The Guitar Gear used by David Gilmour to record Pink Floyd’s The Wall
The Wall is one of the most iconic and beloved guitar albums of all time, despite what many critics thought when it was released in 1979. Pink Floyd’s ultimate concept album might have been Roger Waters’ idea, but the scope and ambition of the thing gave the band’s six-string architect, David Gilmour, greater freedom to explore and push the boundaries with new guitars and effects that would ultimately come to be hugely influential in their own right.
READ MORE: The Gear Used By David Gilmour on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
The Wall’s tour was almost as legendary, creating one of the most ambitious and theatrical spectacles seen in rock music at that time, while also showcasing Gilmour’s brilliance as a sonic innovator outside of the studio environment – but what gear was he actually using to create such timeless cuts as Comfortably Numb? Read on…
What guitars were used on Pink Floyd’s The Wall?
While Gilmour did explore more with other instruments, the centrepiece of his sound remained The Black Strat – his iconic mongrel guitar that would go on to become one of the most expensive guitars ever sold. That guitar would evolve throughout Gilmour’s career, and during the recording sessions for The Wall, it was still a 1969 black alder body with a black pickguard and a Charvel flamed maple neck. The guitar featured stock Fender single coils in the neck and middle positions (dated 1971) and a DiMarzio FS-1 in the bridge position. The Strat also had a toggle to allow the use of the neck and bridge pickup combination, which would come in handy on the solo for Comfortably Numb.
Gilmour kept a backup for this guitar – a 1959 sunburst Stratocaster with a 1963 neck with a rosewood fretboard. This guitar had stock Fender pickups and a white pickguard. Gilmour is believed to have been gifted this guitar by Steve Marriott of Humble Pie/Small Faces in 1970. The neck from this guitar would, at one point, also end up on his Black Strat.
Gilmour also used a heavily worn sunburst 1955 Esquire that he got from Seymour Duncan sometime in the mid-70s for The Wall. That guitar featured an ash body and a maple neck, as were the stock specs for 1955, and the majority of the road-wear on the body was from Seymour Duncan himself. That wear would lead Gilmour to give it the nickname “The Workmate.” It had been modified with a custom Seymour Duncan Stratocaster pickup in the neck position. This guitar was used on tracks like Run Like Hell and Young Lust.
David Gilmour and Roger Waters during Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour in August 1980. Image: Pete Still/Redferns
It wasn’t just Fenders in the studio either – also on deck was a recently aquired 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with P-90s, which was used on the Another Brick In The Wall (pt.2) solo. This was another of Gimour’s guitars that was sold at auction in 2019, but this time for a modest modest $447,000.
Also used were a Fender Bass VI, a 1959 sunburst Telecaster Custom with a rosewood neck, again with a custom Stratocaster pickup in the neck position. A lap steel and pedal steel were also used on the record – the lap steel was a Jedsen, which was basically a copy of a Fender Deluxe lap steel made in the 1970s, and the pedal steel was a 10-string ZB, built by renowned builder, Zane Beck.
Four acoustic guitars can be heard across the album, consisting of a pair of Ovations and a pair of Martins. The Ovation Custom Legend 1619-4 acoustic steel string guitar is perhaps best known for providing the Nashville (high octave) tuning on the song Comfortably Numb. There was also an Ovation 1613-4 acoustic nylon string guitar, a Martin D12-28 12-string acoustic guitar, and a Martin D-35 across the record.
What amps were used on Pink Floyd’s The Wall?
In terms of amplification, Gilmour’s choice was very unique and very 1970s – the guitars were run through an Alembic F-2B tube preamp and a 100-watt Hiwatt DR103, equipped with four Mullard EL34 power tubes and four ECC83 preamp tubes. The speaker cabinets were WEM Super Starfinder 200s with Fane Crescendo speakers. Gilmour also used a Yamaha RA-200 rotary speaker, which was introduced in 1976. This was, essentially, a solid-state 200-watt version of a Leslie rotary speaker cabinet. The fact that they were solid state enabled the band to use them on tour as they were more reliable.
What guitar effects were used on Pink Floyd’s The Wall?
Back in the late 70s, the effects fad of the day was to get some technologically minded person to take the circuits of your favourite pedals and wire them into a large custom-built unit – a distinctly analogue forerunner of the digital multi-effects units that would come along in the following decade.
Gilmour was at the forefront of this, who had several custom-built units created for him by effects legend Pete Cornish. However, Gilmour’s “studio board” was completed by Cornish in February of 1979, and recording for The Wall took place between December 1978 and November 1979, so while it didn’t actually get used for recording, it’s likely many of the effects that Gilmour used in the studio were removed from their cases and incorporated into this board.
Pink Floyd during The Wall tour in August 1980. Image: Rob Verhorst/Redferns
The Pete Cornish board contained the following effects, in order: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Electro Harmonix Big Muff, Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress, MXR Dynacomp, MXR Phase 90, Pete Cornish (ST-2) Treble and Bass Booster, Pete Cornish custom vibrato pedal, Pete Cornish custom volume pedal. Gilmour also used an MXR Digital Delay System I, but that was not built into the custom pedalboard.
For the elaborate and grandiose stage setup for The Wall’s live production, the band employed another important tool, Ken Schaffer’s SVDS wireless unit. The stage was actually so massive that it forced Schaffer to invent another tool – the world’s first wireless in-ear monitors. We know that Gilmour used the SVDS in the studio, just as other bands such as AC/DC and Van Halen would do in the ensuing years.
After speaking with Ken Schaffer, it sounds like the first SVDS units were delivered to the band prior to the recording of the album, and it is entirely possible that they may have been used during the recording. These units essentially functioned as an effect due to the function of companding used to transmit and receive the signal. They also contained a preamp that would boost the signal. AC/DC had used these units in the studio as an effect on 1979’s Highway to Hell album, and it’s possible that Pink Floyd may have used them on The Wall record as well.
The Wall remains one of the landmark albums in classic rock, largely thanks to the imagery – the massive stage production, the nature of the concept album, and the accompanying film. But the sounds on the album are still a holy grail for tone chasers today.
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