Christie’s had estimated the guitar would fetch between $2m and $4m, according to its website.
The live auction featured items from the collection of billionaire American businessman Jim Irsay who died in 2025.
Julien Pradels, president of Christie’s Americas, said: “Lot after lot, we felt like we were making history.
“The Irsay sale did justice to the brilliance of the collector, and the monumental pieces he brought together – iconic objects that tell the story of our culture and our times.”
Gilmour’s guitar sale surpassed the previous record holder – a retro acoustic-electric 1959 Martin D-18E played by Cobain during Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged performance in 1993, just five months before he died.
It sold for $6m (£4.5m) in 2020.
Thursday’s auction saw another one of Kurt Cobain’s guitars, a blue Fender Mustang featured in the music video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, sell for $6.9 million (£5.3m).
Other items sold at the auction included:
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A custom-built guitar, known as ‘Tiger’, owned by the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia – $11.6m (£8.8m)
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Handwritten lyrics to Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ – $2.5m (£1.9m)
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A drum kit owned by the Beatles’ Ringo Starr – $2.4m (£1.8m)
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A trumpet belonging to jazz legend Miles Davis – $1.6m (£1.2m)
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Sylvester Stallone’s handwritten script notebook for Rocky – $508,000 (£384,000)
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A weigh-in fight robe used by American boxer Muhammad Ali – $444,500 (£335,800)
According to Christie’s website, the 44 items in the collection made a total of $84m (£64m).
