CHARVEL GUITARS, GLENDORA, 1981

An early instrument from the hand of Grover Jackson while at Charvel, this guitar was made in late 1981 and sent to Germany for the February 1982 Musikmesse Frankfurt. When in Hamburg two years later for a show at the Congress Centrum on 19th April 1984 as part of his About Face Tour, Gilmour admired the 1981 Charvel on the wall of Hamburg’s No.1 Music Centre and was disappointed to learn that it was not for sale. As Gilmour was determined to acquire the guitar for his collection, guitar technician Phil Taylor telephoned Grover Jackson in Los Angeles, who kindly negotiated a deal to build two guitars for owner Bernhard Kurzke free of charge in exchange for his relinquishing the Charvel to Gilmour. After modifications to the pickup and volume pot, Gilmour used the guitar for various live performances throughout the mid-1980s.
Gilmour was first seen playing the guitar throughout a performance with Pete Townshend’s short-lived supergroup Deep End at the Gala du Midem in Cannes, France, on 23rd January 1986 in support of Townshend’s solo concept album White City: A Novel. Filmed for the German television show Rockpalast, a live CD/DVD of the show was released in 2016. The following month, Gilmour strapped on the Charvel for a celestial performance of Comfortably Numb for a benefit concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on 9th February 1986 in aid of the Colombia Volcano Appeal. The live concert film Colombian Volcano Concert was released on VHS the following year. The guitar subsequently travelled with Gilmour on Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, used for performances of On the Turning Away during tour rehearsals at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on 7th August 1987 and for the band’s series of dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden from 5-7th October 1987.