Category: Guitar in general

Guitar in general, Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

Walk of Life Pickups available now – Reviving the legendary Schecter F520T / F521T Tele Pickups

Mark started to play Schecter Dream Machine Telecasters as early as 1980. When he got four Dream Machine Strats (two red, one sunburst – which was soon stolen and replaced with another one, and one in blue) at Rudy’s Music Stop in New York that year, he also got a black Schecter Telecaster, black finish, black pickguard, black hardware, contrasted to a white binding and a birds-eye maple neck. This […]

Guitars, Vintage guitars

Mark Knopfler’s Martin Acoustic Guitars – Signature, Vintage, different models

Mark Knopfler played a lot of different acoustic guitars in his career: different borrowed ones on the first Dire Straits albums (e.g. a David Russel Young on Love over Gold, or a Greco on Bob Dylan’s Infidels), different Ovations (e.g. Custom Legend, Adamas), Gibsons (e.g.  J45, or a Southern Jumbo), Guild, and many more. These days he uses mainly Martins on stage, and also a lot in the studio. If […]

Guitar in general, Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster resembling Mark Knopfler’s maple neck Strat

Some weeks ago I visited a local music shop – the Music Store in Cologne – who have a dedicated custom shop showroom. Lots of custom shop Fenders, expensive Les Pauls, and other fancy stuff. In the upper right corner of their wall full of guitars I immediately spotted a red Strat that looked nice – can’t help but red guitar always seem to attract my eyes quicker than any […]

Guitar in general, Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

Step 2: The Dream Machine Tremolo

After the loaded Schecter-style pickguards, I am now proud to offer a second high-quality component to upgrade  your guitar to make it look and sound more like a Van Nuys era Schecter Dream Machine: the MK-guitar.com Dream Machine Tremolo. Unlike the standard Fender Tremolo that is made of steel (or often even cheaper substitutes like zinc for the tremolo block), the Dream Machine Tremolo is made completely out of  bell […]

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, Vintage guitars

The hang tag shadow on vintage Les Pauls

Today’s blog article is just about some little detail you might have noticed on Mark Knopfler’s vintage Les Pauls. I wrote a blog post about the fading red dye on old Les Pauls some time ago, so it is something like common knowledge that the old Les Pauls from the late 50ies came in a colour called cherry sunburst and the red faded when exposed to sunlight, resulting in a […]

Guitar in general, Mark Knopfler gear, Misc

New Products Coming

There will be some new products in the online shop soon, or already are.   **Guitar Effect: Sex Drive by Durham Electronics The effect you could see in the Guitar Stories documentary when Mark demonstrates his Les Paul in his British Grove studio. Already available in the online shop.   **Guitar Sound: The Dream Machine Tremolo by mk-guitar.com A tremolo system of finest solid bell brass, made in Germany by […]

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, Vintage guitars

Playing on the Holy Grail of Electric Guitars: 1960 Les Paul Standard

Some time ago I had the opportunity to play on a real “Burst”, a 1960 Les Paul Standard. You will probably know that Les Paul Standards between 1958 and 1960 are something like the ‘Holy Grai’l for guitar players and collectors, with prices ranging over $ 200,000. (And yes, Mark Knopfler has even two of these!) As you might guess from the surrounding in the video, the guitar belongs to […]

MK guitar style and licks, Vintage guitars

Down to the Waterline on 1961 Fender Stratocaster Sonic Blue

When I had the opportunity to play on Mark Knopfler’s sunburst Schecter Strat some weeks ago, I could also try out some other great guitars over there. Here is a video of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster in all original sonic blue that really impressed me. Some slab board Stratocasters from the very early sixties can have a rather dark or even muddy sound, that’s why some players prefer Strats after […]

Misc, Vintage guitars

Brazilan rosewood and German authorities

Brazilian rosewood is one of the greatest woods for fingerboards. Unfortunately this tropical tree – Dalbergia nigra – is  on the CITES list of endangered species so that strict restriction were put on trading this wood in 1992, the reason why Brazilian rosewood was found on many vintage guitars but hardly on new guitars (which often use Indian rosewood as a substitute).    Vintage Guitar Show cancelled Germany’s biggest vintage […]