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Topic: Fender Mark Knopfler Signature Strat, Man On The Rocks Album< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Mar. 24 2014, 10:25

I have just read in the instruments list for Man On The Rocks that Mike used a Mark Knopfler signature Fender Strat, I was't aware Mike owned one, but I do know Mike has admired Mark as a player for many years, can someone tell me which tracks Mike used the guitar on?
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: Mar. 25 2014, 08:32

A picture of it surfaced on Facebook a while ago (there's a copy at mike-oldfield.es). It's interesting, actually - seeing him in the Wembley 83 concert, with a Strat round his neck and a sweatband round his head, made me think that Mike's admiration for Mark might be deeper than I'd imagined!

As far as we're aware, it's his only Strat, so anywhere you hear one on the album, that'll be it! The prominent ones are the solos in Minutes and Following the Angels (and I think that's the neck pickup on Dreaming in the Wind too). I think the U2-like guitar on Moonshine was Michael Thompson though.
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Craig Evans Offline




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Posted: Mar. 25 2014, 12:08

His only strat?  Doesn't Mike still have the old 1959 Sunburst Stratocaster?  It's not mentioned as having been sold in the instruments list.

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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Mar. 26 2014, 03:00

Thanks for the info Korgie.
I think Mike has had a long admiration for Mark, there is a clip of Mike on breakfast TV talking about his Strat, and he mentions Mark plays one, also he was interviewed about current music (early 80's) and he said he doesn't really listen to the radio, but he does really like Private Investigations.

I can really hear that MK Strat sound in the song Minutes, and I think Mark himself would be proud of the solo Mike pulls of in Following The Angels :O
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: Mar. 26 2014, 03:23

Quote (Craig Evans @ Mar. 25 2014, 16:08)
His only strat?  Doesn't Mike still have the old 1959 Sunburst Stratocaster?  It's not mentioned as having been sold in the instruments list.

It's not surfaced in any pictures recently, and as the 'pink' one was known to be his favourite, I'd have thought that would be the one he'd have got rid of last...so if he got rid of the pink one, he almost certainly got rid of the sunburst one too. There's a lot of stuff in the instruments list which isn't in his possession any more, we've only so far noted things as being sold when we know something about the sale (perhaps a 'probably no longer owned by Mike' column would an idea, though).

He sometimes gives things to Luke, so it could be that Luke has it. There's been no sign of the amber PRS lately either, it could be that it's also quietly gone the same way...

In the summer before Tubular Beats was released, I had a fairly long chat with Torsten Stenzel about various things (mostly relating to the album, but it strayed onto other subjects, as conversations often do). We got onto talking about the problems of salt in the air, from the sea - he said it was bad enough where he was, some distance from the sea, but that it was a far larger problem for Mike, whose house is pretty much right on the water. The salt gets into everything, and Torsten said it can cause problems for Mike with his instruments.

My guess would then be that anything of any great value (like a '59 Strat) would, at the very least, have been given to Luke for safekeeping in the UK, if not just quietly sold. Mike apparently also does just have moments where he decides it's time for a change, and gets rid of everything.
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qjamesfloyd Offline




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Posted: Mar. 26 2014, 05:44

That would be a shame if he has got rid of his pink strat and amber PRS, the PRS is gorgeous, and he makes it sing. Still if the MK Signature Strat is his only strat, it's a great guitar. It was the best selling Signature Strat for Fender, and they only stopped making it last year, after 11 years, do we know when Mike aquired it?
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lukaszswietek Offline




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Posted: April 24 2014, 15:16

Hi guys,
I saw Mike's PRS Custom 24 somewhere in the background in the Bahamas.
He still keeps this guitar.
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hergestridge Offline




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Posted: April 26 2014, 13:19

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Mike sold the pink Strat (a ’61 I think) through Chandlers in London for £30,000 a few years ago.
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