David Gilmour has been showcasing the guitars he used to record – one of which is a vintage Gretsch Duo Jet he refused to part ways with at auction. In 2019, Gilmour sold a huge number of , and other guitar gear as part of . At the time, it was the most comprehensive sale of guitars ever offered at auction, and raised a total sum of $21,490,750.
The standout lot of the auction was the Pink Floyd legend’s iconic Black , which ended up going for $3,975,000. It currently still sits as . One guitar that was notably absent from the sale was a 1950s Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet, which, along with just a small handful of other exceptions, Gilmour simply couldn’t bear to sell.
“I’ve had it since the mid-’70s. It’s got a very particular sound to it, a very hi-fi sort of sound. I just, basically, didn’t want to sell it,” Gilmour says in a new video posted on YouTube.
“They’re quite hard to come by. “I can’t really explain what it is about a guitar that makes it special. This one is definitely different.
The tonality of these particular pickups in this guitar is just very different.” It’s rather telling that Gilmour sold the Black Strat, but decided to hold on to the Gretsch. It’s clearly indicative of the affection the guitarist has for the instrument, which was used on Gilmour’s first solo album in 1978, on the track .
Perhaps more notably, he used the guitar onstage in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall to perform the solo of . Gilmour had previously made clear h.