“He reached under the sofa and pulled out this dusty old case. And he says, ‘Mark, I want you to have this guitar. I don’t play it anymore’”: Mark Knopfler on the treasured Gibson he received as a gift from a rock hero – which became his studio go-to

Brothers in Arms is indisputably one of the hallmarks of Mark Knopfler’s (and, by extension, Dire Straits’) career.

In 2024, the guitarist parted ways with 120 of his prized instruments – many of which were central to the creation of Brothers in Arms, such as the red Schecter Tele-type used on Walk of Life – at a charity auction that fetched over $11 million. Yet, there are still some real treasures left in his collection.

“Tony Joe White gave me his blonde Gibson [ES-]330 that he used for Rainy Night in Georgia,” he tells Guitar World. “We’d become pals, and Tony had switched to a Strat, and I was ’round at his house playing one day.

“I’d given him an acoustic guitar as a present. And he reached under the sofa and he pulled out this dusty old case. And he says, ‘Mark, I want you to have this guitar. I don’t play it anymore.’

With a sense of disbelief, Knopfler opened up the case and recalls that the fingerboard was so “sweat-pitted, it's got shell shapes between all the frets.

“I said, ‘I can’t take this, Tony.’ And he said, ‘Hell, take it; I don’t want the damn thing.’ So I put a new fingerboard on it, and I’m never without that on a recording session.”

In fact, Knopfler says that if he were recording right now, the now-trusty 330 would be by his side. “I love that guitar,” he gushes. “And actually, in a lot of ways, I’d rather have a 330 than a 335 because the P-90s are such wonderful pickups.”

As for whether he misses the guitars that were auctioned off, Knopfler replies with a frank, “Of course!

“When you’re saying goodbye to that ’83 Les Paul and that Schecter Tele [it hurts to see it go],” he admits. “But it’s fine. You’re not going to sit and play all those guitars. It’s time to thin it out a bit. Give them another home. Let them be played by other people.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Knopfler gives his take on why he doesn’t consider himself a “guitar god,” and identifies the ones in the industry who truly deserve that title.

For more from the Dire Straits legend, plus new interviews with Maya Delilah and Jake Kiszka, pick up issue 594 of Guitar World at Magazines Direct.