a bit of chalkyness to the sound. A good solution here is to later buy what's known as a hotrail pickup and replace the one that's there. This will give you a fatter rock guitar tone without the hum.

Alternatives to the standard Stratocaster.

There is another alternative to the standard Stratocaster called the Fat Strat, which features a humbucking pickup at the bridge. If there's one saving grace for the beginner metal guitarist who wants to buy a Stratocaster, it's the Fat Strat.

Humbucking pickups are a special design of electric guitar pickup that eliminates outside electromagnetic interference. They are generally louder than single coil pickups and not as bright sounding.

By having a humbucker in the bridge position and two single coils in the other two, you've got a good combination for getting a decent rock tone in the bridge pickup as well as all the other classic Fender Strat tones.

Just one last thing about the standard Stratocaster. It has a tremelo system, but don't use it. There are a few people who know how to make these things stay in tune when used, but they're not telling. If you leave it alone, it'll leave you alone.

The Gibson Les Paul as a beginners electric guitar.

This has to be the ultimate symbol of heavy rock tone. Unlike the Strat, the Les Paul has a glued in neck, or set neck as it's sometimes called.

This neck to body joint has the effect of increasing the sustain of the guitar. Because of its more complex construction, the Les Paul is a bit more expensive to manufacture.

It's a heavy guitar that can become quite uncomfortable when standing and playing for a long time. It also has a thicker neck, depth wise, than many other guitars, which can also add a bit to the discomfort factor.

What makes the Les Paul a good rock guitar?

The same things that make the Gibson Les Paul uncomfortable to play are what make it sound so great for rock.

First of all, its made out of mahogany wood. Mahogany is an excellent tone wood for electric guitars as it has a lot of bass coupled with a distinctive upper midrange bite. What makes it uncomfortable with this guitar is that there's a lot of it.

A heavier body and thicker neck all made out of mahogany adds up to tons of sustain and great tone.

Your typical Les Paul guitar has two humbucking pickups - one in the bridge position and one in the neck position.

The only real downside to the Gibson Les Paul as far as sound goes, is that although one can sometimes get close to the sound of a Stratocaster, by using some simple electronic tricks, like splitting the humbucking pickups so they can do single coil sounds as well, It's never really quite the same.

To make sure your beginners electric guitar plays at its best, there are two resources you may want to look at. The first - Beginner Electric Guitars, what to look for which also deals with the Stratocaster, and the second - Rock guitars for beginners will show you the best value Les Paul copy

the fender stratocaster handbook pdf