AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, D-42

Mark Knopfler: 'Due to poverty, I was very late coming to good guitars. So, the first Martin style of guitar that I really started to play in a studio was, I think, one of Eric’s [Clapton]. I’m not sure that I used it that much on the Brothers In Arms album. But there was a Martin-like guitar that I borrowed for 'Love Over Gold' - it belonged to a session guitar player in New York. I was slow to actually get into the sharp end and didn’t really get my first… I didn’t get anything for a long time.'

The first Martin that Mark Knopfler was seen playing on stage was this beautiful D-42, used for performances of the songs 'Who’s Your Baby Now', 'Speedway At Nazareth', 'Lost On The River', 'Sands Of Nevada' and 'Wanderlust' on his Sailing To Philadelphia Tour from March to August 2001 in support of his second solo studio album. Reportedly the show at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid, on 2 July 2001 was filmed for a live concert DVD that was never released, however various fragments of fan footage from the tour are available online.

Originally provided as a courtesy loan from C.F. Martin & Co. ahead of the tour in February 2001, Knopfler liked the guitar so much that he exercised his option to purchase the instrument after the tour in December 2001. The dreadnought was next seen when Mark performed an intimate benefit concert at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on 20 September 2006 to support the preservation of the Opera House. Knopfler played the D-42 for the songs 'Devil Baby', 'Postcards From Paraguay' and 'A Place Where We Used To Live'. After he started upgrading to vintage Martins, the D-42 was kept as a touring instrument for use by other members of his touring band, predominantly by Guy Fletcher, for almost every tour since 2008. Knopfler last appeared with the D-42 when he performed 'Privateering' at the Chalke Valley History Festival in Wiltshire on 2 July 2016. 'This kind of guitar would suit a pick in your hand, a plectrum,' Knopfler told us, 'and you could strum your cowboy chords for your songs, which is a lovely thing to do. I do it myself when I can, you know, if the song will take it. I use a pick so seldom now… it would probably fly outta my fingers after a minute ‘cause I don’t do it anymore!'

C.F. MARTIN AND COMPANY
The history of Martin Guitars can be traced back to Markneukirchen, Germany, with the birth of Christian Frederick Martin in 1796. Born into a family of guitar and cabinet-makers, Christian Frederick was sent to Vienna at the age of 15 to be apprenticed to the celebrated luthier Johann Stauffer. Upon returning to his native Saxony, he found himself embroiled in a bitter dispute between two competing guilds: the Cabinet Makers Guild, who were the traditional makers of guitars in Germany, were being challenged by the powerful Violinmakers Guild for the right to produce guitars. Though he and his colleagues were successful in defending the right to practice their vocation, Christian Frederick felt the guild system in Germany bridled his commercial opportunities and creative processes.

In 1833, Martin emigrated to the United States, setting up his first workshop on Hudson Street in New York City’s Lower West Side. Here he plied his trade for five years before moving his family and business to the pastoral setting of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The rolling hills of the Pennsylvania countryside must have suited Martin well, for it was here in the 1850s, unfettered by the German guilds, that he was fully able to express his craftsmanship. The most enduring contribution to the luthier’s art came at around this period with his innovation of the ‘X’ bracing pattern for the top of a guitar. This bracing system is responsible for the extraordinary tonal quality of C.F. Martin instruments. The system proved to be the perfect balance of mass and material, allowing the top to vibrate to its fullest potential. It later proved to be fundamental with the application of steel strings on guitars, by allowing the top to withstand the pressures exerted by the strings. The ‘X’ bracing would be embraced by the majority of guitar makers by the 20th century, making the steel string guitar the choice for most musicians of popular song.

Through more than 190 years and seven generations of Martin family leadership this American guitar company produced a range of models and styles that became the standard for all flat-top guitar design. Their work influenced a generation of post-war guitar makers in both design and construction techniques. These instruments would be coveted by both professional and amateur players around the world and give an indelible voice to the genres of blues, country, folk, and rock and roll.