As you know, Christie's New York is handling the upcoming sale of a significant chunk of the personal guitar collection of David Gilmour. With more than 120 guitars, including his preferred Fender models of Broadcasters, Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters, the auction on 20th June marks a rare opportunity for guitar aficionados, musicians and collectors to explore one of the world's most comprehensive groupings of guitars that hooked a generation.

As we noted, prior to the sale, the entire David Gilmour Collection will be on display at Christie's London between 27th - 31st March, followed by highlights of the collection on display in Los Angeles from 7th - 11th May, and will conclude with a full preview in New York from 14th - 19th June.

You can book your viewing slot for the London staging now - visit this page at Christie's website to select your preferred time. Reservations are free of charge, but necessarily limited to reduce congestion, so don't delay. At time of writing this, most time slots are still available, although some of the later slots each day are gone. For those unable to attend, the auction house had created an incredible virtual tour of the upcoming George Michael collection - hopefully they will create the same for David's guitars...

We have no idea if photography will be permitted at the viewing (a question we've had a number of times already) although if you pre-order the catalogue for The David Gilmour Guitar Collection, direct from Christies, you should have great pictures of every item on offer. The catalogues are priced at £30/$50/€45 each plus postage, and please note that catalogues will not be despatched until the week commencing 13th May, so it is unlikely to be available to purchase at the London or LA preview events.

As we mentioned previously, Christie's New York is handling the upcoming sale of a significant chunk of the personal guitar collection of David Gilmour. With more than 120 guitars, including his preferred Fender models of Broadcasters, Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters, the auction on 20th June marks a rare opportunity for guitar aficionados, musicians and collectors to explore one of the world's most comprehensive groupings of guitars that hooked a generation.

In advance of the New York sale, the entire David Gilmour Collection will be on display at Christie's London between 27th - 31st March, followed by highlights of the collection on display in Los Angeles from 7th - 11th May, and will conclude with a full preview in New York from 14th - 19th June. Estimates range from $300 to $150,000 (although we suspect many of the instruments will sell for significantly more) with proceeds to benefit charitable causes.

We will bring you confirmed details of arrangements to view the collection in these three locations once we have them.

In the meantime, as from today you can pre-order the catalogue for The David Gilmour Guitar Collection, direct from Christies. These are priced at £30/$50/€45 each plus postage. Please note that catalogues will not be despatched until the week commencing 13th May, so it is unlikely to be available to purchase at the London or LA preview events.

Our very best wishes, and many happy returns, to David Gilmour who is celebrating his 73rd birthday today (March 6th)!

Born and raised in Cambridge, David became involved with various bands in the area, principally Jokers Wild who were a popular draw when they played, before joining Pink Floyd in 1968. More recent years have seen David concentrating on his solo career, and helping out chums on their musical projects on an ad hoc basis.

Of course, 2015 saw the return to his own music with the acclaimed release of Rattle That Lock, his latest solo album, which was accompanied by a tour of Europe, and North and South America. The tour took in some quite unusual and spectacular locations, perhaps the pinnacle being a return to the amphitheatre at Pompeii for a pair of shows - later released for fans around the world to enjoy at home.

Later this month, some 120+ of David's guitars - which are being auctioned to raise money for his charitable foundation, to aid people around the globe - will be on display in Christie's, London. As we get details of this opportunity to view the instruments, we will let you all know.

It just remains for us to wish David a very happy day! If you want to add your thoughts and wishes, you can do so at our Facebook page...

The new issue of the UK's Prog Magazine (issue 96) has started arriving with subscribers today, and will be available in UK stores from Tuesday (March 5th) with - for a Pink Floyd fan - a rather eye-catching cover.

The magazine has a new, and exclusive, interview with David Gilmour as the cover feature, in which he discusses selling most of his guitars and what the future holds for both Floyd and him as a solo artist. The interview finds David in a reflective mood, talking about certain key instruments, as well as pondering on the process of creating a new album, and all the hoopla that goes with that sort of project.

There's also an in depth look at David's solo career in a separate feature, that includes other prog guitarists such as Steve Howe, Martin Barre, Steve Hackett and more, choosing their favourite Gilmour guitar solos.

Elsewhere in the issue, there's new interviews with Trevor Horn, HAKEN, Motorpsycho, Hawklords, The Mute Gods, Tim Bowness, Soen, POND, Susanna, In Continuum, Cellar Darling and Teeth Of The Sea. There's also a look at the new Polish underground prog scene and a preview of next month's Prognosis Festival. Finally, there's United Progressive Fraternity - UPF, Wheel, the intriguing-named Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate and more on the cover-mounted CD.

You can purchase Prog Magazine, either as single issues or as a subscription, internationally through this direct link. This new issue (number 96, with David on the cover, as seen here) should appear on the landing page imminently, if it isn't already by the time you read this.