A NYLON STRING SEMI SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, CHET ATKINS CE, CUSTOM SHOP EDITION

Mark Knopfler acquired this nylon string classical electric guitar from Gibson Custom Shop in early 1982, ahead of recording sessions at the Power Station in New York for Dire Straits’ fourth studio album Love Over Gold, which kicked off in March 1982. It would be the band’s first collaboration with engineer Neil Dorfsman, who would continue to work with Knopfler on both Local Hero and Bob Dylan’s Infidels, later acting as co-producer on Brothers In Arms. Producing for the first time, Knopfler indulged in complex atmospheric compositions and extended instrumental passages. ‘I think Mark was at a stage in his career where he was looking to do something other than straightforward rock music,’ Dorfsman told Sound on Sound magazine in May 2006. ‘He was always interested in doing a lot of different things. I remember him studying jazz and really woodshedding a lot on his guitar at home, and it knocked me out how adventurous he was, trying to expand his horizons.' The nylon string was put into action immediately, used to record the acoustic elements of the album’s title track Love Over Gold, an elegant arrangement inspired by the rather poetic graffiti once scrawled on a wall in the South London council estate where Dire Straits had formed only five years before. 'Someone had written ‘Love Over Gold’ on the wall as an idea and it stuck with me,’ Mark told Robert Sandall for the band’s CD compilation liner notes in 1998.

The nylon string was used extensively on tour from 1982-1986, most memorably for the much-loved 'Private Investigations' - labelled a 'somnolent musical noir' by British music writer Paul Rees in 2015. With just over a minute cut from the almost seven-minute album version for release as a single in August 1982, the song peaked at number two in the UK charts, its success paving the way for Love Over Gold to enter the album charts at number one in October 1982. Partly inspired by crime writer Raymond Chandler, as well as the cinematic scores he had in development at the time, Knopfler told Robert Sandall: 'it’s a song about writing songs, actually; it’s a song about the process of writing, that you make your own little private investigations.' Knopfler can be seen playing this guitar for a superb live performance of 'Private Investigations' at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam on the Dutch AVRO TV programme Platengala on 15 October 1982, as well as a closed studio performance for Dutch television show Top Pop, broadcast the following day. In addition to his spotlit performances of 'Private Investigations' throughout the Love Over Gold Tour, which ran from November 1982 to July 1983, Knopfler invariably employed the nylon string on stage for both the album title track 'Love Over Gold' and the outro of 'Romeo And Juliet', as seen in footage from the final two shows of the tour at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 22-23 July, which was recorded for the 1984 Dire Straits live album and VHS concert film Alchemy: Dire Straits Live.

During a break between the Australian and European legs of the tour from April to May 1983, Knopfler returned to the Power Station to co-produce Dylan’s 22nd studio album Infidels, together with a team of accomplished musicians including guitarist Mick Taylor and Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark. Knopfler recalls that he used the Chet Atkins nylon string during the recording sessions, though could not necessarily confirm whether the guitar made it on to a specific album track. The guitar was evidently present in the studio, clearly visible just behind him in previously unseen snippets of session footage released by Dylan in 2021 as official videos for the songs 'Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight' and 'License To Kill'. Andrew Wild highlights in his 2021 book Dire Straits Every Album, Every Song, 'the warmer sound of Knopfler’s nylon-strung guitar is in direct contrast to his steel National and his collection of electric guitars’. As such, it’s probable that the guitar’s singular tone was required on a slew of other sessions during Knopfler’s prolific early 80s period. Knopfler noted at least two in an interview with Guitar Player magazine in 1984, remarking fondly 'One of my favourite guitars is the Gibson Chet Atkins solid-body classical, which has been on a lot of sessions since I got it. It’s a beautifully made thing. I use it onstage, too, because you can get really loud with the thing. The action is low, so it tries to get the best of both worlds. By and large, I think it succeeds. It’s a lot of fun to play. I used it on the Bryan Ferry sessions, some sessions with Phil Everly, and on the film scores I just did.' Five tracks Mark recorded for Phil Everly on 2 November 1982 at London’s Eden Studios were released on the 1993 album Phil Everly, while the Bryan Ferry sessions Mark mentions were two tracks recorded in August 1984 for Ferry’s 1985 album Boys And Girls. The film scores Knopfler noted were his soundtracks for the 1984 films Cal and Comfort and Joy, recorded at London’s AIR Studios in March 1984. Speaking to journalist Joe Jackson in 2000, Knopfler also referenced a 1983 session for the enigmatic Scott Walker, which saw Knopfler’s nylon string twangs prominently featured on the Tennessee Williams song ‘Blanket Roll Blues’ for Walker’s 1984 album Climate Of The Hunter. ‘It was so out there that I decided that it might be a good idea to… just record it in the control room’, Knopfler recalled. ‘I played two guitars on it… a nylon strung and the National… and he’s just got a handheld mic in the control room, which makes it sound more like a home recording.’

Following the release of Dire Straits' record-breaking fifth studio album Brothers In Arms, the band set off on a 12-month world tour that took in 247 sold-out stadium and arena shows in over 100 cities. Again, Knopfler played the nylon string for every dramatic performance of 'Private Investigations', with spotlights pulsing above a darkened stage. The guitar was also used for performances of the smooth jazz track 'Your Latest Trick' and a calypso version of 'So Far Away' on the Australia and New Zealand leg of the tour in 1986, as can be seen in footage from the final show of the tour at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre, recorded for broadcast on Australian network television on 26 April 1986. The following year, Knopfler produced singer songwriter Willy DeVille’s 1987 album Miracle and played the classical electric on the unreleased track 'Sweet Temptation'. On subsequent tours, the Gibson nylon-string would be replaced with a Ramirez classical guitar (lot 28).

THE GIBSON CHET ATKINS CE, CEC, AND SST
The Gibson Chet Atkins CE and CEC were developed by The Gibson Company in conjunction with the guitarist and Nashville record producer Chet Atkins and his luthier Hascal Haile in 1982. The chambered semi-solid mahogany body and spruce top was fitted with six separate piezo pickups under the bridge allowing each string to be finely adjusted for volume. With a 25½ inch scale length the instrument was produced in two neck width models, the CEC with a standard 2 inches as found on most classical guitars and a narrower CE with a 1 7/8 inch width. Strung with nylon strings, the instrument supplies the warm and tonal quality of a traditional classical guitar without the feedback problems that plagued traditional classical guitars when amplified. In 1987, the idea was expanded to a steel string model with the Chet Atkins SST.

These instruments became infinitely popular with performers for both stage and studio work. With the respect that Chet Atkins had gained among other players, the popularity of the instruments grew among professional circles and they were embraced by the likes of Eric Clapton, Sting, Jack Johnson, David Gilmour and, of course, Mark Knopfler.