AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, OOO-40S, MARK KNOPFLER SIGNATURE MODEL, RAGPICKER'S DREAM

Following the huge success of the first signature guitar collaboration between Mark Knopfler and C.F. Martin and Company, Dick Boak, head of Martin's Artist Relations, approached Knopfler to propose a follow-up project. The fresh inspiration was built around an instrument that would fill the needs of Knopfler's virtuoso fingerpicking talents. A OOO body size with a 25.4 inch scale was the obvious choice, but rather than a neck with 14 frets clear of the body, Martin's Dick Boak suggested a 12 fret neck and Knopfler agreed. The 12 fret neck allowed for a body length of 20 7/16 inches rather than the standard 19 3/8 inches on a 14 fret model. This increase in body length related directly to an increase in the resonating air volume of the body. The result was an exceedingly comfortable guitar to play and one that produced a warmer and richer tambour. Named after Knopfler's 2002 solo studio album The Ragpicker's Dream, it was a perfect fit for a fingerstyle player. The new model was introduced at the 2006 Summer NAMM Show in Austin, Texas. The final production models were delivered to Knopfler and band members during their 2006 All The Roadrunning Tour with Emmylou Harris.

Revealing how thrilled he was to collaborate with Martin, Knopfler told us: 'It's just phenomenal. I never thought that my signature would be on anything, never mind Fenders, Gibsons and Martins, because they're like holy words to me you know - they're the father, son and holy ghost of guitars! This Martin Signature - they built 155 of them and this is number two… it's just a beautiful thing. You know, they've really put their heart and soul into it. It's based around a twenties triple O design and the inlay is snowflake, which is something that I fell in love with over the years. And then I remember seeing something on an old Martin once, I can't remember where I got the idea from, but I remember asking Martin if they could string together a sound hole, and sure enough, you know, they just did it. If you've got it amplified properly, then you've got a little pickup in the sound hole and you can use these on stage, which I will have done with this. My guitar tech would maybe bring it to the dressing room and then at some point before getting on the stage, he would take it back to the rack of guitars at the side of the stage, waiting for whatever song it was supposed to be on - ‘Marble Town’ would be one of them.'

The #2 ‘Ragpicker’s Dream’ Signature Edition soon became Knopfler’s acoustic guitar of choice for touring and other live performances, first making its appearance on his 2008 Kill To Get Crimson Tour for performances of the song ‘Daddy’s Gone To Knoxville,’ plus three special performances of the Joe Brown song ‘A Picture Of You’ when the British musician joined Mark on stage at the Royal Albert Hall on 26, 28 and 29 May 2008. On 15 February 2009, Knopfler played the then unreleased title track of his forthcoming album Get Lucky on this Martin Signature for an intimate solo concert at the London gentlemen's club The Garrick, of which he had recently become a member. To promote the September 2009 release of his sixth solo studio album Get Lucky, Knopfler played five exclusive showcases in the UK and Europe, which included performances of ‘Monteleone’ and/or ‘Marbletown’ on the Ragpicker at the Hurlingham Club, London, on 9 September; Pallant House Art Gallery in Chichester on 12 September; an Amazon exclusive concert at Bush Hall, London, on 23 September; Kleiner Sendesaal in Cologne, Germany, on 29 September; and at the Colegio Oficial de Médicos in Madrid, Spain, on 1 October 2009. The show at the Hurlingham Club on 9 September 2009 was held in aid of The Prince’s Trust and was filmed and broadcast for the Bio Channel UK on 14 October 2009 - the superb quality footage of his performance of Monteleone is available to view on Mark Knopfler’s YouTube channel. Knopfler then carried the guitar on his 2010 Get Lucky Tour for performances of ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘Monteleone’.

Knopfler joined Bob Dylan from October to November 2012 for the Bob Dylan Tour with Mark Knopfler 2012, as part of Dylan’s Never Ending Tour 2012, playing the #2 Ragpicker for performances of the songs ‘Daddy’s Gone To Knoxville’ and ‘Privateering’, from his solo studio album of the same name, which had just been released that September. Knopfler continued to use the guitar for performances of ‘Privateering’ throughout his 2013 Privateering Tour and 2015 Tracker Tour. As promotion for his most recent studio album Down The Road Wherever, Knopfler played a short stripped-back set of songs in the piano room at the BBC for Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show on 29 October 2018. As tradition dictates that piano room performers must play one cover of another musician, Mark chose to play Paul Simon’s ‘The Boxer’ on the #2 Ragpicker, explaining: 'because it is Paul Simon's last go around, I just wanted to try to mark it, just say thanks for all the music over the years.'

Affirming that this is just the type of guitar he would use for song writing, Knopfler notes: 'I would always have something like this on a stand in my study at home, wherever I would be, or even in the hotel. Something like this is just a pleasure to become friendly with, to have it around. And, you know, often when you're writing a song, you're thinking about what kind of a guitar it's gonna like… and this'll probably be it. This is just nice to play, you just become a pal with the thing.'