I Played Mark Knopfler's Iconic Guitars

so I can't believe this happened why good morning I'm about to get off to head up to Uptown and visit a place I never thought I'd go to see a collection of

guitars

and that's Christy's because one of my musicians favorites is up for auction. his collection, so come on, January 31, 2024 will go down in guitar history as the day Mark Noler, one of the greatest guitarists and songwriters of all time, auctioned off over 120 of his extensive personal collection of instruments and amplifiers. This collection represents a lifelong passion. for the guitar to look in amazement at the Guitar Shop windows, as well as the opportunity to own the tools of a master craftsman, the genius creator of the best music of the last four decades, look, look, what a look, oh oh my God , working with Christe.

London auction house The guitar collection was dis

played

in New York and London before the auction itself, where tens of thousands of bidders from 61 countries fought to own a piece of History spending a total of just over 8,840,000 , of which 2.7 million By going to Mark's chosen charities, I was lucky that some trips coincided with the New York and London dates, so I managed to catch both and, beyond my wildest dreams, I was able to sit down and play some of the most

iconic

instruments. Yes, can I have this? one, yeah, well, this is Santa and he's going to give me one of Mark's

guitars

no.

I think so, thanks for putting the B. I appreciate it. It all started with the red Stratocaster. Hank Marvin of the Shadows was young Mark no's idol. obsessed with Stratocasters I used to sniff the fender catalogue. I completely understand that a real Stratocaster was out of the question, but Nola's dad bought her a red Hoffner V2 with two pickups that cost £50. He didn't have the courage to ask for an amplifier. Plus, so connected to the family radio, it wasn't long before he exploited it. Not having an amplifier led him to develop his intricate fingerstyle technique. You will see next to the guitars that there is a price, a very reasonable price. so these instruments are and I was talking to the team at Christies and they said that's where they started, like Mark Norra never

played

these guitars, so what would these guitars be worth if they weren't associated with Noler?

I could definitely buy one of the Martins from there, but in reality it will be hundreds of thousands. They asked him if he could spend some of his earnings on new guitars. He said I guess I'm not immune to Temptation, it's very possible. I can turn my head, in other words, what have I learned, not much, who can relate to that totally self-taught. Mark Noler has described himself as a guitar teacher's nightmare, lacking an amplifier; he learned to play with his fingers by borrowing acoustic guitars from his friends to learn and play. Folk songs As he learned more about the blues he began to form his own style.

I think doing everything wrong being a guitar teacher's nightmare has its perks now I just had very little time to play them so I barely scratched the surface of some of the amazing instruments on display. I'm excited to be here in London outside of Christy because tomorrow is the actual auction so I get a second chance to preview it and I get to play Mark's guitars again. There are many notable ones, the 1979 Ovation acoustic electric was used to record the soundtrack for The Local Hero. The Gibson super 400 was used for his notable hillbilly side project. A beautiful Guild Emerald Starfire 3 hollow body from 1961.

There was a whole range of Japanese Tysco guitars and the red 1983 Telecaster sha was used for Walk of Life, which Nola said. It was one of the best sounding electric guitars he's ever owned, but I had some special moments with what I think are the highlights of the collection. Let's get into it. Here is the 1988 Penser MK1, starting price was £6,000 to £8,000. It sold. For £54,000, this magnificent model became Mark's main instrument from 1988 to 1992 and was used during D Strait's performance at Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday tribute concert, a historic event watched by over 600 million people in 67 countries around the world.

It was conceived by Mark Rudy Penser. and lead builder John Sir as a solution to the constant guitar changing that d Strait's later setlists demanded. John Sir had already been working on his dream guitar customized with a carved top made of maple, but with only a few weeks left at the Mandela tribute concert he had to give up his baby and repurpose it for Mark's MK1. They added a maple neck with a 22-fret fingerboard. The top of the bow would be sprayed with a tinted clear lacquer to really highlight the maple gold plated hardware. It was equipped with EMG.

Active single coil pickups in the neck and middle position and an EMG 85 humbucking pickup in the bridge, as well as an SPC boost on a push pull pot. The gentleman modified the five position switch to lower the tone of the humbucker so that the bridge pickup would not dominate. The mid-position single coil added a double-locking Floyd Rose tremolo bridge for added stability. Nola had less than a week of rehearsals to meet his new friend before the historic headlining performance. The band was accompanied by special guest rhythm guitarist Eric Clapton and Noler returned the favor by joining him for several dates on their 25th anniversary tour, MK1 appeared on D Strait's final album, On Every Street, and on their 15-year tour. months in support of the album, after which the band disbanded, ending an incredible career.

He described this guitar as practically the love of his life. He finally retired from heavy use when he began using the Penser MK2. Now with Gibson Les Pool standards. Let's start with the one from 1959. The asking price for this guitar was £300,000-£. 500,000 and sold for $693,000. It was used on the Sailing to Philadelphia album and the Kill tour to get the Crimson album and get lucky. The second Gibson Lespol Standard is the 1983 reissue 59. The asking price was £10-15,000, but it sold for $592,000 this year. The guitar was used to record brothers in arms and money for nothing. Now you understand why it cost so much.

Mark Noler has owned several Les Pools to date, a 1983 59 reissue, a birthday gift from Gibson's custom shop with a serial number 12849 coinciding with his birthday a 1958 that remains in his personal collection and in 1959 formerly owned by veteran Sidman Bobby Tench looking for a harder, more powerful sound bought his first model from Rudy Penser a '59 reissue before he and D Straits traveled to George Martin's aerial studios at Monserat in the Eastern Caribbean to record their next album Brothers in Arms, the guitar was used on the album's biggest hit, Money for Nothing, as well as the title track, the guitar sound on Money For Nothing, was actually the result of a microphone in front of Mark's Lany . amplifier falling to the ground and pointing at the ground, Les poool appeared front and center on the Money for Nothing artwork that became their biggest hit, topping the Billboard chart for three weeks, as well as winning two MTV Video Music Awards and having the honor of being the first video to be played on the new MTV Europe in 1987, it also appeared in the magnificent Brothers in Arms video.

The guitar was played in front of nearly a billion live viewers and was eventually phased out in favor of 59 lespol. This guitar has one of the most storied histories of any instrument in modern times. It is possibly the second most associated instrument with him, the first being the Fender Stratocaster. This Fender Stratocaster is the artist's prototype. Mark Noler's signature Stratocaster from the year 200 2. The asking price was £4000 to £6,000 and this sold for £3,400. The Stratocaster was the first guitar that really captured my imagination and the first guitar I desperately wanted to have when I think of Mark Noler and D Straits.

This is what comes to mind. This is not the 1961 Stratocaster that remains in Mark's private collection, this is the artist's prototype for his exclusive edition. Fans had Mark at the top of their list of artists to work with, saying that he almost single-handedly regenerated interest in the Stratocaster. After Sultans of Swing, the acquisition of his own Stratocaster had a profound effect on the sound of D Strait Initially, Sultan sounded quite different in an interview with Guitar World. Mark said he thought it was boring, but as soon as I bought my first Stratocaster in 1977, everything changed, although the lyrics remained the same, it just came to life as soon as I played the '61 Stratocaster, which remained my main guitar for many years and it was basically the only thing I played on the first album, that song and that Stratocaster changed everything for the band in regards to their signature model, Nola was sure that the guitar should be affordable and of good quality, not a bble Too expensive for a handful of wealthy collectors, however, this collection is a little different.

Fender copied the contours of a 57 strap body made of lighter swamp ash with a hot rod red finish, a newer addition to its color. palette that reflected what the young brand imagined Hank Marvin's Strat to be: the maple neck was based on a 1962 model with an East Indian rosewood fingerboard, it has three Texas Special single-coil pickups, and it also has Larger frets than a typical Strat. Mark said I put the biggest jumbo frets I have on my old guitar. These frets make the guitar much more finger-friendly and are a real pleasure to touch. I have them on my old lespol and on the Martin dradel for me they make any guitar feel better acoustic or electric.

Mark used this guitar on tour for his sixth solo album. Get Lucky and in various other performances and recordings. It is truly unique and I feel honored to have touched it. Thank you very much for watching it. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would get close to these incredible instruments, so a big thank you to Amelia Krie and Samantha and the rest of the amazing team at Christe for being so helpful. Many thanks to Mr. Mark Noler for being the soundtrack of my life. Like many others, it is a real privilege and of course I will see you here again very, very soon.