Roger Waters

In the interview for Guitar Heroes magazine (May 1983 issue), David Gilmour mentioned that Pink Floyd used a Martin D-35 acoustic guitars in early 1970s, most likely sometime between 1970 and 1975: "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."

The Martin D-35 dreadnought model is most recognizable by its three-piece back and double non parallel seam bracing that Martin introduced as a result of shortage of Brazilian rosewood in 1965. This allowed them to use up small pieces of wood that would have been normally considered scrap. The D-35s are nowadays made of East Indian rosewood (back and sides) with sitka spruce top, hardwood neck, and ebony bridge and fingerboard.

On the below picture is Roger Waters during recording sessions of the Obscured by Clouds album (1972), struming a Martin D-35.

Roger Waters played this natural color jumbo guitar that appeared to be Washburn J28 during his first year of In the flesh tour (1999). The next year he replaced it with an Eric Clapton signature models by C. F. Martin: Bellezza Nera and the 000-28ECB.

Roger's J28 is (most likely) a SCEDL model (the S stands for solid top, CE designates this model as a cutaway electric, DL indicates that this is the deluxe model).

The Washburn J28 SCEDL Cumberland series jumbo body acoustic-electric guitar features deep cutaway neck access, solid spruce top and natural finish. Other features also include quilted maple back and sides and a shaped rosewood bridge. When you need to plug in, you will use the B-Band tape mic and preamp. The Maple neck has a 20 fret rosewood fingerboard, and 18:1 gear ratio gold tone Grover tuners on the rosewood veneered headstock.

At The Wall show in Berlin (1990), Roger Waters played an all black telecaster-style guitar Washburn SBT-21 on Hey You. The SBT-21 was a solid body acoustic guitar that Washburn made in the late 80s. It was designed for the guitarists who required the playability of an electric guitar but demanded the sound of an acoustic guitar. The SBT-21 featured slim, rock maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, mahagony body, and spruce top. The electronics was designed with a piezo pickup, master volume, master tone, and a midrange "fat" control to increase the presence of the instrument.

First used during the In the Flesh tour (2000). Guitar could also be seen when Roger Waters & David Gilmour were together on stage for Palestinian Charity "Hoping Foundation" at Kiddington Hall, England (July 10th 2010).

Roger Waters | C. F. Martin 000-28ECB (Eric Clapton)

The Martin 000-28ECB Eric Clapton Signature Edition has been limited to no more than 500 instruments. The 000-28ECB has the shorter 24.9" scale length and the smaller "000" body size that Clapton prefers. The sides and back are constructed from solid Brazilian rosewood, and the top is bookmatched from Sitka spruce.

The rosette is embellished with inlaid herringbone pearl, and the body is bound with grained ivoroid. Eric Clapton’s signature is inlaid between the 19th and 20th frets. Each 000-28ECB bears an interior label, individually numbered and personally signed by Eric Clapton and Martin Chairman and CEO C. F. Martin IV.

The Martin 000-28ECB has a tortoise coloured pickguard. The Waverly nickel-plated open-geared tuning machines are equipped with vintage style "butterbean" knobs. The squared headstock bears Martin’s old-style logo.

David Gilmour says in his interview for Guitar Heroes magazine in 1983 that Pink Floyd used Levin acoustic guitars during 1968-70: "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."

The Levin Classic 3 acoustic guitars were indeed manufactured in Sweden. They have Alp spruce top, back and sides of Brazilian rosewood, neck of mahagony with non-adjustable U-shaped steel truss rod, ebony fingerboard and black Van Gent strip tuners.

The below picture shows Pink Floyd at KQED TV in April 1970, performing Roger's song Grantchester Meadows. While Gilmour is playing his Gibson J-45 acoustic steel-string, Waters is using a nylon-string guitar that may as well be a Levin Classic 3.

Later on - during In the Flesh tour - Roger switched from his Torino red Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster to a slightly modified black model of the same guitar that visualy resembles David Gilmour's Black strat - maple neck with black body, black pickguard, black pickup covers and black control knobs. See Bray Studios rehearsal (2002) footage or We Shall Overcome music video (at 04:55) with Roger covering an old classic.

Features of Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster include an alder body, three Vintage Noiseless pickups (s/s/s), active mid-boost (25 db) and TBX (Treble Bass Expander) circuits, special soft V-shaped neck, and blocked original vintage synchronized tremolo.

Roger Waters occasionally used the Daphne Blue Eric Clapton Signature Fender Stratocaster between 1990 and 1991. However, he found the mid-range boost circuit did not suit his preferences, as noted in the "French and Saunders" guitar book sketch on Watersish.com.

The Martin OM-1 GT acoustic guitar (below), which was reported to be from Roger Waters personal collection, was donated to TECHO-Chile, a South American based charity organisation, to raise money for poverty-stricken people. Waters used the guitar to record an exclusive video of him playing Wish You Were Here. In November 2012, both, the instrument and the video, went to auction.

The Martin OM-1 GT Orchestra model is constructed with a polished gloss Sitka spruce top and bookmatched sapele back and sides.

Roger Waters used this guitar during the Dark Side of the Moon Live tour (2006 - 2008) and during The Wall Live tour (2010 - 2012). He has two of these.

C. F. Martin 000-ECHF Bellezza Nera (Eric Clapton)

C. F. Martin 000-ECHF Bellezza Nera was developed jointly by Eric Clapton and a Japanese trendsetter Hiroshi Fujiwara. At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the model is named in Italian - "Bellezza" meaning beautiful and "Nera" meaning black.

This Limited Edition guitar has black body, neck and headplate, and matching African black ebony fingerboard and bridge, and the specially made sterling silver-plated Schaller tuners with sterling silver-plated buttons. The fingerboard features Martin's Style 45 snowflake inlays, with "Bellezza Nera" inlaid in script above the last fret in mother of pearl. This guitar comes without a pickguard.

The body top is Italian alpine spruce, the back and sides are crafted from East Indian rosewood. Carved from solid mahogany, the neck features Martin's diamond volute at the base of the headstock.

Bellezza Nera includes a special black interior label personally signed by Eric Clapton, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Martin Artist Relations head Dick Boak and Martin Chairman C.F. Martin IV.

Roger Waters played his black '70s Fender Stratocaster during the original In the Flesh tour (also known as Animals tour) in 1977. In live versions of both Sheep and Pigs he shared electric guitar duties with David Gilmour, while backing guitarist Snowy White played bass. This was the last time Roger performed a major worldwide tour with the rest of the band.

Like the many other guitar players in the late '70s and early '80s, Roger Waters used Ovation "hi-tech" acoustic guitars in the studio as well as for the live performances. Ovation guitars featured semi-parabolic body made of synthetic composite material, called Lyrachord, instead of more traditional wood. Ovations reached the height of their popularity in the '80s, where they were more often seen on stage than any other acoustic guitars. Their synthetic bowl, use of preamps, onboard equalization and piezo pickups were particularly attractive to live acoustic musicians who battled feedback problems from the high volumes needed in live venues.

Aside from the solid body telecaster SBT-21, the Mirage Pro electric acoustic, the J28 acoustic jumbo bodied guitar, and the signature RW300 model, this Washburn WP-80 was another Washburn guitar Roger Waters used in his solo career. He played it in 1987 during the Radio KAOS tour on Powers That Be. (See Guitar section for more information on Roger's guitars.)

His black Washburn WP-80 is a Gibson Les Paul-style electric guitar featuring two humbucker pickups, rosewood fingerboard, volume and tone controls, and four switches (suggesting that this guitar offered a wide variety of pickup combinations).

Roger got this Stratocaster as a gift from Jonathan Wilson, and he can be seen playing it in his video for "El Derecho De Vivir En Paz"

Aside from his Eric Clapton signature model Bellezza Nera, Roger Waters used the Godin Multiac Spectrum SA steel string guitar during The Wall Live tour (2010 - 2012). As Roger said "I love this guitar. I use it live on Hey You." Unfortunately, this song is entirely played behind the wall so we cannot see him actualy playing it. Hey You is notable for using a high strung "Nashville" tuning so perhaps this is how Roger's Godin is tuned.

He also uses the nylon string Godin Multiac ACS-SA on Good Bye Blue Sky. The natural high-gloss version of this guitar can be seen in the hands of G. E. Smith and David Kilminster when performing Is There Anybody Out There.

Godin Multiac Spectrum SA features a mahogany body design, ebony fingerboard, Seymour Duncan Lipstick pickup in the neck, custom Godin electronics along with separate tone and volume controls for the Lipstick pickup, as well as 13-pin capabilities for computer & synth access. Roger's guitar has a Black High-Gloss color.

Godin Multiac ACS-SA features a chambered maple body, cedar top, mahogany neck, and ebony fingerboard. The engine includes individual transducer saddles powered by a customized preamp system from the RMC Pickup Company. This system produces a hexaphonic output through a 13-pin connector enabling direct access to Roland GR-Series guitar synthesizers.

David Gilmour and Roger Waters both used Ovations during the Animals tour (1977) and the live concert performances of The Wall (1980-81). Roger used his natural wood coloured Ovation Legend 1619-4 for Welcome to the Machine and for Mother respectively. A few years later he played Ovation Classical 1613 during his first solo tour The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984-85).

Roger had been playing the sunburst Washburn RR300 during the first two year (1999-2000) of his In the Flesh tour. Washburn approached him about a Signature Limited Edition and this led to a black RW300 used during 2002 part of the same tour.

The RW300 brings together a Seymour Duncan P90 style pickup and a Fishman preamp with a piezo bridge. These pickups, in combination with the chambered mahogany body and solid spruce top, reduce the chance of feedback and give the guitar a vibrant acoustic tone.

Roger Waters used his both black and blue sunburst Washburn Mirage Pro guitars during Radio KAOS tour (1987) for Welcome to the Machine, Wish you were here, Mother, Final Cut and If. A few years later he also used the blue one during Wall Live in Berlin (1990) for Mother, and also Andy Fairwater Low played it during In the Flesh tour (2000) in Each Small Candle.

The Mirage Series was introduced by Washburn in 1984 as the original acoustic/electric solidbody line of guitars. It had mahagony body and neck, rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlay and matching headstock with three-per-side chrome diecast tuners. It also featured active electronics with piezo pickup in bridge, an exposed humbucker below the soundhole, EQ section with three knobs (Equalizer, Middle, Gain), and two knobs (Volume, Tone) and a three-way switch on the front of the guitar for separate controls.