.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Purchased from Ovation Instruments, Inc., New Hartford, Connecticut, in September 1976, this guitar was carried as a spare for Roger Waters' primary studio and stage Ovation during Pink Floyd’s In The Flesh Tour from January to July 1977 in support of their 1977 studio album Animals. At this time, both David Gilmour and Roger Waters relied on Ovations for touring due to their built-in electronics and sturdiness. In a 1978 interview with Circus magazine, Gilmour joked: They’re robust… and my daughter can kick them around.
As the Custom Legend that Waters had used on Animals had since been set up with hi-strung tuning (lot 17), Waters instead employed this Custom Legend, serial number 077453, during recording of the band’s next album The Wall at Super Bear Studios in the South of France from April to July 1979 and Producer's Workshop in Los Angeles from September to November 1979. Waters played the guitar to accompany his vocals on the track Mother, both in the recording studio and for live performances during the spectacular arena shows in support of the album. As the concept of The Wall had initially sprung from Waters’ hatred of the stadium experience, the exclusive arena tour consisted of only 31 dates in four cities - Los Angeles, New York, London and Dortmund in Germany - from February 1980 to June 1981. Numerous photographs exist of Waters playing this guitar on the tour, as well as murky footage of the 1980 shows at London’s Earls Court. Pink Floyd's London performances were recorded and released in 2000 on the live album Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81.
The guitar then travelled with Gilmour on the European leg of his 1984 About Face Tour from 31st March to 1st May 1984, in support of his second solo album About Face. Gilmour used the Custom Legend with a capo on the second fret for performances of Near The End, the final track on the album, and with the capo on the third fret for the song Murder, which had been inspired by the senseless death of John Lennon in 1980. Photographs by Rob Verhorst show Gilmour playing the guitar on stage at Vredenburg in Utrecht on 5th April 1984. Gilmour can also be seen playing the guitar in footage of the show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 30th April 1984, recorded for the live concert film and documentary Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, released on VHS in September 1984.
A decade later, the guitar was used with an EBow (an electric device designed to replicate a bowed effect on an electric guitar) during the recording sessions for the 1994 Pink Floyd album The Division Bell. Between 2013 and 2014, material from the 1993 recording sessions for The Division Bell were revisited, reworked and supplemented with new material for the last Pink Floyd album The Endless River. Played with an EBow, the guitar can be heard on the tracks Things Left Unsaid and Ebb and Flow. Released in November 2014 as a tribute to keyboardist Richard Wright, who had passed away in 2008, the predominantly instrumental album debuted at number one in the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, and Canada.
The guitar was last seen on stage during Gilmour’s Rattle That Lock Tour in support of his 2015 solo album Rattle That Lock, set up as a left handed hi-strung and played by musician João Mello for performances of In Any Tongue from 23rd September 2015 to 30th September 2016.
As the Custom Legend that Waters had used on Animals had since been set up with hi-strung tuning (lot 17), Waters instead employed this Custom Legend, serial number 077453, during recording of the band’s next album The Wall at Super Bear Studios in the South of France from April to July 1979 and Producer's Workshop in Los Angeles from September to November 1979. Waters played the guitar to accompany his vocals on the track Mother, both in the recording studio and for live performances during the spectacular arena shows in support of the album. As the concept of The Wall had initially sprung from Waters’ hatred of the stadium experience, the exclusive arena tour consisted of only 31 dates in four cities - Los Angeles, New York, London and Dortmund in Germany - from February 1980 to June 1981. Numerous photographs exist of Waters playing this guitar on the tour, as well as murky footage of the 1980 shows at London’s Earls Court. Pink Floyd's London performances were recorded and released in 2000 on the live album Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81.
The guitar then travelled with Gilmour on the European leg of his 1984 About Face Tour from 31st March to 1st May 1984, in support of his second solo album About Face. Gilmour used the Custom Legend with a capo on the second fret for performances of Near The End, the final track on the album, and with the capo on the third fret for the song Murder, which had been inspired by the senseless death of John Lennon in 1980. Photographs by Rob Verhorst show Gilmour playing the guitar on stage at Vredenburg in Utrecht on 5th April 1984. Gilmour can also be seen playing the guitar in footage of the show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 30th April 1984, recorded for the live concert film and documentary Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, released on VHS in September 1984.
A decade later, the guitar was used with an EBow (an electric device designed to replicate a bowed effect on an electric guitar) during the recording sessions for the 1994 Pink Floyd album The Division Bell. Between 2013 and 2014, material from the 1993 recording sessions for The Division Bell were revisited, reworked and supplemented with new material for the last Pink Floyd album The Endless River. Played with an EBow, the guitar can be heard on the tracks Things Left Unsaid and Ebb and Flow. Released in November 2014 as a tribute to keyboardist Richard Wright, who had passed away in 2008, the predominantly instrumental album debuted at number one in the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, and Canada.
The guitar was last seen on stage during Gilmour’s Rattle That Lock Tour in support of his 2015 solo album Rattle That Lock, set up as a left handed hi-strung and played by musician João Mello for performances of In Any Tongue from 23rd September 2015 to 30th September 2016.