A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC BASS GUITAR, PRECISION BASS

Details

FENDER ELECTRIC INSTRUMENT COMPANY, FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, 1964
A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC BASS GUITAR, PRECISION BASS
The decal logo Fender / PRECISION BASS / PAT. 2,968,204 2,976,755 2,573,254 DES. 187,001 at the headstock, neckplate stamped L31687, the finish of a custom colour and probably Sonic Blue, together with an original hard-shell case
Length of back 16 ½ in. (42 cm.)
FENDER

Sale room notice

Mark Knopfler plans to donate no less than 25% of the total hammer price received, to be split equally between The British Red Cross Society (a charity registered in England and Wales with charity number 220949, Scotland with charity number SC037738, Isle of Man with charity number 0752, and Jersey with charity number 430), Brave Hearts of the North East (a charity registered in England and Wales with charity number 1006247) and the Tusk Trust Limited (a charity registered in England and Wales with charity number 1186533).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Amelia Walker Director, Specialist Head of Private & Iconic Collections

awalker@christies.com +44 20 7389 2085

Lot Essay

Acquired by Mark Knopfler in 2004 for use by the bassists employed on his early promotional tours, this Precision Bass was thereafter kept for studio use. Bassist Glenn Worf used the Precision to record the unreleased track ‘A Dream Or Two’ from Knopfler’s 2012 solo studio album Privateering and the deluxe bonus track ‘My Heart Has Never Changed’ on the 2015 album Tracker. The bass can be glimpsed in the rack next to Worf as he plays the Vox Phantom in a studio photograph shot during the Privateering recording sessions at British Grove Studios by album co-producer Guy Fletcher, as seen in his 2011 online studio diaries. Similarly, the bass can be seen in a studio rack in the official documentary for Knopfler’s 2007 album Kill To Get Crimson.

Knopfler told us: 'I play bass very badly. There’s the wire wound and the flat wound thing. I really enjoyed having a wire wound bass, but also to keep a flat wound bass, because a lot of the records would have flat wound strings on those basses. And then I just had totally impractical things… they’re just beautiful objects. If you know what you’re doing, you can coax really good sounds out of them.'

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