MK _ Guitar Stories Sky Arts

[allen]

I just feel surprised that Mark still kept his first guitar so well.  I threw away my first toy right after I got my second one. hahahha

Wishes
Allen

[JF]

Finally I managed to watch the documentary. It put a lot of smiles on my face. I love it.  I wish it was a lot longer than 45 minutes. 

I really LOVE the red strat. It's soooooo gorgeous.  I saw Mark play it right in front of me in SF. I could never forget the beauty of that guitar.

sorry to disappoint you, but the guitar you saw live is NOT the guitar you saw in guitar stories

the red strat Mark is now playing live is the fender signature model, released around 2003 :

http://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/mark-knopfler-signature-strat-se-00000/

or at least, one of his several sig strats :
http://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/08/they-all-look-the-same-how-to-tell-mark-knopflers-different-signature-strats-apart/


the red strat from 1961 Mark is playing in the documentary is the real thing : it's one fo his 2 first fender strats he played during 77-79 era :
http://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-stratocaster-1961/

He got this first one (with rosewood neck) around 1976 or early 1977.
At first, it was natural wood finish :
http://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/12/new-picture-of-the-sultans-strat-before-being-refinished-to-red/
It features on sultans demos, and all demos from july to late 77
It was refinished in red during summer 78


at the end of 77, he got his 2nd red strat (with maple neck), the one you can see in e.g. rockpalast or sultans and WWE video clips
it's also the one Ed Bicknell jumped in at their first meeting (see the story in he Oldfield book) :
http://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-stratocaster-1962/


he used both during 78-79 live and studio recordings, so we can't say for sur which one is ued on whici recording, but Ingo tried to figure out :
http://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/12/early-dire-straits-when-was-which-of-the-two-red-fenders-used/

Sorry, but can't stop talking about these beauties 

[MusicGirl1]

Finally I managed to watch the documentary. It put a lot of smiles on my face. I love it.  I wish it was a lot longer than 45 minutes. 

I really LOVE the red strat. It's soooooo gorgeous.  I saw Mark play it right in front of me in SF. I could never forget the beauty of that guitar.

I've been playing the guitar since I was something like 14. As for me personally, I am certainly a Fender girl. A strat or a tele will do for me.
It's only a shame I can't pay for an original strat or tele with the salary of a secretary, but I currently am doing ok with a reasonable mid-class copy of a strat (a Yamaha Pacifica).
On the other hand, maybe it's a good idea to keep track of good second hand deals, you never know what you'll find........
Who knows....., maybe I'll find my dream guitar that way. 

But about Guitar Stories, it made me smile that even someone like Mark actually kept his very first guitar.
I'm sure there are so many good teenage/young adult memories attached to that first guitar. 
I still have my first electric guitar and maybe, when he's old enough, I'll use it to teach my nephew how to play (if he wants to learn off course).
He's only 6 years old now, so who knows, maybe someday, when the time is right........

Maaike

 

[JF]

I just feel surprised that Mark still kept his first guitar so well.  I threw away my first toy right after I got my second one. hahahha

Wishes
Allen

I still have my first acoustic nylon guitar, and my first electric guitar : a red strat replica made by "Hondo" (I think corean guitars)
I don't use it anymore, but I will keep it to death for sure 

I was surprised that Mark did'nt use his first guitar for the KTGC promo/booklet photos sessions.
Why did he take another one, while he got his own one ?

[Love Expresso]

JF, so with your "trained eye" - is the one Mark fetches out of the case ("here she is") REALLY the original one from 1961 or is it a signature one? I think she looks spectacular fresh and new, really not like 50 years old... and as there are some other "minor" mistakes in this documentary, maybe they screw us with this one, too?

LE

[vgonis]

JF, I know that you want your facts straight, but you've ruined it for sweetsurrender!
I for one think that it is not the guitar, but the player, but have tried to live the dream with a Squire Stratocaster model, and not a red one! Started too late with very little time and money to spend on, so novice for ever!

[Love Expresso]

btw, it took me ages, JF, that you did NOT mean a song with  "used on whici recording" - but that it should mean "used on WHICH recording"    - blimey, with all those song abbreviations lately (set list stuff), I was thinking for literally 3 minutes .... whici??   Whici???     (what have I could I got I used to could do...    nearly got my brain damaged by this riddle)

Sorry, it is still early on a rainy Monday morning.. 

LE

[superval99]

If Sweetsurrender had a wonderful experience seeing MK close-up in front of her, playing beautiful music on a beautiful red strat, does it really matter which model of red strat it is!   It is definitely the guitarist who matters most to me!     

[vgonis]

Yes these abreviations are for strong puzzle crackers! My favourite is PONO, an easy one, but sounds like the Greek word for "hurt/ache" (pono') .
I usually write the whole title when there is no reference on previous posts, just above mine.  And it gets more complicated for the songs that don't get mentioned that often (DTTW, ITG, INR, TMTS, RATR, YLT etc). I don't think that finding them instantly is a fan indication, but surely it is a good brain workout for altzheimers.

[superval99]

Yes these abreviations are for strong puzzle crackers! My favourite is PONO, an easy one, but sounds like the Greek word for "hurt/ache" (pono') .
I usually write the whole title when there is no reference on previous posts, just above mine.  And it gets more complicated for the songs that don't get mentioned that often (DTTW, ITG, INR, TMTS, RATR, YLT etc). I don't think that finding them instantly is a fan indication, but surely it is a good brain workout for altzheimers.

    vgonis, you made me laugh on such a grey Monday morning!    I really struggle with all these abbreviations and spend lots of time wading through all of my CDs to find the answers.   For example, I have no idea what the abbreviations mean in your post, so I must start doing a bit of brain exercise immediately to ward off altzheimers - then I will resort to the CD rack!   

[Jules]

I just feel surprised that Mark still kept his first guitar so well.  I threw away my first toy right after I got my second one. hahahha

Wishes
Allen

I recall that before Kill to get crimson got release, we heard/read that David Knopfler sold a guitar exactly like that and everybody thought that for any reason, David had MK first guitar, and he sold it...

I

[vgonis]

Hold on! Don't run to your CD rack just yet! I will try to dicipher them for you, if I can remember them!
Planet of New Orleans
Down to the waterline
In the Gallery
It never rains
The man's too strong
Ride across the river
Your latest trick.
Thank God most of them where from BiA album (I think this one is easy)!

It is gloomy in Athens as well but with south winds blowing and 22 C, temprature! It might rain, it might not, so the gloomy feeling has other origins.It started yesterday so it was Gloomy Sunday. What a song! And what a story behind it!  From wikipedia:
 
In January 1968, some 35 years after writing the song, its composer Rezs? Seress did commit suicide. He survived jumping out of a window in Budapest, but later in the hospital choked himself to death with a wire.[22]

[superval99]

I managed all of them, using my brain I am pleased to say, except for INR, for that I headed down to the CD rack!        That was a VERY gloomy story btw! 

[aborille]

JF, so with your "trained eye" - is the one Mark fetches out of the case ("here she is") REALLY the original one from 1961 or is it a signature one? I think she looks spectacular fresh and new, really not like 50 years old... and as there are some other "minor" mistakes in this documentary, maybe they screw us with this one, too?

LE

Well, the case is the same I've got with my signature. Pick ups really look like Texas Special (magnets at center are higher than magnets at sides). It looks like brand new. IMHO actually "she" is a Signature on the video.

[vgonis]

Bravo Val! That actually proves you are a fan and have a solid brain!

Oh, but it rains all the time, doesn't it? 

One of my absolute favourite DS songs. Almost dark, his lyrics so universal and gloomy, (I think I could spot some references to "All about Eve" movie, but I have to see it again to remember which-one of them but too general anyway is  the "you screw people over on the way up, cause you thought that you were never coming down") and the extended solo exit, one of the greatest and least played live. Too bad! It started raining here too. A shy rain.