In a recent video, David Gilmour cited his belief that vintage guitars will always sound better than their modern counterparts.
Speaking about his beloved 1945 Martin D-18 acoustic guitar as part of a YouTube series that sees the Pink Floyd guitarist detailing the guitars that feature on his forthcoming album, he’s provided evidence for his argument.
“No new guitar sounds quite as good as an old one in my experience,” he says with the Martin – that’s “older than me” – in his lap.
“I think a guitar like this gets better and better with age, maybe something the glue that's holding it all together, and these different pieces of wood gradually come in harmony with each other over years of playing.”
Granted, the 78-year-old is simply stating his opinion. But given the fact that his vast guitar collection – some of which sold for a record-breaking $21m during a Christie's auction in 2019 – includes a staggering amount of instruments, he can certainly talk with a degree of authority.
The other guitars thus far showcased by Gilmour ahead of the release of his fifth solo album – Luck & Strange, which arrives in September – includes ‘Alice,’ a late '70s acoustic named after his daughter built for him by luthier Tony Zemaitis.
Zemaitis has been dubbed the “king of custom-made guitars”, having built instruments for Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Ronnie Wood.
This particular guitar was commissioned for Gilmour's children to learn to play on, but “it was so nice and so beautiful that I didn't let them play it.”
The others were his Rickenbacker Frying Pan lap guitar, which features on lead single Piper's Call and Velvet Nights, and a black Gretsch electric guitar which he's owned since the mid-'70s and has “a very particular hi-fi sound.”
It’s noticeable, then, that all these guitars were crafted some decades ago, backing up his theory.
Even ‘Alice’, which the guitarist fell in love with when he first played it, was ultimately “forgotten” until it came to writing his latest record, presumably with older builds taking his fancy instead.
It isn't the first time he's championed the aura of older guitars, however. In 2019, he told Guitar World: “I do unrepentantly like the old ones. Older instruments have a tonality of their own that often takes years to develop.”
And so, his latest solo release is rich with vintage instruments. His first solo LP since 2015’s Rattle That Lock, it was produced by Gilmour and Charlie Andrew (ALT-J, Marika Hackman).
Contrary to his vintage-honoring instrumentation, he has praised Andrew for his “lack of respect” for the guitarist’s heritage. Gilmour said that Andrew's challenges to his creative decisions elevated the record.
“We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, ‘Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?’ and ‘Do they all fade out? Can’t some of them just end?’,” Gilmour reflects.
“He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine. He’s very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you.”
The album features eight new songs, including a reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ Between Two Points, with the title track featuring late Pink Floyd keyboardist, Richard Wright.
His contributions were taken from the recording of a 2007 jam in a barn at Gilmour’s house. It represents a final tribute from Gilmour to his former bandmate.
Polly Samson, Gilmour’s co-writer over the past thirty years, penned most of the record’s lyrics, with Gilmour talking up her contributions to the record, helping unshackle him from his past.
- David Gilmour's Luck & Strange is set for a September 6 release via Sony Music. It can be pre-ordered here.
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