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David Gilmour's 'Black Strat' Officially The Most Expensive Guitar Ever Sold

Mary Varvaris

Gilmour played the guitar on classic Pink Floyd records such as 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' and 'The Wall.'

David Gilmour
David Gilmour(Credit: Polly Samson)
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David Gilmour’s legendary Black Fender Stratocaster is officially the most expensive guitar ever sold for the second time, going for $14,550,000 (plus fees) at a Christie’s Auction House in New York this week. A portion of the sale will go towards charities.

The Pink Floyd guitarist, co-vocalist and songwriter played the Black Strat on the beloved records The Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall, Animals, and Wish You Were Here. Louder Sound reports that his old guitar was sold at an auction of guitars belonging to Jim Irsay, the former owner of the NFL team, the Indianapolis Colts, following his passing last year.

In 2022, the Black Stratocaster was sold for $3,975,000 at a separate Christie’s Auction. At the time, it was one of 127 items Gilmour sold from his collection, with proceeds going to ClientEarth.

Guitar.com notes that the Black Strat “more than doubles” the previous record of the most expensive guitar ever sold: Kurt Cobain’s acoustic guitar, the Martin D-18E, which was performed during Nirvana’s timeless MTV Unplugged gig.

In 2020, that guitar went for $6,010,000. Cobain’s Mustang guitar, which appeared in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video, was previously the most expensive electric guitar, with a figure of $6,907,000.

Guitar World followed other sales from the Christie’s auction, which saw a 1964 Rickenbacker owned by John Lennon go for $1.27 million, George Harrison’s 1964 Gibson SG sell for $2.27 million, and Eric Clapton’s Gibson SG and Martin acoustic guitar get picked up for $3 million and $4.1 million, respectively.

In 2019, David Gilmour broke “world auction records” after letting go of several of his famous guitars for the climate-change charity ClientEarth. The auction raised $US 21,490,750, with over 66 countries taking part.

“I’m so blown away at how brilliantly well last night’s auction of my guitars went at Christie’s in New York,” Gilmour remarked in a statement.

“And also, many, many thanks to everyone who bought a guitar, who bid, visited the exhibition or even bought a programme. A huge thank you to Christie’s for the incredible job they’ve done. And thanks too to my long-term guitar tech, Phil Taylor, who has looked after these guitars so well for so many years.”