TAKAMINE, NAKATSUGAWA, 1986

Since 1975 Takamine 12-string guitars have been popular among musicians for their tonal quality, playability and structural stability. Supplied directly by Takamine Guitars in 1987, this guitar was used by David Gilmour for around 200 performances of Welcome to the Machine, from Pink Floyd’s 1975 album Wish You Were Here, throughout the band's epic A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour from 9th September 1987 to 18th July 1989. Although Welcome to the Machine was not included on the 1988 live concert video and album Delicate Sound of Thunder, Gilmour can be seen playing the guitar in various amateur footage and photographs captured over the course of the tour. The guitar has since been set up as a nine-string, which allowed Gilmour to play both six-string and 12-string parts of Pink Floyd’s 1975 ballad Wish You Were Here on the same guitar at his lifelong friend Storm Thorgerson’s funeral in April 2013. Co-founder of design group Hipgnosis, Thorgerson was the graphic genius behind so many of Pink Floyd’s iconic album covers. Rock photographer Jill Furmanovsky captured the intimate performance.
As a 12-string, the guitar was also used by second guitarist Tim Renwick for performances of Wish You Were Here throughout the Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. Co-written by Gilmour and Roger Waters as the title track of their 1975 album, Gilmour had recorded the famous intro and instrumental passages on a 12-string guitar. Renwick made another appearance with the EF-400S at Knebworth on 30th June 1990, when Pink Floyd played Wish You Were Here as part of a one-hour set for a historic charity concert in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre. The guitar subsequently travelled with Renwick on Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell Tour from March to October 1994, recorded for the live concert video Pulse, released on VHS in 1995 and on DVD in 2006.