A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, R CUSTOM

Having purchased several pre-assembled Schecter kit guitars from Rudy Pensa and his in-house custom builder John Suhr through the early 1980s, Mark Knopfler commissioned John Suhr to custom build a “synth” guitar to work with his new Synclavier system in early 1984. At great expense, Knopfler had acquired a Synclavier II digital synthesiser from America prior to starting work on his second movie soundtrack for the 1984 Irish drama Cal. It was at this time that Knopfler first began working with tech-savvy keyboardist Guy Fletcher, as he needed someone knowledgeable about synthesisers to operate the highly complex Synclavier for the film score. As well as controlling the Synclavier through Guy’s keyboard, Knopfler wanted to utilise the synthesiser’s digital guitar interface. Knopfler told us: 'There were people trying synth guitars, but I knew if I got a John Suhr built guitar, it had a good chance of survival. This is what he came up with. I'm still not sure exactly how it works, but I plugged it in on the 'Brothers In Arms' record. There was a little chorusey effect on this that just came from the synth, but it was somehow worked through this pickup. So, it was working as a guitar, but also introducing… like a keyboard sound.' In addition to two Seymour Duncan pickups for use as a standard Stratocaster style guitar, Suhr installed a Roland guitar controller assembly which enabled the guitar to act as a midi controller that triggered the synthesiser sounds whenever the guitar was played, creating a blended sound effect.

Both the guitar and the Synclavier were transported to George Martin’s AIR Studios in Montserrat in October 1984, where Dire Straits would record their fifth studio album Brothers In Arms, with engineer Neil Dorfsman acting as co-producer. According to keyboard player Alan Clark, it was a conscious decision to ‘make Brothers In Arms different to Love Over Gold, to use less piano and more synths.’ It was at this time, therefore, that synth savvy Fletcher was invited to join the band as second keyboardist. ‘We were sitting outside the studios when the Synclavier and other equipment arrived,’ recalled bassist John Illsley in his 2021 memoir, ‘and were slightly aghast to see it in the open air, strapped down in the back of a Toyota pick-up, bumping its way up the rutted hillside in a cloud of dust. To everyone’s relief, the machinery was fine, and we settled down to refine the diverse range of songs over the coming weeks and months. I didn’t need to be a techno geek to understand that the AIR Studio was a cut above any other recording studio we had worked in… The only issue was space.' While Illsley’s bass amp was relegated to a broom cupboard, the keyboards and synthesisers were squeezed into the control room. It follows that, when using the synth guitar, Knopfler would have recorded directly in the control room at AIR Montserrat. With the help of Guy’s synth wizardry, Knopfler played the purple Pensa in chorus with the Synclavier to record the album’s opening track 'So Far Away', which would be released as the first single from Brothers In Arms in April 1985. 'We just happened to get lucky with the synth sound on it, you know', said Knopfler. 'I love that song', proclaimed Illsley, 'and, being about life on the road and missing home, it spoke to us all about the strains of touring.' Interviewed by Roger Scott for BBC Radio One’s Classic Albums series in 1989, Knopfler stressed that the song was not just about the dislocation and separation inherent in the life of a working musician: 'So Far Away' is something I would want to apply to anybody… we are now a world of travellers and air travellers; families are split up in different parts, all over the place, and it has relevance… it was about conducting a relationship over the telephone, which is a joke.' The song’s music video montage saw Knopfler jamming in the studio and on stage in blush oversized blazer and trademark headband, with the pearlescent mauve finish of his R Custom guitar glistening under the spotlights. The video also served to introduce the band’s new line-up, including both Guy Fletcher and guitarist Jack Sonni, who had replaced Hal Lindes when he left the band during early recording sessions.

The guitar was not seen on stage until the final leg of the Brothers In Arms Tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1986. 'I’ve got a Synclavier guitar', Knopfler revealed to Bob Hewitt for Guitarist magazine in 1986. 'We have had problems with the Synclavier set-up and towards the end of the tour we are going to use the Roland system in Australia. I hope to spend some time later on in the year working with the synth guitar.' With its Roland electronics, the guitar was built to function similarly with the Roland GR-700 synthesiser, although there is no record of whether the synthesiser was actually used on the tour. Instead, Knopfler played the purple R Custom as a standard guitar for performances of 'Ride Across The River' in Australia and New Zealand, from February to April 1986, as can be seen on the final show of the tour at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre, recorded for broadcast on Australian network television on 26 April 1986. Bob Dylan made a guest appearance with the band on 19 February 1986 in Melbourne, performing 'All Along The Watchtower', 'Leopard- Skin Pill-Box Hat', 'License to Kill' and 'Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door'. Photographer Greg Noakes shot a series of superb photographs of Knopfler and Dylan playing together during this set, which indicate that Knopfler accompanied Dylan on this custom guitar for all four songs.

In early 1987, Knopfler produced American singer songwriter Willy DeVille’s 1987 album Miracle at AIR Studios London, enlisting the mauve R Custom to record the guitar part for DeVille’s song 'Angel Eyes' and adding the Roland GR-700 for synth effects on the track ‘Gun Control’, including a cop siren, heavenly flute and brass effects, which were played on the guitar. Simultaneously, Knopfler was beginning to work on the soundtrack for Rob Reiner’s swashbuckling 1987 romantic comedy The Princess Bride and was astonished with the synchronicity when he first heard DeVille’s fairy-tale inspired ‘Storybook Love'. Interviewed for Variety, director Rob Reiner remembered: ‘Mark called me up. He was in London at the time, and he said, “I just heard this song, you’ve got to hear it.” He actually held the phone up to a speaker in London and he played the thing for me. I said, “Oh my God. It’s like written for the film.”’ Recorded with Knopfler’s distinctive guitar – the R Custom played through a Gallien Kruger amplifier – DeVille’s ‘Storybook Love’ would become the love theme at the heart of the film’s melodic score and earned its songwriter an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. In praise of Knopfler’s work on the score, director Rob Reiner told Variety: 'His guitar playing is completely distinctive. It’s very clear. There’s no fuzz to it… It’s just clear as a bell.' Although in retrospect he views the craze for synth guitars as 'a bit daft really', Knopfler remains full of admiration for the craftsmanship involved: 'What a builder John [Suhr] is… you'll be able to play this guitar in a hundred years and it'll be in as absolutely perfect shape as it is now.'

RUDY PENSA
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rudy Pensa was raised in a family surrounded with music. The son of a cellist and a teacher, his passion for music was nurtured at an early age. In the 1970s he along with two friends had formed a classic rock power trio with lead guitar, drums and Pensa playing bass. Following their local success the band took their act north to New York City with hopes of landing a recording contract. Today Pensa jokes what poor timing they had as young men: 'When we got to New York, disco was king and no one wanted to record a rock band.' Undeterred, Pensa remained in New York and in 1978 opened his first guitar shop, Rudy's Music Stop on Manhattan’s famed West 48th Street. Two blocks from New York's music publishing epicentre in the Brill Building and multiple Broadway theatres, West 48th Street serviced the plethora of professional musicians that frequented that neighbourhood. Rudy's Music Stop shared addresses with established names like Terminal Music, We Buy Guitars, Sam Ash and the juggernaut Manny's Music.

Over the years Pensa built a reputation as an accessible dealer who offered the finest guitars in the new, custom, and vintage markets. Pensa now operates two locations of Rudy's Music, in the Soho neighbourhood of NYC and in Scarsdale, New York. His experiences and expertise as both a musician and connoisseur have garnered him a loyal following of both collectors and professional guitarists that continues to this day.

JOHN SUHR
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, John Suhr moved to the United States at the age of two and grew up in Chatham, New Jersey. His career as an electric guitar builder began in the same manner that most British and American makers of Post-War generations got their start: they were all guitarists on a dogged quest for tone. Suhr started his journey as a 17 year old guitar player whose heroes were Brian May, Billy Gibbons, Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend. Playing in "Jersey Shore" bar bands, his first luthier employment was doing guitar repairs for a local music store, The Music Box, in Ledgewood, New Jersey. Much of his early progress was self-taught, learning via trial and error. But Suhr had the forethought to befriend local and established luthiers like Robert Benedetto. Here he witnessed the high level of craftsmanship he wanted to emulate. In 1982 he began working in the repair shop of Rudy's Music Stop in Manhattan. This exposed him to guitars that were of a much finer quality. It also offered the opportunity to interface with professional musicians like Peter Frampton, Lou Reed, and Mark Knopfler, and better understand the needs of the performing guitarist. Suhr was always on the quest for tone and this led him to study tube powered amplifier design. In 1991, he left New York for North Hollywood, California, to work and partner with famed amplification designer Robert Bradshaw. By 1994, Suhr was employed as one of a same team of Master Builders at the Fender Custom Shop in Corona. By 1997, John Suhr had launched his own workshops in Lake Elsinore manufacturing custom electric guitars and basses bearing the Suhr name. Today, Suhr guitars and the amplification products produced by JS Technologies are celebrated for the highest standards in craftsmanship and unrivalled attention to detail.