The 0-14MK/TR-LTD.

Sales for the 0-14MK/TR-LTD are officially closed.

“I love my little mahogany Boswell. It went straight on to my record, and travels everywhere with me now.”

• Mark Knopfler

“When you put the most beautiful woods Mother Nature provides in the hands of Butch Boswell, a masterpiece is created.”

• Rudy Pensa, Rudy’s Music, NYC

Mark interviewed on the Christies stage leading up to his guitar auction in Jan. of 2024

The first two MK models ready for delivery. These two went to a couple of very high profile players. Mark Knopfler and someone he used to tour with quite a bit in the late 1980’s. Check out the pics below.

The Boswell “0-14MK/TR-Limited Edition” is a rare, collaborative release from Butch Boswell of Boswell Guitars, Mark Knopfler, and Rudy Pensa of Rudy’s Music, NYC.  There are only 20 available build slots to reserve, and the instruments will be delivered before the end of 2023.  

Rudy introduced his friend Mark to Butch’s work late in 2020, after Butch had built a run of 11 all-mahogany “0” size guitars. Rudy couldn’t help but keep one for himself and he knew Mark needed one too.  As a builder and player, Butch has been a long-time fan of the small body mahogany guitars from the 1940’s, and this small run was an homage to those historical instruments.  When Rudy sent one of these guitars to Mark, he instantly fell for it, and it quickly became a go-to instrument for a number of songs for the album he was recording.  Mark ordered another guitar shortly after receiving his first, but this time an OM model with a Tunnel redwood top. 

Mark, Butch, and Rudy continued to inspire one another, and in 2023, the idea of a collaboration was suggested.  Why not make a model that combines all the things that Mark loves so much from each of his two Boswell Guitars?  Take the little “0” size mahogany guitar, but this time use Tunnel redwood for the “top”. Both Mark and Rudy were excited at the potential, and off they went.  

This is a light and airy little guitar, ideal for finger style and light strumming, and perfectly balanced when using a microphone out front. The back and sides are beautiful old-growth Honduran mahogany, while the top is the Tunnel redwood that used to line the train tunnels high in the Siskiyou Mountains.  The guitar is braced with one of Butch’s proprietary bracing patterns, using old growth Adirondack spruce from a tree that was felled naturally during Hurricane Hugo in 1989. 

For customers in the US, the fingerboard, bridge, and peg head overlay will all be Brazilian Rosewood.  For customers with anything other than a US address, these will be substituted with Madagascar Rosewood due to CITES restrictions.  Along with all these incredible materials, Mark suggested the Tyne Bridge motif as an inlay on the 12th fret, which tied the entire project together. 

Order slots for the Mark Knopfler collaborative model are sold out!

Feature 1

Tunnel Redwood soundboard. Whether it be Tunnel 13, 14, or our own Lost Tunnel Redwood, these soundboards come from the gigantic timbers of long abandoned train tunnels in N. CA. Each timber, is painstakingly trimmed down to smaller billets, which are then re-sawn into guitar soundboards or “tops”.

Feature 2

Tyne River Bridge inlay. This inlay came directly from Mark. The Tyne bridge is an iconic landmark in Newcastle, where Mark spent his late childhood/teen years. He mentions or alludes to the city and the river Tyne often in songs. The song ‘Going Home’ from Local Hero is used as Newcastle Football Club’s home walk out song.

Feature 3

Brazilian Rosewood (BRW) appointments. Each MK model will come standard with a BRW fingerboard, bridge, headstock overlay and heel cap. This highly coveted material is known not only for its beauty, but tonal characteristics as well. Due to CITES restrictions, this will only be available for customers with a US shipping address. Any international orders will use Madagascar Rosewood as an alternative. Also an incredibly beautiful and tonally wonderful material.

Build Specs…

Model: 0-14MK/TR Limited Edition

Serial Numbers:  MK-0 up to MK-24

Soundboard (top):  Tunnel Redwood,

Back/Sides:  Honduran Mahogany,

Neck wood: Honduran Mahogany, (with a dual action adjustable truss rod),

Fingerboard:  Brazilian Rosewood (*), 14 frets to body, 20 frets total, 1-23/32” width at bone nut, 2-3/16” at 12th fret,

Bridge:  Brazilian Rosewood (*), rectangular design, drop-in intonated bone saddle, Ivoroid bridge pins, 2-3/16” E to e spacing,

Peg head overlay:  Brazilian Rosewood (*) with pearl ‘Boswell’ inlay,

Top Bracing:  Adirondack spruce top bracing with forward shifted and scalloped X pattern, single tone bar also scalloped, all top braces 1/4” width,

Back Bracing:  Old growth Sitka spruce, ladder style pattern,

Kerfing:  Bass wood, triangle pattern,

Tuners:  Waverly, polished nickel with Ivoroid buttons,

Binding:  Tortoise celluloid body binding, black/white top purfling,

Rosette:  Simple black/white/black line work,

Inlay:  Tyne bridge in abalone and pearl,

Finish:  All nitrocellulose lacquer, satin back/sides/neck barrel, high gloss peg head overlay and soundboard, dark red/brown color work throughout,

Case:  Harptone hard shell case with commemorative badge.

*US address only, Madagascar Rosewood for any International orders

**All hide glue construction.