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The black Strat
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]- Dave's famous all black Strat is a 1970 Fender CBS model. Prior to the mid summer rehearsals at King's Cross, London, in '74, Dave replaced the white pickguard with a black and shortened the tremolo arm. The guitar was also fitted with a 1966 rosewood neck.
Later, around the North American leg of the Animals tour ('77), Dave installed a DiMarzio FS-1 pickup in the bridge position. This version of the guitar was also used on his first solo album in '78.
Dave also used the guitar on The Wall recording sessions, now re-fitted with stock Fender '67-'71 pickups and a new Charvel flamed maple neck.
For the About Face tour, Dave installed a Khaler tremolo system. After the tour, Dave realized that the system deadened the tones and re-installed the stock Fender stystem.
The guitar was last seen on the Dark Side of the Moon documentary and the Live 8 reunion. Now the guitar has a Fender '57 reissue neck, like his red Strats.
The guitar also had some other features that were done in '74. The ground was re-wired to improve the shielding from noise. The volume and tone knobs were connected directly to the output jack to cut down on bad connections. A switch was added to combine the sounds of the bridge pickup with the neck pickup. To help the guitar stay in tune, the six screws that hold the tremolo in place were tightened so there would be no space between the screws and the plate (when you push down the tremolobar, the bridgeplate won't follow). Four tremolo springs were used in the back for live work.