The guitar was bought second-hand and had a 'natural wood' finish but was repainted in red by Steve Phillips. It is the second Stratocaster used from 1977 until 1980. Later, it was used for the studio recording of On every street (unsure if it was used on the song On every street or used on another track of that album from 1991) and Mark used the guitar on What it is during the Sailing to Philadelphia tour in 2001. This guitar was the basis for the Fender Stratocaster Mark Knopfler Signature Edition.

Click here for a picture of the early 80's which clearly shows the damage of the paint of this actual guitar. Click here for a nice magazine cover featuring Mark with this guitar and click here for another nice picture.

Click here for a photo of this famous Fender Stratocaster from 1961, taken from the 2001 Japanese magazine The guitar. And here and here other photos, taken from the Guitarist magazine, May 2024.

It was Mark's main guitar from 1977 until 1979. The guitar was used on the Dire Straits (1978) and Communiqué (1979) albums.

And you can see it in the videos of Sultans of swing, Wild west end, Lady writer and on various live shows like for example Rockpalast 1979.

Mark also used this guitar on the recording of Bob Dylan's album Slow train coming, see left picture.

Mark does not have this guitar anymore, it was auctioned for a charity.

This black Stratocaster was actually from David Knopfler, but Mark used it occasionally live on stage for Setting me up in the early days of Dire Straits between May and June 1979. David bought this guitar in 1977 and after being stripped back to blonde, he had it re-sprayed in black by Steve Phillips.

This black Stratocaster seems to be from Mark Knopfler himself. It was used in 1983 on the Love over gold tour to play Portobello Belle. The picture on the left is taken at the Jaap Edenhal, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 14th June 1983. Click here for another picture of Mark together with Mel Collins performing Portobello Belle.

This is a late 80's American Standard Stratocaster. I have no further information on this guitar, except that it was played and signed by Mark Knopfler and later displayed, probably for an auction.

Click here for another picture on which the sign is sharp enough to read. It says:

"This guitar was signed by Mark Knopfler in 1989. He played it during a concert at the Sky Dome, and donated it after the show. May 5, 2001 - The Rosemont Theater".

I never heard of a concert at the Sky Dome, so to me it is unknown from which date that concert is. I assume that the guitar was played and signed in 1989, but apart from charity shows in Egham and Newcastle, I don't know other shows Dire Straits played that year. I also don't see the connection with the Rosemont Theater, except that Mark played at that venue on 5th May 2001 during the Sailing to Philadelphia tour.

Unsure if this is the famous #80470 model from 1961 that was auctioned for a charity, but I don't think so.

According to this article, this candy-apple red Fender Stratocaster was used on Mark's work on Local Hero and was played on the track Why worry.

The guitar was also played by Mark at a charity concert for M.S. Therapy Centre Middlesbrough, 17th May 1997 and could be won in a prize draw. Mark himself drew the winning ticket out of a box onstage and the lucky winner (Richie Holmes) got it from Mark himself after the show in the dressing room. Click also here to get details of that concert.

1954 was the first year of mass production for the Fender Stratocaster. Stratocasters from this year are highly sought after and consequently extremely hard to get and very expensive. Mark's guitar is from the third month of manufacture. Mark Knopfler got this guitar from his friend Paul Kennerly, and he calls it the "Jurassic Strat".

The guitar was used on You don't know you're born (2002), Everybody pays, Summer of love, Our Shangri-La (2004), The car was the one, Remembrance Day (2009). On tour, Mark used it for songs like I'm the fool, So far away, Our Shangri-La and Skydiver.

The Japanese magazine The guitar (2001) featured a nice photo of this guitar. Vintage Guitar magazine (February 2014) also published a nice photo.

The 2004 Fender Stratocaster is a 1954-spec model made to commemorate the Strat's (then) 50th anniversary.

It has toured with Knopfler's and Neil Diamond's sideman Richard Bennett, who played it from 2005 to 2019. Knopfler used this on the tracks Tunnel 13 and Before my train comes, on the album One deep river, while Richard Bennet played it on the track This one's not going to end well.  Source: Guitarist magazine, May 2014.

The guitar can also be found on the card that is part of the box-set of One deep river.

At the charity gig in Beaulieu (28th July 2002), Mark Knopfler played a vintage Fender Stratocaster with a rosewood neck. It is also different from the guitar below as this guitar is a two-tone sunburst while the guitar below is a three-tone sunburst.

This is a Custom Shop 1956 fiesta red with gold hardware, Birdseye maple neck Fender Stratocaster which Hank Marvin gave to Mark Knopfler. This guitar can be seen in the documentary 'The Fender Stratocaster - Curves, contours and bodyhorns' where Mark is holding the guitar in his house. Click here to see a capture of that documentary.

Mark used this white Fender on the recording of Chet Atkins and Friends, 1st and 2nd May 1987. This guitar has black elements and black knobs. Click here for another picture.

Mark Knopfler bought this guitar in September 1999. The guitar was used on Sailing to Philadelphia on the Sailing to Philadelphia album. The guitar was also used in the promo concerts in 2000 and on Sailing to Philadelphia during the Sailing to Philadelphia tour 2001. On the Privateering tour 2013, Mark used it to play Gator blood. On the Tracker tour, it was used to play Mighty man. Click here for another nice picture of Mark with this guitar.

The Japanese magazine The guitar featured a great article in 2001 listing all of Mark Knopfler's guitars which he used on the Sailing to Philadelphia tour 2001. The article featured seperate photos of each of these guitars. Click here for a photo of the Fender Stratocaster from 1965.

In July 2003, Fender released a Mark Knopfler Signature Edition of the Stratocaster, made to Mark Knopfler's specs. Mark uses this guitar on stage since the Shangri-La tour in 2004. Nice detail of the guitar is that it features Mark's signature on the headstock.

On tour, Mark uses more of these Signature Edition Stratocasters on stage, so there are more serial numbers, but at least Mark has the very first one ever made with this unique five zero serial number. Click here for a nice add that was part of the Shangri-La tour programma. Click here for another nice promo picture.

On 12th September 2009, Mark Knopfler, Guy Fletcher, Luke Brighty and John McCusker performed at a private, invitation only fundraising event for the Pallant House art gallery in Chichester. Mark played one of his own MK signature Strats during the show and this actual guitar has been auctioned on Ebay to raise funds for the gallery. It raised an amazing £6,300 which went to the Pallant House Gallery Appeal Fund. See one more picture (taken by Guy Fletcher) of this actual guitar during rehearsals at British Grove for several events: The Prince's Trust (9th September), Taratata (11th September) and finally the Pallant event on 12th September.

News from November 2009: StarCards.org will auction a collection of signed Great Ormond Street Hospital playing cards by legendary & renowned guitar players from the 5th November 2009, including Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, Steve Vai, Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Phil Hilborne, Neil Murray, Paul Carrack, Joe Brown, Scott Mckeon, and Ramon Diaz.

The highlight of the auction is a Fender Stratocaster Mark Knopfler signature model guitar donated by Fender UK and Bonnersmusic.co.uk of Eastbourne with a hard case as well as a unique display cabinet donated by Wallsoffame.co.uk. The Fender will be signed and personalised by Mark for the winning bidder and will be on display at Bonners until the 15th November. The auction starts on the 5th November and finishes 10 days later on Sunday 15th November.

It raised an amazing £7,100 and was personalised by Mark for the winning bidder in Canada.

So, not a guitar that Mark Knopfler owned and played himself before it was framed, but I thought it would be nice enough to list it here.

On 19th May 2011, Mark Knopfler played at a special fundraising charity gig before an invited audience at the newly opened Corinthia hotel in London. The event was in aid of The Gender Rights & Equality Action Trust (GREAT). Among the highlights of the evening was the auction of Mark's guitar which he used on his performance. The guitar was sold for a very impressive £75,000!

As no photography was allowed during Mark's performance, I don't have any pictures of Mark and the actual guitar. The picture on the left shows an identical guitar. It's the official promo photo from Fender featuring the Stratocaster Mark Knopfler Signature Edition, dated from 2004.

This is the guitar that was used to record Setting me up. It is actually from David Knopfler, but Mark used it live on Water of love in the early days of Dire Straits and David used it on Wild west end. The Telecaster Thinline was originally a hollow-bodied guitar with f-holes. To make it look like a solid body guitar, the f-holes were later filled by Steve Phillips who also painted it black. Click here for another nice picture of Mark with this guitar.

This is Mark's sunburst Telecaster Custom. It was bought in the early days of Dire Straits (1977-1978). It was then played by David Knopfler. Later, on the On Location world tour 1980-1981, Mark played the guitar again. Unsure on which song, most likely Portobello Belle.

Later Mark used this guitar on The Notting Hillbillies album Missing... presumed having a good time (1990) and live for That's alright mama with The Notting Hillbillies in 1990 and on Setting me up during the On every street tour 1991-1992.

Later, it was also played by Guy Fletcher on the live version of Why aye man. In 2013, Mark used the guitar again to play Father and son on the Privateering tour and Tracker tour. Click here for another nice photo of this guitar (right).

Mark used this guitar when touring with The Notting Hillbillies, and later it was also used for songs like A night in summer long ago (1996), Setting me up (1997, 1998, 1999), Prairie wedding (2001, 2010, 2013) and Belle Starr (2006).

The Japanese magazine The guitar featured a great article in 2001 listing all of Mark Knopfler's guitars which he used on the Sailing to Philadelphia tour 2001. The article featured seperate photos of each of these guitars. Click here for a photo of this Fender Telecaster from 1954.

Acquired by Mark Knopfler circa 1979 during the early days of Dire Straits, the electric 12-string has been in the studio from time to time to try out different sounds for different songs, although Knopfler doesn’t recall using it on a Dire Straits recording.

The 12-string was used during recording of the Charlie Rich song Feel like going home on the 1990 Notting Hillbillies album Missing...Presumed having a good time, the entirety of which was recorded in the home studio of Mark’s Notting Hill mews house. With haunting vocals by Brendan Croker, Feel like going home was released as a single in April 1990.

See here and here for other pictures of this guitar.
 

This guitar was auctioned at Christie's in London on 31st January 2024. It was sold for 63.000 Pounds.

This picture is taken by Guy Fletcher in British Grove Studios in May 2011. The Duo Sonic II is indicated by the red arrow. Click here for a better picture of a similar guitar.

The decal logo Fender / PRECISION BASS / PAT. 2,968,204 2,976,755 2,573,254 DES. 187,001 at the headstock, neckplate stamped L31687, the finish of a custom colour and probably Sonic Blue.


Acquired by Mark Knopfler in 2004 for use by the bassists employed on his early promotional tours, this Precision Bass was thereafter kept for studio use.

Bassist Glenn Worf used the Precision to record the unreleased track A dream or two from Knopfler’s 2012 solo studio album Privateering and the deluxe bonus track My heart has never changed on the 2015 album Tracker.

Knopfler told: 'I play bass very badly. There’s the wire wound and the flat wound thing. I really enjoyed having a wire wound bass, but also to keep a flat wound bass, because a lot of the records would have flat wound strings on those basses. And then I just had totally impractical things… they’re just beautiful objects. If you know what you’re doing, you can coax really good sounds out of them.'

 

This guitar was auctioned at Christie's in London on 31st January 2024. It was sold for 37.800 Pounds.

The bass guitar can be found on the card that is part of the box-set of One deep river.