A SEMI-SOLIDBODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, 360

Mark Knopfler purchased this Rickenbacker from Sound Stage Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2006. Although not known for being a Rickenbacker player, Knopfler told Guitarist magazine in 2021: 'I use a Rickenbacker for some "chings" or some "drings" occasionally.' The guitar was first seen in the studio during early recording sessions for Knopfler’s 2007 solo studio album Kill to Get Crimson at British Grove Studios in 2006. Over ten years later, Knopfler had finally found the right song for the guitar when he used the Rickenbacker to record the track 'One Song At A Time' on his ninth solo studio album Down The Road Wherever, released in 2018. The title One Song At A Time was inspired by Knopfler’s late friend Chet Atkins, who once said that was how he picked his way out of poverty. 'That song refers to the beginning of the Dire Straits time,' Mark told Paul Sexton in 2018, 'and what it was like to be in Deptford, in John [Illsley] and David's [Knopfler] little flat where I started staying when we were putting the little group together. Now it’s got a plaque on the door.' Knopfler also played the Rickenbacker on the bonus track 'Don’t Suck Me In', which was only available on the Box Set Deluxe edition LP. The guitar was taken out on the subsequent Down The Road Wherever Tour for guitarist Richard Bennett, although it appears that the guitar was not seen on stage. Bennett’s guitar tech Tim Myer was certainly seen tuning the guitar during the tour - as captured by keyboardist Guy Fletcher in his 2019 online tour diary.

Knopfler told us: 'The Rickenbacker magic, from the Beatles onwards… it’s a very big thing in my world. I never actually found a Rickenbacker that I was playing a lot, but I loved this blue baby. It was so great – just to look at. And then I thought I’d try some different pickups on it - toaster pickups. It’s got new toasters on it from Rickenbacker. And I got a good sound out of it in the end. I used it on the ‘Down The Road’ album. Certainly, I used it to record with and played it at home a lot. But a beautiful guitar like that... if it’s sitting in the studio, you’d have to pick it up and play it. It was just so delectable.'

RICKENBACKER
Founded in Los Angeles as the Rickenbacker Manufacturing Company in 1925, Adolph Rickenbacher’s only experience with guitar making was supplying the metal guitar bodies to the National String Instrument Corporation. In 1931, he teamed up with inventor George Beauchamp to produce Beauchamp’s design for electric guitars with the company name of Electro String Instruments Corporation. These instruments were sold under the brand name Rickenbacker, though the instruments were often labelled with Adolph’s original German spelling of Rickenbacher. The primary production prior to World War II was in Hawaiian lap steels, but also included electric mandolins, string bass, violin and cellos, all employing Beauchamp’s patented horseshoe magnet pickup. In 1953, Adolph Rickenbacher sold the company to F.C. Hall of Radio-Tel, who were the exclusive wholesale distributor for Fender. Hall changed direction by concentrating on the manufacturing of electric guitars and in 1962 renamed Radio-Tel as Rickenbacker Incorporated. The brand Rickenbacker was given a considerable lift in the 1960s with The Beatles’ high-profile use of Rickenbacker guitars, followed by the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn and his exclusive use of Rickenbacker electric 12-string guitars. From 1964 through to 1969, Rickenbacker produced specific models for export to Rose Morris and Company Limited in the UK. This international distribution widened Rickenbacker’s market appeal with British and European guitarists, helping to establish its name as a global brand.