Gilmour, Guitars & Gear

David Gilmour In Concert DVD

by Richard Mahon

In this column, I'll be examining Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's gear and playing techniques from a musician's point of view. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions and ideas for future articles if you feel you have an idea that readers of Spare Bricks might find of interest. Past articles are now posted at http://web.tampabay.rr.com/richm/sbarchive.htm.

David Gilmour In Concert was released on November 5, 2002.

David Gilmour's recent DVD release was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England on June 22, 2001. A series of concerts were also played at the same venue in January 2002. Three tracks from these shows were added to the end of the DVD.

The main acoustic guitar (as pictured on the cover) is a Taylor 712C with a Fishman piezo system and an internal Sony ECM 66 microphone. The signal was split; one half went to the mixing board then the other half was sent to a Pete Cornish pedalboard then into a Fender tweed Deluxe amp. This guitar was used on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," "Terrapin," "Fat Old Sun," "Coming Back To Life," "Je Crois Entrende Encore," "Smile" "Wish You Were Here," "The Dimming Of The Day" (in drop-D tuning), and "Hushabye Mountain."

Gilmour's long-time effects specialist Pete Cornish created an all tube pedalboard. When the effects were turned off Gilmour wanted the sound to be exactly the same as when he plugged his guitar straight into his amp. The effects included a Boss CS-2 Compression/Sustainer, a Pete Cornish G-2 Fuzz, an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, a Pete Cornish Soft Sustain-2, a Chandler Tube Driver, a Pete Cornish Custom Stereo Chorus using a modified Boss CE-2 and a Pete Cornish Tape Echo Simulator (TES,) that is modeled after the Boss DD-2 Digital Delay circuitry with a modification--a tone control to darken the sound of the repeats.

Gilmour wanted a very long delay to take the place of the synthesizers that usually played at the beginning of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." A Roland SDE-300 provided a long delay that ran to a volume pedal. The signal was then sent into a Fender Stereo Passport PA amplifier. This allowed Gilmour to play the opening of the song over the sustained chords that had been sent to the delay system. An AER Acoustic Amp, with the Fender Passport P.A., was used to monitor the acoustic guitar sounds on stage.

Both versions of "Comfortably Numb" featured Gilmour playing the same high-strung Ovation acoustic guitar that he used in the recording sessions for The Wall. The two guitar solos were played with a black, late-50's Gretsch Duo-Jet, which was also used on "A Great Day For Freedom" and "Breakthrough."

The lap steel guitar that was used in "High Hopes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond parts VI -VII" was a Gibson EH-150.

Jose Vilaplana built the nylon string guitar that was used during "High Hopes."

Gilmour used a prototype Martin D-28 with a cutaway for the Bonus Tracks from January 2002. The electronics are the same as the other acoustics except for a Seymour Duncan sound-hole pickup, which ran through the Cornish board for electric guitar tones. A 1956 Fender tweed Twin amp was used for the additional shows. This setup was used for "Dominoes."

Richard Mahon is a staff writer for Spare Bricks.