Just read that one of my fav solo's was played on a charvel!

[Bryan]

He used a 25th anniversary Charvel in 1986 eh?

umm errr I mean....

I guess that would be a first anniversary Charvel then. Or something like that.....

[Tekky]

Bryan Adams played one too a black strat head.His guitar player had one too.

I was in a guitar store that was playing a Tina Turner concert, Bryan Adams came out with it.

[John C]

Yep - The Black Strat had a Charvel neck, a humbucker and a Kahler at efferent points in it's life.

Actually the Black Strat had 2 different Charvel necks - it was a 21-fret maple-board neck during "The Wall" era (put on during the recording of the album and for the tour), then there was a 22-fret birdseye maple neck put on at the same time the Kahler was added. In that configuration the guitar was used on "The Final Cut" and also on "About Face". That was the configuration of the Black Strat that was on display at the Hard Rock for about 10 years. Gilmour was okay with loaning it out because he switched over to the '57 Reissue Fenders while recording and touring after "About Face".

When the humbucker was on the guitar (between "Meddle" and "DSOTM" if I'm not mistaken) the guitar actually had 4 pickups - it was a Gibson humbucker put between the middle and bridge pickups under the pickguard. It only lasted for a few months before it was removed.

[Grandturk]

When the humbucker was on the guitar (between "Meddle" and "DSOTM" if I'm not mistaken) the guitar actually had 4 pickups - it was a Gibson humbucker put between the middle and bridge pickups under the pickguard. It only lasted for a few months before it was removed.

Yeah - I saw that in the "Black Strat" book - I think the pickup even had the cover on it. It's amazing to me that the same people who piss and moan about what Dave Murray "did" to Kossoff's white strat have no problem with what Gilmour did to his strat.

[cvansickle]

I just found out that dave gilmour played the "comfortably numb" solo on a 81 charvel neck(no wonder he played so great! LOL!)
To bad DG didnt' keep using charvels? With players like him and gary moore playing charvels it would shut up the people who say ignorant statements like "charvel is just for shredders and not bluesy feel players" anybody else play a charvel that is not a shredder? I know beck piayed a jackson soloist

So, Gilmour is a time traveler?

The Wall was released in 1979... wonder where he got the '81?

[John C]

So, Gilmour is a time traveler?

The Wall was released in 1979... wonder where he got the '81?

I think the OP got his wires crossed - the 1981 neck was the 22-fret model that was on the guitar when it was loaned out to the Hard Rock Cafe; the 1979 neck (which the solo was played on) was the 21-fret model. I think that the original Black Strat has had 6-7 necks at various times; since I only flipped through the book this is all I remember:

1. Original 1969 maple-cap (separate fingerboard) neck with large headstock
2. Early '60s rosewood fingerboard neck (this was on for DSOTM through the Animals tour)
3. Charvel neck #1 - 1-piece maple neck with 21 frets, installed during The Wall sessions
4. Charvel neck #2 - 1-piece birdseye maple neck with 22 frets, installed before The Final Cut sessions
5. Fender American Vintage '57 reissue neck - a replacement neck ordered from Fender (back when they still sold replacement parts) circa 1999
6. Fender U.S. '57 Reissue neck - taken from the 1983 vintage white Fender '57 Reissue used during About Face sessions and tour and was Gilmour's #1 passive pickup Strat for recording in the 1980/early 1990s

I'm sure I'm missing a neck here and there also - there might have been a large headstock rosewood board neck in between the original maple neck and the pre-CBS rosewood board neck.

The late-1990s '57 Reissue neck is (was?) a proper '57 small "V" shape; Gilmour actually preferred the 1983 neck shape which is a shallow narrow-shoulder "C" shape (not quite a "V" but not a round "C" either) that CBS Fender was using for both the '57 and '62 models circa 1982-1984. After FMIC restarted USA Fender production in 1986 the shape gradually got more "accurate" over the years; the current version dates to 1998 as is a pretty good average of the smaller '57 v-neck shape. The "incorrect" shape is what Fender copied for the Gilmour signatures.