A Concept Guitar · Woodstock 50th Anniversary Tribute
Aquarian Stratocaster
David Byrd × Fender · The Original Woodstock Poster
Concept Instrument — Not Yet in ProductionBefore the dove. Before the guitar-neck silhouette the world came to know — there was David Byrd’s original Woodstock poster. This concept guitar brings that lost artwork back to life, wrapped around one of music’s most iconic canvases.
The Original Poster
Before the Dove,
There Was the Water Bearer
Most people know the Woodstock poster: a dove perched on a guitar neck, clean and spare. But that wasn’t the original. In late May 1969, Woodstock Ventures — located just a block from David Byrd’s Manhattan loft — commissioned him to design the festival poster. Byrd had already established himself as the resident poster artist at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East, and Graham personally recommended him for the job.
Byrd based the central image on La Source, a neoclassical painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres — a nude woman carrying a water jar, representing the water bearer Aquarius. Around her he layered jewel-tone cupids, rainbow hearts, arrows, and flowers in a style blending Victorian illustration with West Coast psychedelia. It announced the event as “An Aquarian Exposition” — a phrase that captured the spirit of the age perfectly.
After delivering the 14×22 inch artwork, Byrd left for the Caribbean with no way to be reached. While he was away, the town of Wallkill banned the festival. The event moved to Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, and with no way to contact Byrd, organizers turned to Arnold Skolnick — who produced the dove-and-guitar image in days. Byrd’s poster was printed but never distributed as the official promotional piece.
Because of this, original Byrd Aquarian posters are among the rarest Woodstock artifacts in existence — collector’s items that predate the festival’s legendary status.
The Tribute Concept
“The image that should have been on every Woodstock ticket, every programme, every T-shirt — brought to life on the instrument that defined the era.”
Concept Guitar Proposal · David Byrd × Fender · Woodstock 50th Anniversary
The Guitar — Concept Views
The Artwork
On a Fender Canvas
These renders explore how Byrd’s Aquarian poster art would translate across the body, back, and detail surfaces of a Fender Stratocaster — wrapping a piece of lost music history around one of rock’s most iconic instruments.
All images are concept renders — this instrument has not yet been produced
The Commemorative Label
Marked for
History
Every concept detail of the tribute instrument includes a commemorative interior label — a certificate of the collaboration between David Byrd’s artwork and the Fender Stratocaster platform, marking the 50th anniversary of Woodstock and the story of the poster that almost was.
This label connects the guitar directly to Byrd’s original commission, the Aquarian Exposition, and the cultural moment of August 1969 — giving each potential instrument a documented provenance rooted in one of music history’s defining events.
Education: Carnegie Mellon University (BFA 1964, MFA 1966) · Pratt Institute Faculty
Died: January 2025
Selected Works Woodstock Aquarian Poster · 1969
Fillmore East Resident Artist · 1968–1973
Rolling Stones 1969 Tour
Jesus Christ Superstar · 1971
Little Shop of Horrors · Broadway
KISS Four Solo Albums Mosaic · 1978
About the Artist
David Edward Byrd
The Poster Artist of an Era
David Edward Byrd (c. 1941–2025) grew up in Pittsburgh and trained at Carnegie Mellon University, earning his BFA in 1964 and MFA in 1966 — the institution later named him as its representative artist for 1968, the year his career ignited. He went on to join the faculty at Pratt Institute in New York, where he taught for decades.
It was at the Fillmore East in Manhattan’s East Village where Byrd made his mark on rock history. Joining as the exclusive poster and program designer in early 1968 — recommended by art school friends running operations for Bill Graham — he created some of the most celebrated concert posters of the era, including what Billboard later ranked as one of the 25 Best Rock Posters of All Time: his Jimi Hendrix Experience concert poster.
Over five years at the Fillmore East, Byrd produced posters for Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Traffic, the Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, and Ravi Shankar. His style drew from Alphonse Mucha’s Art Nouveau, Victorian illustration, and the psychedelic visual language of the late 1960s — rich in jewel tones, ornate borders, and classical figurative imagery reframed for the rock age.
The Woodstock commission came through Graham’s recommendation in late May 1969 — and the story of that poster, its creation, and its displacement by Arnold Skolnick’s last-minute design is one of music history’s most poignant near-misses. Byrd’s Aquarian poster remained largely unknown for decades, a collector’s rarity known only to those who sought it out.
Later in his career Byrd became one of Broadway’s most influential poster designers, creating iconic images for Jesus Christ Superstar, Follies, Godspell, and Little Shop of Horrors. He passed away in January 2025, leaving behind a body of work that spans rock, theatre, and the cultural peaks of the late 20th century.