GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1963
GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1963
GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1963
2 More
Please note lots marked with a square will be move… Read more
GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1963

AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, EVERLY BROTHERS, J-180

Details
GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1963
AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, EVERLY BROTHERS, J-180
Bearing the label STYLE Everly Bros / Gibson Guitar number 63778 is hereby / GUARANTEED / against faulty workmanship and materials / Gibson Inc / KALAMAZOO MICHIGAN / U.S.A., bearing the logo Gibson to the headstock, truss rod cover engraved Everly, faintly stamped on the reverse 63778, with later case bearing a label inscribed GIBSON EVERLY BROS. BLACK #63778 and SERIAL NO. DG1064; accompanied by an original typescript letter from George Gruhn discussing the sale and shipment of the guitar, together with the original sales invoice from Gruhn Guitars, Inc., both dated 26th March 1979, a delivery order from Rainbow Freight Services Limited, Middlesex, addressed to Pink Floyd Music, 35 Britannia Row, dated 12th April 1979, and a candid color snapshot of David Gilmour playing this guitar in 2001
Length of back 20 1/16 in. (51 cm.)
Literature
Bacon, T. and Day, P. The Ultimate Guitar Book, London, 1991, illus. p. 39.
Special Notice
Please note lots marked with a square will be moved to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn) on the last day of the sale. Lots are not available for collection at Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services until after the third business day following the sale. All lots will be stored free of charge for 30 days from the auction date at Christie’s Rockefeller Center or Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn). Operation hours for collection from either location are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm, Monday-Friday. After 30 days from the auction date property may be moved at Christie’s discretion. Please contact Post-Sale Services to confirm the location of your property prior to collection. Lots may not be collected during the day of their move to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn). Please consult the Lot Collection Notice for collection information. Lots made of or including (regardless of the percentage) endangered and other protected species of wildlife are marked with the symbol ~ in the catalogue. This material includes, among other things, ivory, tortoiseshell, crocodile skin, rhinoceros horn, whalebone certain species of coral, and Brazilian rosewood. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on any lot containing wildlife material if you plan to import the lot into another country. Several countries refuse to allow you to import property containing these materials, and some other countries require a licence from the relevant regulatory agencies in the countries of exportation as well as importation. In some cases, the lot can only be shipped with an independent scientific confirmation of species and/or age, and you will need to obtain these at your own cost.

Lot Essay

The J-180 Everly Brothers was first introduced by Gibson in late 1962 and was produced specifically at the request of Phil and Don Everly. The design was based on the popular and zaftig J-200 but built around a slightly more diminutive body outline measuring 16 ¼ inches in width and a scale length of 24 ¾ inches. With its double faux tortoiseshell pickguard, all black finish and star pearl inlays on the fingerboard and headstock, it presented a dramatic and graphic outline on stage. For artists, this instrument excelled tonally as a rhythm guitar and was comfortable to play.
Having admired the Everly Brothers with their black acoustics from a young age, David Gilmour purchased this guitar on 26th March 1979 from George Gruhn of Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, Tennessee, for occasional home and studio use. The Gruhn inventory number was 300345 at the time of sale. Gilmour recalls using the guitar during recording of the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall at Producers Workshop in Los Angeles between September and early November 1979, although it is unknown whether it made it on to the final record. In a May 1983 interview with Guitar Heroes, Gilmour listed this guitar among his preferred acoustics …At the beginning we used Levins, which were quite good guitars, a bit like Martins, made in Sweden or somewhere, then we moved onto Martin D-35s and things like that and now we tend to use Ovations mostly for recording and things. I also use a Gibson Everly Brothers I’ve got and various others.

More from The David Gilmour Guitar Collection

View All
View All