Photo: Nevit Dilmen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mark Knopfler has said he plays a Fender Strat with serial number zero, a 50th Anniversary '54 Strat replica, his Gibson Custom Shop Knopfler '58 Les Paul, a Gretsch 6120, Pensas and a Boswell 0-14 parlor. He has said Tony Joe White's Gibson ES-330 is on every record he makes.
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“There's one that I play quite a lot which has got a serial number of zero, and that is a great, great Strat.”
“a couple of times I used the 50th anniversary model, which is really a usable, beautiful guitar”
“I have a '54 Stratocaster anyway, which also got onto the album”
“there's another one that I've had fitted with Callahan pickups, and I used that on a few songs”
“It's the same thing with the replica Les Pauls they made from my '58.”
“I use that 330 on every record that I make now”
“There's also a Gretsch 6120 that's used on a couple of songs.”
“With this album, it was the Duesenbergs.”
“And then, obviously, there are the Pensas.”
“You can play anything on that Excel.”
“I put it to work on the album and it won the audition for a whole pile of songs”
“That guitar, the D-18, will have got on a lot of songs up to this point.”
Mostly Fender Stratocasters: he told Guitar Player in 2024 he plays a Strat with serial number zero quite a lot, plus a '54 Strat and Fender's 50th Anniversary '54 replica. His 1961 Strat, his first, was on Sultans of Swing.
The Gibson Custom Shop replicas of his '58 Les Paul Standard. He told Guitar Player they made about 58 of them and they all passed through his hands, and he used the '58 sound for screaming parts on One Deep River.
On One Deep River the main acoustic was a Boswell 0-14 mahogany parlor guitar. He has also said his 1935 Martin D-18 is on a lot of songs, and he kept his 1937 National Style O resonator.
He told Guitar World and Guitar Player in 2024 he kept the Martin D-18, his Nationals, Strat Number One from Sultans of Swing, Tony Joe White's blond Gibson ES-330, his Pensas, a 1930s D'Angelico Excel and a 2008 Monteleone Isabella.
Mark Knopfler is the Dire Straits founder and solo artist whose tenth solo album is One Deep River. This guide covers the guitars he kept after his 2024 Christie's auction and named in Guitar Player and Guitar World interviews.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Mark Knopfler didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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