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THE BLACK STRAT PROJECT

After playing various guitars for many years it became obvious Fender Strats were my favorites, and the guitars I played the most often. They are the most comfortable to play and have a very versatile sound. I liked different elements from each of the Fenders I have owned over the years, but I really wanted one that had everything I liked in one guitar, and that “David Gilmour“ tone, so I set out to assemble one on my own. I researched David Gilmour's famous Black Strat and, in the end, I decided that was basically the type of Strat I wanted.

I always loved the look of David's Black Strat - black body and black pickguard - and my first Strat was all black, so I wanted to keep that look. I like feel of the “C” shaped strat necks better than the "V" shape. I also like the feel and the snappier tone I get from the maple neck on my Fender telecaster a bit better than the darker sounding rosewood necks on my old black Strat. I decided my new Strat would have a maple neck/fretboard. Gilmour has used both, but his Black Strat currently also has a maple fretboard with a C shaped neck. For pickups, I have used bluesy sounding SCN (Samarium Cobalt Noisless) pups and Gold Lace Sensors in the past, but I wanted to try some more vintage sounding neck and middle pups, and a hotter bridge pup closer to what Gilmour uses. I liked the bluesy Gilmour sounding SCN neck pup in my crimson Deluxe Strat, and I got a similar neck sound to Gilmour from the lace sensor neck pup in my 80's black strat, but they were not dead on to the sound I like so I tried out some other vintage style pickups, including the ones Gilmour uses.

Below is how I assembled my new strat, step-by-step, including all the tips and gear needed for you to make one. Another great resource on building your own Gilmourized Black Strat is gilmourish.com, or you could just buy one of the Fender Signature Series David Gilmour Black Strat replicas Fender produced in 2008.

PHOTOS OF THE VARIOUS INCARNATIONS OF DAVID GILMOUR'S BLACK STRAT

First, here is a bit of history about the Black Strat. David Gilmour bought this guitar from the famous Manny's Music store in New York City in 1970 as a replacement for several guitars which were stolen just six weeks prior while touring with Pink Floyd, including David's first black Stratocaster. This replacement was a late '60s model strat with a factory black finish painted over the original sunburst factory finish, with an alder body, and 21 fret maple neck. The guitar became David's main working strat and has been extensively modified over the years. It has been fitted and altered with seven different necks, different pickups, electronics, knobs, tremolo systems, and pick guards, amongst other changes. Gilmour used this on some of Pink Floyd's most famous recordings, including: Meddle, Live at Pompei, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, David Gilmour, The Wall, the Final Cut, and About Face. In 1986 after sixteen years of hard use, David retired the Black Strat and it was loaned to the Hard Rock Cafe for display. In 1997 David recovered the guitar, which saw much abuse while on display, and had repaired and altered to make it a usable guitar once again. He used it for the Live 8 Pink Floyd reunion in 2005, and as his main working guitar for his On an Island solo album and tour, featured in the Remember that Night and Live in Gdansk DVDs and CDs.

A very good history of the Black Strat can be found on the Gilmourish.com website. Also check out the excellent book "The Black Strat - A History of David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster” by David's gear tech, Phil Taylor, and published by Hal Leonard. Not many guitarists have a book dedicated to one of their guitars, which shows you just how special this particular guitar is.

I tested several different Strats, including Standards, Vintage, and Classic series models, with both two and six point tremolo systems. I decided on a Fender American Standard neck and body, instead of a Classic or Vintage series Fender that is closer to Gilmour's, simply because the Standard is similar to the Deluxe Strat and Strat Plus that I have been playing for years, both with the two point bridge. I have always heard the six point tremolos (six pivot screws) sound better and more vintage than the modern two point (two pivot scews), but in testing them I really heard very little difference, at least for the music I play. I also prefer the “C” shaped necks with 22 frets rather than the skinny “V” necks with 21 frets on the older guitars and re-issues. I could have used a Fender Deluxe strat with better bridge and trem parts, but it was less expensive to get a Standard and buy better replacement after-market parts. If you want more of a “vintage looking” Black Strat with a six point trem, go with a Fender Classic 50s series (Mexican or Japanese made) or a Fender American Vintage '57 Series guitar, which has a tinted coating to resemble that yellow-aged nitrocellulose finish. Gilmour's Black Strat has a 1969 alder body with a 1983 '57 re-issue 21 fret maple neck, C-shaped with a 7.25 neck radius (as of 2007) .

CLOCKWISE - Fender Classic Series, Fender American Vintage Series, Fender American Standard, Fender David Gilmour Signature Series replica (NOS version)

THE REAL BLACK STRAT OWNED BY DAVID GILMOUR (photos stolen from Phil Taylor's excellent book, The Black Strat)

I purchased a black 3 ply pickguard, back cover, and “vintage” white pickup covers, knobs, trem tip, and switch tip from Guitar Parts Resource.com. I could not find an all black pick guard and back cover in stock at the time (there are several suppliers of these though, if you scour the web), so I dyed the white edges black with several passes of a permanent black Sharpie Magnum marker. The Magnum seems to be a different formula than a standard Sharpie marker. Seems tacky, but once dry it is not sticky, does not come off, and if you use even passes it looks great. David's guitar has a 1 ply, all black acrylic pickguard with rounded and polished edges and 11 holes.

The tuning machines on David's headstock are vintage Gotoh machines. I bought a set of current “vintage” Gotoh tuners on ebay to replace the American standard tuners, but I ended up leaving the standards on. They are very similar working tuning machines, but the modern tuning machines on an American Strat seem to be a bit smoother and stay in place better that current Gotohs. Unless you like the look of the vintage style, and the vintage style slotted tops, there is no reason to change. I am too used to the standard machines with the hole in the post so I went back to them. Here are pix of the Gotohs on the left and Fender American standards on the right.

I replaced the saddles and tremolo block with a Callaham made 2-point syncronized bridge and saddles (www.callahamguitars.com). Callaham also makes vintage 6-point bridges if you prefer that system. The stock Fender Am. Std. saddles are made with the string holes a bit too short and don't carry the string vibrations as well as the Callahams, which have larger holes. Both are solid steel, bent and folded to shape. The better saddles improve the tone and sustain. David's bridge is a vintage style 6-point syncronized tremolo with vintage saddles.

I like my strings and tremolo bar VERY “squishy”, as in not tight, so I only use two or three tremolo springs on my strats to cut the spring tension, which in turn causes the string tension to pull the bridge plate way up. This is a “floating bridge”. Gilmour typically used three springs, and while his bridge was a “floating” type in the past, in most photos I see it rests fairly close to the body. Most people use 3-5 springs for a non floating bridge. Gilmour stated in a the January 2009 issue of Guitar Player that his current strat bridge is non floating. If you watch him playing in the 2006 Remember That Night DVD, he does not seem to use the trem as much as he did in the '80s and '90s.

In theory, you will get more sustain if the bridge plate is flat, or resting on the body, due to the increased resonance of the strings vibrating through the guitar body because of the more solid contact, but it can also make the sound thin or tinny on some strats. I say “in theory” because I get plenty of sustain and my bridge is nowhere near flat. I keep the “2-point” screws that the bridge pivots on low, so the front of the bridge is flush with the guitar body. If your strat is a six point, you may want to raise the four inner screws a bit if you want a floating bridge. Most people will want to have the back of the bridge plate no more than 3mm (1/8“) off the guitar body for a floating bridge. Mine is around 6mm (1/4”). I have talked to many people who have serious problems with staying in tune when using a floating bridge. I have never encountered that problem, so I believe any tuning problems are probably more associated with nut binding, bad or incorrect string wrapping around the tuning pegs, or bad saddles.

TIP - If you have a flush mounted, non floating tremolo bridge, and you find your guitar tone sounds a bit thin or tinny, try raising the pivot screws just a hair or two. Actual contact of the bridge plate to the guitar body can thin out the tone on some strats. The guitar does not really need the bridge plate to have contact with the body for the strings vibrations to resonate through it. The close proximity of the bridge to the body, and the fixed contact of the pivot screws handle that job just fine, and I believe that is what makes a Strat sound like a Strat.

I screw the two 2" screws in the spring plate farther in the wood body to tighten the springs. It is a balancing act between the string tension and the spring tension. I jack the string height up with the saddle screws to compensate for having only a few springs. Doing this I can get the saddles back parallel with the guitar body and stay in tune. When I set the strings up high the Fender saddle screws go crooked because the screw threading is not done very well. Callahams are a bit better. I used a Callaham trem block instead of the Fender because it is cut from solid metal, not cast like the Fender Am. Std. This allows more resonance from the strings and increases the sustain. I had to drill out the wood in the trem cavity a bit so I could press the trem bar all the way down without the Callaham block hitting wood inside. Callaham blocks are not beveled on the back side to allow this like the fender block, but they also have more dense solid metal than a Fender. If you like to be able to drop your trem arm all the way down so the strings go slack (Gilmour does this at the end of All Lovers Are Deranged and drops it in the intro to Sorrow), you may have to remove some wood here, as I have done. I used a sanding bit on my hand held Dremel to route out the wood inside the block hole.

TIP - Have you noticed the tremolo springs can become creaky and noisy, to such a degree that you can hear it through your amp? The creaking, poppy pings may sound like they are coming from the tremolo springs, but this is likely the strings sticking in the nut slot at the end of the neck. When the strings slide through the nut slot they can jam and stick over time as they move and cut deeper into the slot, creating a noise which vibrates all the way through the tremolo block and into the tremolo springs. The simple solution, and something you should do periodically anyway, is to put a dab of lubricant under the strings in the nut notches. Liquid graphite works, or try a mix of vasoline and #2 pencil lead shavings which will last a bit longer. There are also a wax and graphite nut lubricants available. If your tremolo springs sometimes make a reverby "ping" sound, you can deaden that noise by inserting some fish tank air tube inside the spring coil. Another option is to pull a piece of packing foam rubber through the spring coil using a guitar string as a loop to pull it through. Either of those solution dampens the resonant sound springs can produce, though some people actually prefer it and think it makes a Strat sound stratty.

I cut my tremolo (or whammy) arm short, about 133mm (5 1/4“), to fit in my palm when playing. My first guitar was already set up like this, so I have always shortened them, and Gilmour does this too. If it is the right length you can grasp it with your pinky and third finger while holding the pick with your other two fingers and it does not interfere with normal playing like a longer stock trem arm will. If you do this, check where your hand normally rests over the pickups when you play and measure the trem arm from the bend almost to the center of your palm to see how far to shorten it. Keep in mind the plastic tip will add some length after you reattach it.

Unscrew the plastic trem tip from the bar and mark your distance, but add 6mm (1/4”) to what you measured to compensate for the added plastic tip length. Lock the arm in a vice but be sure to wrap the arm in a piece of leather, rubber, or rag so the vice does not scratch it. You can cut it with a steel saw, or use a Dremel tool or similar hand held device (wear eye protection!). I used a steel disk cutter with a Dremel tool. I also ground the sharp edges down after the cut with a sanding bit. You won't have any threads to screw the plastic tip back on after cutting it short, but you can glue it back on with a good two part epoxy, or heat the end of the trem arm with a flame for a minute, then push the tip back on tight. I put a small spring in the bottom of my trem arm hole to prevent it from screwing in too low in the Callaham block. That adds to the resistance and helps keep the bar from coming loose over time. If you do this, DON'T use a spring that is too large or it can jam in the screw threads and strip them. I also bent my trem arm up a bit in a vice to keep it roughly parallel with the guitar body because my floating bridge is angled high, but most people will not need to do this. Be aware that most trem arms are hardened steel, so if you do re-bend, do it slowly or you may risk breaking the bar.

I wanted to replace the weak sounding Fender standard pickups with more Gilmour sounding pups. Gilmour currently (as of 2007) uses original late '60s Fender pups in his neck and middle positions, and a custom wound Seymour Duncan SSL-1 pup in the bridge position. He also has used a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pup from 1976-1978. Both of those are very "hot" sounding pickups that sound very good with Big Muffs and fuzz pedals. I opted to use the SSL-5 because I have read it is close to the custom overwound SSL-1 Gilmour uses currently, and it is also the pup used in the Fender Black Strat replica. I also tried Fender Fat '50s and CS'69 pups in the bridge position, which sound great, but the SSL-5 is exactly what I was looking for and had that in-your-face intesity I liked.

For the neck pickup I tried Fender Fat '50s, CS '54, and CS'69 pups. They are all in the same vintage tone family, but each sounds slightly different. I liked the Fender Custom Shop '69s the best. I used one in the neck and one in the middle position. The middle pickup was not as critical to me because I only ever use in in conjunction with the neck pup in position #2 when I play clean rhythms. The Fender Signature Series Black Strat is made with custom wound fat '50s in the neck and mid.

I found the CS '69 pickups at Musician's Friend (www.musiciansfriend.com). Other sites had them for less money, but Musicians Friend was the only place found that actually stocked them. The best price I found for the the SSL-5 pup was at Music Power (www.musicpower.com). It is hard to find single CS '69 pickups since they are always sold as sets from Fender. Check the guitar forums or ebay. CS '69 are the same pickups for all three positions, so there is no reverse wound middle pickup. The middle pickup in a Fat '50s set is reverse wound/reverse polarity (RWRP). The SSL-5 was available as a RWRP version and a standard version at the time I finished this strat. You want the non RWRP version, but if you get the RWRP version, simply reverse the red and black wires when you solder it.

GIMOUR MAGIC SWITCH - I have not decided if I will do the Gilmour toggle switch mod, which is a switch to combine the neck pickup with pickup positions 1, 2, or 3. I'm not sure I would ever use it, and Gilmour himslef does not even remember if he ever used it on record. I have a similar switch setup on my Brian May Red Special guitar and never use it. For me, the standard five position pickup selector has every pickup tone I would ever want.

I knew these single coil pups were going to pick up a lot more 60 cycle hum and noise than the noiseless pups I was used to so I decided to shield the guitar. I shielded the inside body cavity with adhesive backed copper foil and used shielded wire for the ground wires from Stewart Macdonald (www.stewmac.com) to reduce the unwanted noise that single coil pickups seem to suck in. I first removed the whole pickguard and unsoldered the ground wire that was welded to the spring claw and the two wires soldered to the jack plate (remember which goes where!) so I could work on the guitar body without worrying it, or the pickguard would get scratched. Applying the shielding is rather simple. All separate pieces of foil must have direct contact with each other, done by folding a corner back when overlapping pieces, if you use the copper with the adhesive backing. You can aslo add a drop of solder to connetc each piece.

Note, this will NOT eliminate 60 cycle hum and noise completely. For some it barely reduces the noise at all. It will vary depending on how many transformers are nearby, which emit electromagnetic radiation your pickups will suck up. The wiring and outlets in your house, apartment, or studio can effect this, as can nearby electronic equipment and television or computer monitors. Some people in bad locations will find this noise unbearable to play around, no matter how much shielding is done to a guitar. If you are one of those, I strongly suggest getting a set of Samarium Cobalt Noisless (SCN), EMG-DG20 noisless pickups, or similar vintage style noiseless pickups.

I bought a decent Weller Therma Boost TB100 soldering iron and supplies from Lowes and Radio Shack - rosin-core solder, solder remover wick, wire clamps, and a damp sponge. Don't get a dirt cheap, low wattage iron. You need at least 30W to solder and 100-130W to heat up the big grounding solder blobs already on the pots and spring clip so you can remove the wires. The Weller does both wattages and it is only about $20. I had a cheap $12 gun, but it did not get hot enough to break the pot solders in my Strat.

Learning to solder takes some practice, but it is worth it. Simple lessons can be found on the web. If you have never soldered before, mess around with some scrap wire and scrap metal parts to get used to soldering before you try it on your guitar. Also, learn to desolder using the desoldering braid wick to soak up excess solder while hot, or clean up solder from parts you are going to resolder.

I downloaded a standard strat wiring diagram online from Seymour Duncan's website reference in case I could not remember what wires went where. I had already removed the whole pickguard and unsoldered the ground wire that was welded to the spring claw and the two wires soldered to the jack plate (remember which goes where!) so I could work on the copper shielding in the previous section. I used an old towel to cover parts of the guitar and pickguard where I was soldering to prevent any solder splash onto the finish. I unsoldered everything I needed to replace, removed the old pickups, installed the new ones, and then resoldered all the wires. I kept al the wires as short as possible, so there they pickup up the least amount of electromagnetic interferance.

If you bought a standard Seymour Duncan SSL-5 pickup for the bridge position, it should be installed with the two wires soldered in the reverse position of the standard Fender bridge pickup. Just swap the black and white wires. If you have the reverse wound/reverse polarity Seymour Duncan SSL-5 use the reverse of what the SD diagram I have here shows for the bridge pickup wires. If you bought any standard Fender pickups, wire it using a standard Fender wiring diagram.

I replaced the grounding wires with good shielded wire I bought from www.stewmac.com. I also removed the ground loops from the volume pot to the two tone pots, as I have read on a few websites that these loops are not necessary and can produce hum noise. I kept the 250K pots that were already in the stock strat as they seemed fine.

Soldering pix and completed pick guard

Gilmour's Black Strat electronics with "magic switch"

The pickups and string heights will vary from person to person depending on how hard or light you pick, guage of strings used, and the type of gear you are using. Ideally you want the best string separation when strumming chords, and not too boomy or muddy tone on the low strings, but not too light either. Fender's suggested Strat setup instructions, below, are the best to use.

STRINGS - Gilmour uses GHS Boomers in non standard guage sets for his strats: 0.10, 0.12, 0.16, 0.28, 0.38, 0.48. GHS sells this exact set as David Gilmour Signature Blue Set Electric Guitar Strings. I use extra light guage Fender Super Bullets: 0.9, 0.11, 0.16, 0.16, 0.24, 0.32. GHS Guitar Boomers in the extra light guage are also good, set GBXL.

STRING HEIGHT AND ACTION - Using ruler, caliper, or string height guage, measure the distance between bottom (underside) of the strings down to the top of the 17th fret. Adjust bridge saddles to the height according to the chart below. If you are not sure what your neck raduis is, here is a handy neck radius guage you can print out

Neck Radius_____________String Height Bass Side_________String Height Treble Side
7.25"___________________5/64" (2 mm)_________________4/64" (1.6 mm)
9.5" to 12"_______________4/64" (1.6 mm)________________4/64" (1.6 mm)
15" to 17"_______________4/64" (1.6 mm)________________3/64" (1.2 mm)

I keep mine set very high: 3.0mm bass side, 2.5mm treble side.

PICKUP HEIGHT - In general, lower pickup heights will add more definition to your sound, but with a drop in signal output. Higher pickup heights will remove some of the dynamics, but you will have a higher signal output. Gilmour's pickups heights are pictured below. Typically the the bass side of the pickups should be lower than the treble for an even string balance. Depress all of the strings at the last fret (22nd fret on my strat). Using a capo helps. Using 6" (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole piece. Rule of thumb-the distance should be greatest at the 6th string - neck pickup position, and closest at the 1st string - bridge pickup position. Follow the measurement guidelines as starting points. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.

Pickup Type_________________________________Bass Side / Treble Side
Texas Specials: ______________________________8/64" (3.6 mm) / 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Vintage style, such as the SSL-5 or Fender CS69: ___6/64" (2.4 mm) / 5/64" (2 mm)
Noiseless™ Series: ___________________________8/64" (3.6 mm) / 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Standard Single-Coil: _________________________5/64" (2 mm) / 4/64" (1.6 mm)
Humbuckers:________________________________ 4/64"(1.6 mm) / 4/64" (1.6 mm)
Lace Sensors: _______________________________As close as desired (allowing for string vibration)

...

The pickup heights of the DG Signature strat on left and mine on right. As you can see, we go beyond the Fender standards by dropping the bass-low E string side very low.

After reassembling the guitar I set my pickup heights and corrected the twelfth fret intonation, which had changed since I adjusted the saddles and tremolo. I put on new strings, stretched them, tuned up, and was ready to go! The Black Strat was a rewarding project and this guitar has become my favorite strat. It plays and sounds incredible, and I feel it is much more “my” guitar, having assembled it myself, rather than buying a Fender Signature Series Custom Shop replica for over double what this cost me and having to worry if I would like the neck or setup as well as a guitar I was used to. This strat was completed in 2008. Here is what it sounds like using a vintage Big Muff into a Fender Twin Reverb.

Black Strat Sound Clip 1 - Shine on Blues

Black Strat Sound Clip 2 - On the Turning Away Jam

Black Strat Sound Clip 3 - Comfortably Numb First Solo

Black Strat Sound Clip 4 - Intro to Sorrow

Photos of the finished Black Strat