Comments on: Romeo and Juliet on National Style-O

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:34:46 +0000

Yesterday, I re-discovered the version of R&J that Mark played on 29/11/2000 in Graig Kilborn show, during the promo tour for STP.
As far as I know, it’s the only time where he played it on a NORMAL ACOUSTIC guitar, at least it’s how it sounds like.
No idea why he did it this way, he usually brings his national everywhere when he needs it, even on radio and Tv shows.
It sound different of course, but Mark plays same licks as usual. The background is only a keyboard-piano (GF ?), there’s no band, and there’s no electric solo at the end, only Mark saying “and so on…”

By: jarda

jarda — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:27:57 +0000

Hi, very interesting web, i like the stuff here a lot, are you planning to write smth about done with bonaparte, i still cannot figure out all those little riff played along would be really helpful, cheers

By: Ingo

Ingo — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:34:13 +0000

Hi Alen,
I use 12s right now. I think Mark also plays 12 or 13 at the moment, but possibly much thinner (10s) in the past.

By: Alen

Alen — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:49:54 +0000

Ingo,

what strings do you use for your national?
I have medium .013 – 0.56 (factory setting) on my national and I find it a bit too heavy (not playing slide right now).

regards Alen

By: Adriano Gazzo

Adriano Gazzo — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:23:59 +0000

HI INGO, First of all, congratulations for this place, I’m a dIRE sTRAITS’ big fan and I like to play his songs at my guitar. I had passed more than 22 years without knowing anything about “open G tunning” “National Style O”.. and so on… but, I’ve always loved Romeu&Juliet DS song… Thank you to show the best details and info about this awesome guitar that has this “unpayable voice”. Do you know? You are RIGHT, your National Style O model sound as similar as Knopfler’s, the closest perfection of all ressonator I’ve Heard…
I’m from Brazil, but I hope one day I’ll find one National Style like yours.
See you.
Adriano Gazzo.

By: Ketil Strand

Ketil Strand — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:33:16 +0000

Yeah, I found the background info now, sorry for my stupid question earlier. Very nice playing, by the way! And a really nice instrument, I would like to have the original of course, but I guess it will be very difficult to find one, and if I did, I suspect it would cost too much, so I think I’ll go for the copy I mentioned..

Regards, Ketil

By: Ingo

Ingo — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:42:16 +0000

This is not Knopfler’s National, but a model from the same year. I thought that was clear. It is – see the heading – from 1936, and it cost less than a new National some years ago.

By: Ketil Strand

Ketil Strand — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:29:48 +0000

Hello, I accidentally came over this, and I wonder (sorry if it’s atupid question); is this actually Mark Knopfler’s guitar, or is it just the exactly same model as his? And if you bought this for yourself, what year is it from, and how much did you pay for it? I’m looking for a MK resonator copy myself (I can’t afford a real National), and I’ve found the Johnson JM-998S, which looks quite similar with the “Hawaii” engraving and all, but doesn’t cost very much..

By: Ingo

Ingo — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:45:44 +0000

You are right, there is no truss rod, but nevertheless it seems those fat old necks do hardly warp. The neck on this guitar is straight, but you cannot adjust string heigth easily because there is nothing to adjust. And – most important – you don’t want to have the action low on these guitars because they are great for bottleneck which requires a rather high action with heavy strings. So you’ve got to live with it.

By: Alen

Alen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:19:38 +0000

sorry, I meant left-hand pressure