Guitars - Mark Knopfler's World

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Fender

Mark's most precious stratocaster is a 1954 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst(first year of Leo fender's instruments' production) The serial number #059 shows that the instrument was built in the third month of production. With its handle and fretboard made in maple wood,Mark loves to call it"Jurassic Strat".It's an extremely rare and expensive kind of guitar and recently a '54 Stratocaster(serial number #971)has been at an auction for nearly 103.000 euros. This guitar was given to him by his friend Paul Kennedy and played inOur Shangri-la(2004), Remembrance Day (2009) and live in I'm the fool, So far away and Our Shangri-la.

The second most famous Stratocaster is the red one with the black volume control knob,a 1961 instrument(#80470) known to be Mark's mostly played instrument from 1977 to 1979. Handle and fretboard in maple wood, white pickguard and controls except the black volume control knob that Mark made relocate lower by a lutist in Soho (Sam Lee,according to Steve Phillips)to have more space to move his right hand. John Suhr, the builder of tools Pensa-Suhr and Mark's collaborator in the 80's, advanced later the hypothesis that the tool was a good Japanese copy. The suspect was given by the keyboard in maple (since in that years the keyboards were primarily made in rosewood), and from the body probably repainted. It is not now anymore in his possession since given in beneficence but you can see it again in the video turned at Rockpalast in 79 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVDgZaOpYfA). It was used to press Dire Straits' first two albums, Dire Straits and Communiqué.

The third most famous Fender Stratocaster is the one of 1961 (as the preceding one) but with lower serial number (#68354), therefore of a few months more older. This is the Strato that Mark bought second-hand in natural finish, repainted in red by his friend Steve Phillips to make his dream come true: having an identical Stratocaster to that of Hank Marvin, Mark's idol since the adolescence.

Today the non-original paint shows all the signs of time (and Phillips' low familiarity with painting techniques!). it Has a pickguard and white commands, the handle in maple and the keyboard in rosewood. It mounts on to the bridge an Di Marzio Fat Strat. And' the model of inspiration of the line Fender Stratocaster Mark Knopfler signature, and it is still in Mark's possession. This was the second guitar from the '77 to 80, and it it was also used in the concerts of Sailing To Philadelphia's album launching.

The fourth Strato, less famous than her "sisters"is this red Strato, of uncertain dating, with Seymour Duncan lipstick magnetes.

Mark uses it in his dressing room to get warm himself up before every concert, and he also played it to accompany Bob Dylan in his European 2011's concerts.

Mark's fifth Stratocaster has been purchased used in September of 1999, and it is the principal tool used to record the album Sailing to Philadelphia.

It's a 1965 tool, of great value, and it has pickguard and white commands, white finishing and handle in maple with keyboard in rosewood.

Finally the two Telecasters, one made in '54 and the other made in '66. The one of'66 (aloft to the left) it is a custom model purchased in the first years of Dire Straits, then primarily played by David Knopfler.

Years later Mark used it again with the Nottings Hillbillies to record the album Missing... presumed having a good time (1990), and again in 2013 to play Father and son during the Privateering tour.

The second Telecaster, the '54 one (down on the left), has the serial n. #4545, finishes natural and black pickguard. Very rare and valued, has been used for Setting me up (1997, 1998, 1999), Prairie wedding (2001, 2010, 2013) and Belle Starr (2006).

There are as many Fender guitars that Mark has given in beneficence, just as his historical Strat of '61. One above all, the standard stratocaster that was sold in an auction for 20mila pounds in favor of the Starlight Children's Foundation in London on March of 2006.

The event is remembered because Mark didn't just give this guitar, but gave another to James Mayley, a boy suffering of sarcoma of Ewing. The boy was invited to the event, and he received from Mark in person an autographed left-handed red Fender. James (down on the right in the picture) serenely passed away on August of the same year.

Pensa Suhr

This is not this the first Pensa-Suhr ever built for Mark Knopfler, but it is surely the most used in the concerts of the "On Every Street tour", and therefore the most famous. This wonderful MK1 was built in 1988 by John Suhr, Rudy Pensa's co-worker at that time, and it has been for five years Mark's most used guitar,the one he preferred to play live to recreate his albums' sounds.

John Suhr tells that he was having lunch with Rudy and with Mark to speak about this guitar. He decided baptize it on the concert for the Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, on June 11th 1988 at Wembley Stadium in London. One week away from the event, John Suhr already started to shape body and handle, but Mark wanted to thin the shovel, to stop the swinging of the mobile bridge (Floyd Rose) and finally mount on frames colured in ivory tuned up to the color of the magnets. It was an awful job for John, that in fact he/she didn't succeed in thinning the shovel as Mark would have liked ("I explained him that it was too late"); not having time to look for tuned up frames, John decided besides to mount on the magnets without frames ("I mounted them from the back, so I didn't have to use frames"). A last problem came out for the finish: there was no enough time to apply paint on the cellulose nitrate or poliurethanic, and so John was forced to use the less nobler polyester both on the body and on the handle, the only one that dried in two days: "I was afraid the guitar could stick to the custody". The MK1 didn't stick to the custody, and for five years it remained Mark's trusted companion in all of his performances.

This is a very famous guitar. It's the Pensa-Suhr played in the video of Let it be with Ferry Aid (1987), in Water of love with the The Notting Hillbillies (1990), in Vic and Ray in the "Golden heart tour" (1996). It was also portrayed in many advertisements of Rudy Pensa on the pages of the principal magazines of this sector, and it was also portrayed on the ticket of Cava Dei Tirreni concert on the On Every Street tour (1991-1992)

That's the Pensa-Suhr Mark Knopfler Special,later renamed MK1. Its serial is 014.

This last Pensa-Suhr is one of the first models to be ever been built under this brand.This is a wonderful prototype built by John Suhr at the beginning of his collaboration with Rudy Pensa, and the body is made in "Structural Foam", a building material that solidifies becoming hard and resistant. A luteristic experiment appreciated by Mark a great deal to Mark, who decided tu play this guitar in Two Young Lovers during the"On Every Street World Tour".

Gibson

The rarest and most expensive Mark Knopfler's Les Paul standard is the one of 1958. Purchased in 1995,it remained the favourite guitar in all of the concerts for the launching of the 1996 album Golden Heart, and it was also used to play some guitar parts in the albums Sailing to Philadelphia, Shangri-La, Kill to get crimson, Get lucky and Privateering.

Completely built in mahogany, it mounts the original Pafs of that time and a white cream pickguard. Identifiable from the '59 Les Paul because with the passing of the years the red of the edges of the body vanished and now tends to yellow-orange.

This instead the Les Paul 1959 standard, recognizable for the bright red edges of the body. Purchased little after the 58's Les Paul ,it was taken in the "Golden Heart tour" as a replace, and it was used live to play Song for Sonny Liston and Why aye man.

Mark's third Les Paul is a R9 with serial n. #90006, in other words a modern re-release of the'59 standard Gibson Les Pauls purchased in Rudy Pensa's shop in New York, in 1984. This is Mark's first Les Paul, and it went,during the years through some changes to get particular sound effects.

This is the guitar played in Money for nothing, Brothers in arms and You and your friend. The photo portrays Mark with its R9 during the sessions of the recording of the Privateering album. The picture was taken by Guy Fletcher.

This is the official guitar of the"Brothers In Arms tour" and of the"Live Aid" of 1985: a Gibson Les Paul custom, built in the Gibson Custom Shop on Mark's specifications,with his birth date as serial number(12849,12th of August 1949).

Mark described it this way: "This is a nice guitar,but it's all about aesthetics,you know? I think lots of english musicians prefer a top classic,like me. My 58's Les Paul has a yellow top and I love its pale finishing.I'm not a great fan of all these flamed maple tables,or curly and shiny"

This Gibson Super 400 Ces is a 1953 guitar. Rare and very valued, it's the oldest Gibson owned by Mark, who has played it in Fade to black, in the album On every street (1991).

Live, Mark played it on Run me down, in the series of concerts with the The Notting Hillbillies, and again in Your latest trick during the "On every street world tour" (1991-1992). In 2004, Mark took up again his Super 400 to play Blue moon of Kentucky and Baby let's play house during a complimentary concert for the memory of Elvis Presley.

Hofner

Mark's first guitar was this one, a 1963 Super Höfner V2 Solid n. #837. Since he couldn't afford the purchase of a red Stratocaster 'Hank Marvin', the young Mark asked to his parents to purchase this German guitar as a gift for his 14° birthday. In 1963 it cost 50 pounds. Nowadays,the V2 is in his collection (even if it seems that it was again in his possession in 2007, when his brother David returned it to him) and it is considered by him as one of the six most important guitars of his life (Mark tells about this in the documentary"Guitar Stories, Mark Knopfler" of 2008 SkyArts1,visible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27OT_FSWrIE).

Acoustic guitars - National, Martin and Monteleone

National

This is the splendid National Style O that appears on the cover of the album Brothers in Arms. This guitar's feature is the structure of its box, entirely in metal, which makes its sound very recognizable. Mark bought it for his friend Steve Phillips for 120 pounds in the early 70s. Only few years earlier his parents gave him his 50 pounds Hofner.

The National became famous thanks to the song Romeo and Juliet, but Mark also played it in the stunning beginning of Telegraph road and in some recordings with the The Notting Hillbillies. In live performances, Mark loves to use the National in Done with Bonaparte and in Haul away.

Martin

Among the Martins, many of which of inestimable value, owned by Mark Knopfler, this is maybe the one which represents him at his best. It's the Martin HD-40 MK Signature, a guitar built by the Martin in 2001 on Mark's specifications. There are many details that make this guitar unique: being produced in just 251 samples, Mark's signature in mother-of-pearl, the dinosaur's mark on the inside junction wedge of the handle to the body. The reason for this logo is in the fact that on the 24th of January in 2001, Scott Sampson and his team of paleontologists discovered the fossils of a new species of dinosaur. The jobs of excavation were always accompanied by the the music of Dire Straits in the background,and for this reason the discovery was dedicated to Mark and the dinosaur was called Masiakasaurus knopfleri. The 25th of July of the same year Mark received from the Martin the prototype of the HD-40 and the limited production started in January of 2002. Mark used this guitar to compose all of the songs in The Ragpicker's dream many other songs in Shangri-La and All the roadrunning.

Monteleone

In this picture Mark is playing his Monteleone 'Isabella' (from the name of his daughter), a 2008 guitar that the newyorkese lutist John Monteleone built on indications of Mark (of which is also friend). This is the guitar played in the song Monteleone in the album Get Lucky.

Built with some of the fines woods, selected by Mark in Monteleone's store in Long Island: Oregon's decorated large leaf maple wood ,red Adironrack fir wood for the body's tables, and Macassar ebony for the keyboard.

Schecter

Despite being a very used guitar by Mark, especially in the first half of the'80s, therefore the years of the first triumphs culminating with Brothers in Arms, the Schecter doesn't appear in the documentary on Sky dedicated to the six most important guitars in Mark's career. We dedicate to these pieces of luteristic art a whole chapter, as fair as the other four.

This was Mark's most used and loved Schecter, who played it in Tunnel of Love and in the whole album Making Movies. It was stolen from him in London, from the back of his Beetle parked out of the pub "Duke", together with the custody and his wallet containing money and passport. Never found again, it has the serial n. 8136.

After the theft of his first Schecter, Mark got his second stratocaster Schecter. Very similar to the first one, but with a gilded pickguard of great visual impact, Mark hugely used it live, but also in a lot of recordings: Tunnel of love (1980-1986), Telegraph Road (1982-1983), Ride Across The River (1985), Romeo and Juliet (1985-1986).

In June of 2004 it was sold in a charity auction for Eric Clapton's foundation Crossroads For Antiga, and it was sold for 50 thousand pounds.

And here finally the queen of Mark's Schecters, red as his most important Fender and the Hofner. It's a 1980 Schecter, and it was his main guitar since 1980 up to 1986 approximately . It was used in several songs during the On Location tour (1980-1981), Love over gold tour (1982-1983), Brothers in arms tour (1985), Live Aid (1985) and the On every street tour (1991-1992).

Danelectro

The one in the picture on the right is a Danelectro 59 Dc Standard, year 1963.Played on Donegan's gone, Right now, Corned beef city and Miss you blues, This is a guitar made in masonite (a noble variation of the multilayer) and poplar, with lipstick magnets and keyboard in rosewood. The"Dc"initials is an acronym for"Double Cutaway",that is"double missing shoulder".

This is the Silvertone 1968 1452 Hornet. This model was produced for only two years from '66 to the '68, note. renowned to be the chosen guitar in Boom like That

(Shangri-La, 2004), but also in Stand up guy and in Don't crash the ambulance.