David Gilmour’s white Stratocaster

When David joined Pink Floyd in early 1968, he played a blonde Fender Telecaster. The guitar had been a gift from his parents a year earlier.

The Telecaster was used on the Saucerful of Secrets recording sessions and on several live and TV-shows during the spring of 1968. However the guitar got lost on the band’s visit to the States later that summer.

– (left) One early shot of the white Stratocaster at the L’antenne du Chapiteau du Kremlin-Bicetre, Paris, France, October 31 1968. (right) David and the white Strat pictured at Leeds University, Leeds, UK February 28 1970.

Luckily, a couple of days prior to that same US tour, David received a mid 60’s white Fender Stratocaster as a gift from the band.

The guitar can be dated to 1966-67 when the first large headstock models appeared, but before the bullet truss rod. It has an olympic white body with a white pickguard and rosewood neck. The pickups were stock Fender late 1960s.

The Stratocaster made its debut at the the free concert in Hyde Park, June 29 1968 and David brought it with him to his first US tour with the band some weeks later.

The guitar was used extensively throughout the latter part of 1968, the whole of 1969 and early months of 1970. Unfortunatley it got stolen in New Orleans, USA, on May 16th 1970, along with all of Pink Floyd’s backline.

Although most of the equipment was later returned to the band, David’s guitars were still missing. Later that same month, David stopped by Manny’s Music in New York and bought what is later known as his Black Strat.