AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, CUSTOM MADE FOR MARK KNOPFLER

Having made two guitars for Eric Clapton, Kearney was approached by Mark Knopfler during the Australian leg of Dire Straits' On Every Street Tour between October and December 1991. Kearney recalls that he met with Knopfler in Melbourne, and he was very specific with what he wanted: 'He requested a small body guitar that mirrored the outline and aesthetics of the style OOO-45 Martin owned by Stephen Stills. I knew a guitar tech who worked for Stephen Stills and he took a drawing of the body. Mark asked for a 12 fret neck with a scale length of 24.9 inches. The vintage style tuners came from Mike Longworth at Martin.'

Knopfler has kept the guitar for studio use. According to guitar tech Glenn Saggers, the guitar has been on the wall during the most recent recording sessions at British Grove Studios, so that Mark could pick it up and play. Knopfler told us: 'I learned pretty quickly that you can’t just have a crowd of guitars sitting in a room somewhere gathering dust. I have them out in the studio whenever possible and have them hanging on the wall. And because you see them, you play them.' Guitarist Richard Bennett used the guitar to record the tracks 'Sky And Water' and 'When You Leave' on Knopfler’s ninth solo studio album Down The Road Wherever. Knopfler told us: ‘This is a really good sounding guitar. Richard Bennett got a lovely sound out of it.’

STEPHEN KEARNEY
Born in New Zealand, Stephen Kearney found Australia to his liking while performing with a band there in 1978. Since emigrating to Australia, he has worked as a National Parks Ranger, a radio producer and magazine writer. Throughout these earlier pursuits he was always playing guitar and doing repairs on older instruments. The interest in guitar making slowly evolved to a full-time career and by 1993 he was producing twelve bespoke instruments a year. All his work was by commission, although he always kept two examples on hand to show to clients.