David Gilmour’s 1983 Fender Stratocaster 57V (Cream)

David acquired this guitar in 1984, upon visiting the Fender warehouse in Enfield, Middlesex, and used it as his main guitar during the About Face tour from 31st March to 16th July 1984. He considered this guitar to be among the two best he picked that day, alongside a 62V Stratocaster finished in fiesta red.

You would think that these days with the sort of quality control they have that they’d be consistent, but they’re very inconsistent. I played through a lot of guitars and picked the best two. And the best two are great.

David Gilmour – International Musician, August 1984

David continued using this guitar on and off until the late 80s, when his red maple fretboard Strat became his main guitar, and the cream Strat was mainly carried on tour as a backup.

Around 1986, he also modified the cream Strat with a set of EMG SA pickups, alongside the SPC and EXG tone controls, in order to get rid of the noise produced by standard single-coil pickups.

Later on, around 2006, he took the neck of this guitar and installed it on to The Black Strat, where it remains to this day. The cream Strat was fitted with a neck that was until that point on the Black Strat, which was from another 57 reissue Stratocaster.

Auction

This guitar was auctioned in 2019, and it ended up selling for $275,000. To check out the auction page, which includes some high-res photos of the guitar and information regarding its history, visit – FENDER ELECTRIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY, FULLERTON, 1983 and 1989 – Christie’s.