Gilmourish

Speaking of David Gilmour, I recently found a site called Gilmourish.com, which is a fan site written by Bjorn Riis and is devoted to all things David Gilmour. Bjorn claims that Glimourish is “the largest David Gilmour gear resource on the net” and I think he’s probably right. There is a ton of information about David’s gear throughout the years, including a description of his guitars, amps, and effects. Riis not only covers the gear that David used in the recording studio, but also the gear that he used for live performances.

Not only does Riis cover David’s gear, but he has a series of posts about how you can get similar guitar tones. For example, he gives some tips on buying a new guitar, such as selecting and upgrading Fender Stratocasters.

Gilmourish is a very well done site, and I encourage you to check it out if you’re a fan of Pink Floyd or David Gilmour. There’s even some backing tracks you can use when playing some of Pink Floyd’s biggest hits.

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Pink Floyd: The Black Strat

Last September, I posted about Phil Taylor’s book Pink Floyd: The Black Strat: A History of David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster about David Gilmour’s famous black Fender Stratocaster. Since that post, I have picked up a copy of the book, and it’s a very interesting look at Gilmour’s Strat through the years.

The guitar has gone through several neck and pickup changes throughout the years, and the changes are chronicled along with a nice collection of photographs of Gilmour and Pink Floyd during their heyday as well as today. The photographs alone make this book well worth the money, but the descriptions are also fantastic. If you’re a fan of David Gilmour or of Fender Stratocasters, you’ll enjoy this book.

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David Gilmour Live at Gdansk

Live at Gdansk

Last week, I met some friends at a local movie theater for a showing of David Gilmour’s Live at Gdansk DVD. I’ve been on a bit of a David Gilmour kick over the past few weeks, and I’ve recently watched Gilmour’s Remember That Night - Live at Royal Albert Hall and Pink Floyd’s Pulse. So, I was pretty pumped to see this new DVD.

Much like the Live at Royal Albert Hall DVD, the Live at Gdansk DVD includes many great Pink Floyd hits, as well as performances of songs from Gilmour’s latest album On an Island. In addition to Gilmour’s touring band, the DVD features the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, which adds an interesting touch to the music.

Overall, I thought this was a very good concert recording. Gilmour, as always, is great, and the band is also very good. However, having recently seen Remember That Night - Live at Royal Albert Hall, I can’t help but compare the two DVDs, and the Royal Albert Hall concert was better, in my opinion.

My first impression of the Live at Gdansk concert was that it took Gilmour a song or two to really get going. And, his playing, while tasteful as always, lacked a little bit of the spark that was in the Royal Albert Hall concert. By any standards, his playing was still great, but just not quite as crisp and sharp as in the Royal Albert Hall show.

That being said, I still really enjoyed the Live at Gdansk show and would recommend it to any fan of Pink Floyd and David Gilmour. However, if you haven’t seen Remember that Night - Live at Royal Albert Hall, I would recommend getting that DVD first.

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Fender David Gilmour Mini-Site

Fender has launched a mini-site for the release of the NOS and Relic David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocasters. The mini-site has a lot of great features, including a timeline of the guitar, details about the guitars, the story behind the guitars, and media from Gilmour’s recent Live at Gdansk DVD.

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The Black Strat

The Black Strat

The Black Strat, the book about David Gilmour’s legendary black Stratocaster by Gilmour’s long-time guitar tech Phil Taylor, is being released by Hal Leonard on Monday, September 22. The book has been expanded and revised for this second edition.

The release of the book is to coincide with the release of Gilmour’s new 2CD/2DVD set, Live at Gdansk. Also, Fender will be releasing the David Gilmour Signature Stratocasters on Monday, so it’s a big day for Gilmour!

Unfortunately, I’m sure it’ll also be a bittersweet day for Gilmour, as Pink Floyd founder Richard Wright passed away this week. In an odd coincidence, my father-in-law has been in town for the past few weeks, and we’ve watched several Pink Floyd/Gilmour DVDs, where Wright is featured prominently.

For more information about The Black Strat, visit the official Web site for the book.

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David Gilmour Stratocaster

DavidGilmour.com is reporting that a Fender Custom Shop David Gilmour Stratocaster, which is modeled after Gilmour’s famous Black Strat, will be released on September 22, 2008. The release is scheduled to coincide with the release of Gilmour’s “Live in Gdansk” album, which will also be released on September 22.

Here’s what DavidGilmour.com has to say about the guitar:

In the two years that the guitar has been in discussion, a number of prototypes have been produced, and the final version was only approved when David was happy that all elements combined to make a sound that was as close as possible to his own guitar’s. The ‘Black Strat’ comes in a hard case (by G&G) stuffed with extras: Phil Taylor’s ‘Black Strat’ book, a set of GHS David Gilmour Boomer strings, a copy of the 3-disc version of Live In Gdańsk, a cable by Evidence Audio, a deluxe Fender leather strap, and a David Gilmour plectrum. The interior of the case is a plush green, including embroidered David Gilmour and Fender Custom Shop logos.

There will be two models: a relic model and a ‘New Old Stock’ model:

• The ‘Relic’, which replicates the ‘Black Strat’ as it is today with aged parts and worn paint, plus all the wear and tear of David’s heavily-used 30-year-old guitar – with no backplate.
• The ‘New Old Stock’ model, which replicates the ‘Black Strat’ as it is now – but with all-new parts, ‘new’ paint finish and an additional white plastic backplate. The NOS model should be found at a lower retail price than the ‘Relic’.

Looks nice!

* Photo credit: DavidGilmour.com

(via Strat-o-Blogster)

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