A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, ELECTRIC XII

Acquired by Mark Knopfler circa 1979 during the early days of Dire Straits, the electric 12-string has been in the studio from time to time to try out different sounds for different songs, although Knopfler doesn’t recall using it on a Dire Straits recording. The 12-string was used during recording of the Charlie Rich song 'Feel Like Going Home' on the 1990 Notting Hillbillies album Missing...Presumed Having A Good Time, the entirety of which was recorded in the home studio of Mark’s Notting Hill mews house. With haunting vocals by Brendan Croker, ‘Feel Like Going Home’ was released as a single in April 1990. See footnote to lot 18.

LEO FENDER
Like so many creation stories, the one about the invention of the solid-body electric guitar is peppered with a multitude of characters. Adolph Rickenbacker, Paul Bigsby, Merle Travis, Les Paul and the lesser-known Paul Tutmarc were all instrumental in the early development of solid-body electrics. Yet it is Leo Fender’s name that is synonymous with the electric guitar. By drawing inspiration from the ideas and innovations of all those who preceded him, he achieved what the others had aimed for: a purely electric guitar that could fulfil the needs of the professional musician and would be economically viable.

It was always Fender’s idea that in order to successfully produce and market an electric guitar it should be easy to construct and affordable without sacrificing quality. It must be both dependable and easy to service. He wanted to supply a tool for the guitarist that they could rely on. Though he was never predisposed to a solid-body construction, the natural progression of his early prototypes led him in that direction.

Fender decided to design his guitars so that the neck and body could be completed separately in their entirety. It would entail the mounting of all the hardware and electronics as well as having the finish applied to each. This made it possible for the mass production of two fully completed components that could be easily assembled at the end of a production line.

In the beginning, Fender would not incorporate a separate fingerboard made of rosewood or ebony as a traditional maker would. Instead, he carved his necks of hard American rock maple, finished the playing surface and inlaid the frets directly into the finished neck. This eliminated the added labour a separate fingerboard would entail. He fitted this neck into a pre-routed neck pocket in the body, using a neck plate and four screws. This was an idea he derived from the many Rickenbacker guitars he had seen. The peghead design, synonymous with all Fender instruments, was a return to a 1820 Viennese design reminiscent of Johann Stauffer and Christian Frederick Martin. With all six tuners mounted on the bass side, they were easily accessible to the player. The resulting shape was once again contemporary after 130 years.

Understanding the need for players to access the whole range of the fingerboard, Fender, with the help of George Fullerton, designed a body shape that incorporated a full cutaway on the treble side and added a less extreme cut on the bass side. The resulting shape was uncannily modern for 1949 and would be modified visually with each successive model.

Even more than the design, it was the sound of Fender instruments that guitarists and audiences immediately appreciated. Fender first used one simple single-coil pickup. He later expanded this to include two pickups and added a third on the Stratocaster model introduced in 1954. Fender applied his years of experience in electronics to design and produce these pickups. They would prove to produce a balanced, clear and bell like tone that was easily controllable across a full spectrum of tones even when pushed to their decibel limit. It was this sound and power that guitarists and audiences craved, and which gave the voice to rock-a-billy, rhythm and blues and ultimately rock and roll.