Pink Floyd's David Gilmour auctioning off 120 guitars for charity

Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is selling off 120 guitars from his collection for charity at an auction that will take place at Christie’s in NYC this June. It includes his classic 1969 black Fender Stratocaster which he used on most Floyd albums in the ’70s, specifically including being played on “Comfortably Numb,” “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Money” and more. The auction benefits Gilmour’s long-running charitable foundation. “The money will be going to the larger needs of famine relief, homelessness and displacement of people throughout the world,” Gilmour told Rolling Stone. “We are going to work on the best way and the best balance of making what this raises do as much good on this planet as it can.” He talked more about the auction and the guitars he’s letting go of with RS:

I take it you’re not superstitious about having “the right guitar” for a certain song?

Guitars are special in what they give you, but I’m not overly sentimental about the qualities that some people think become imbued in one particular instrument itself. The guitars that I play on a lot tend to be the ones that are closest.

Let’s talk about the Black Strat. That has to be a hard one to say goodbye to.

You know something? For me, I can let go of it. It’s going to bring a lot of people to have a look at this sale, and it’s going to do that job. It’s a lovely guitar. It has been on pretty much all the Pink Floyd albums through the Seventies. It’s on Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall. I did my “Comfortably Numb” solo on it. The notes for the beginning of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” fell out of it one day. It’s on so much stuff, but Fender have made replica ones that they sell, and I have two or three of those that are absolutely perfect. One of those might be my future guitar of choice or even, horror of horror, maybe I’ll even change the color.

If you can’t afford to bid yourself, you can still check out his axes: a global tour of the collection will launch in London at Christie’s King Street (27-31 March), where the full collection will be on display. Highlights will then go on view in Los Angeles (7-11 May) before the New York sale preview (14-19 June). Learn more about the auction and the guitars at Christie’s.