Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, Vintage guitars

What are Mark Knopfler’s vintage guitars worth?

This week I visited the Frankfurt Music Fair, the world’s leading trade fair for the world of music. On one floor it featured a special vintage guitar exhibition where you could see lots of wonderful guitars, even most valuable guitars like Fenders and Gibsons from the fifties. I took many pictures of all kind of guitars, but with this blog post I would like to feature those which are similar to some of Mark’s guitars. Since many of the presented guitars were labelled with a price tag, the pictures will give you a good idea about the value of some of Mark’s guitars (if these would not be owned by him, as this alone surely multiplies their value).

But first some nice guitars without price:

1968 Fender Telecaster Custom

1968 Fender Telecaster Custom (click to enlarge)

The Telecaster Custom in three-tone sunburst is really a beauty. It is similar to Mark’s, which is from 1966. While the normal Telecaster had an ash body, Customs were made of alder (the standard wood for the Stratocaster at that time). There is a binding on both the front and the back side of the body.

1962 Stratocaster

1962 Fender Stratocaster (click to enlarge)

Next we have a 1962 Strat, a guitar with the same specs as Mark’s #68354 Strat, his first red Strat on which he composed the final version of Sultans of Swing. While his was a bare wood finish when he got it (and was later painted red of course), this one is really light and has the standard sunburst finish of that time.

1968/1969 Telecaster Thinline

1968 Telecaster Thinline with ash body
1969 Telecaster Thinline with mahogany body

These Telecaster Thinlines were produced only in the late 60ies (later one had a humbucker pickup in the neck position). Mark played a black Thinline with the original Dire Straits setup on Water of Love , tuned to open A. Mark’s black finish was not original, also the f holes were closed before the paint job. Here is what they normally look like with their typical natural finish and the white pearloid pickguards (I guess Mark’s pickguard was also simply oversprayed with black). The Thinline was available with an ash and a mahogany body, see the pictures (we don’t know what Mark’s was).

1954 Fender Stratocaster

1954 Stratocaster (click to enlarge)

Here we are starting with the “behind glass” guitars (thus the reflections in the picture). With a price tag of about 49,000 Euros the first-year-of-production Strats are – together with custom colour Strats from the 50ies – the most expensive Strats. This one is very similar to Mark’s 1954.

1953 Fender Telecaster

1953 blond Telecaster

A Telecaster very similar to Mark’s 1954 Telecaster. The finish in these years looks a bit different than the typical butterscotch of the Tele at that time. In fact the finish was probably the same but the kind of clear nitro overcoat in these years became less yellow than on the butterscotch Teles. The price tag of this guitar reads 45,000 Euros.

1958 Les Paul Standard

1958 Les Paul Standard (click to enlarge)

An original 1958 Les Paul Standard – 200,000 Euros, very similar to Mark’s.

Finally, a group picture of some nice Fender guitars…

Vintage Fender guitars (click to enlarge)
Effects, Mark Knopfler gear

The Hotcake overdrive pedal

From now on you can buy the Hotcake overdrive pedal in our online shop. This is the overdrive pedal that Mark Knopfler used on his 2005 Shangri-La tour, and probably on other occasions as well. The Hotcake is built by Paul Crowther in New Zealand since 1976. It has a best reputation among players around the world – Stevie Ray Vaughn also played one.

For us Mark Knopfler fans it is obvious that it can only be good – why else should Mark, who can surely afford any pedal in the world,  have chosen the Hotcake? In very short, it IS good because (a) it sounds good and (b) it is a high-quality product, made of best component. It is reliable, has a low noise floor, and is very stable.

What I really like about it is that it does not alter your clean sound, unlike other overdrive units that even with minimum (or no) distortion totally change your tone. With the drive control down, the Hotcake is totally clean, and your sound is identical to what it is without. For this reason it is also ideal to boost your guitar signal to get more drive from a tube amp.

Mark Knopfler's Hotcake from the 2005 tour, the settings are for the song Boom like that

When you turn up the drive control you get any desired amount of distortion, starting with a subtle crunch, over a creamy overdrive (picture 4 shows Knopfler’s setting for the song Boom like that), to a fat and thick distortion. In fact even with a single coil guitar and the drive at maximum you get much more distortion than with typical tube screamers.

Mark never used many stomp boxed, on the 2005 tour he had just an Ernie Ball volume pedal and the Hotcake

The sound is really as you hear e.g. on the 2005 tour, just listen to the crunch of Mark’s Silvertone guitar on Boom like that. I will try to make some sound clips or a demo video soon.
Check it out in the online shop

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

Mark Knopfler Gear Database: first pages online plus possibility to upload your own pictures

The first (today: nine) pages with Mark Knopfler guitars are online. I started with some Strats (mainly the most important ones) and also finished the ones about his 1958 and 1959 Les Pauls.

I also included the option to upload your own pictures for each guitar at the bottom of the pages. If many will do, we might soon have a nice picture gallery for each guitar. After approval (to avoid spam pictures or mistakes) they will appear in the user gallery there. You can also leave a description for each picture, which might include the date and venue, or the name of who submitted it. You don’t have to register to upload pictures.

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

They all look the same – How to tell Mark Knopfler’s different signature Strats apart

While working on the new gear database – especially on the pages about the different MK Signature Strats – I felt it difficult to tell from a picture which of his different signature Strats it is  (Mark used alone three of these on the 2008 tour, and generally seems to use even more here and there). So I had to dig a bit deeper into the numerous pictures and viceo clips to find any hints how to distinguish between these. What was finally most helpful was Guy Fletcher’s video interview with Glenn Saggers, Mark’s guitar technician, in which we see the three MK sig Strats one next to the other.

Generally, they almost look the same, although e.g. one of them – which was borrowed from Mark’s bass player Glen Worf – has a different, lighter colour – but even this is almost impossible to see with all the lights on  stage pictures. One thing that is abit different on all Strats is the exact position of the Fender decal as this water slide decal is placed by hand on the headstock, and the position might vary up to half an inch or so. Similarly, the position of the string butterfly that holds down the e and b strings, and the position of the Mark Knopfler signature decal vary to some extent. With the help of these positions you can clearly tell from a (good!) picture which guitar you see. Take a look at the following pictures demonstrate  what I mean.

Mark Knopfler Signature Strat SE 00000 (2nd from left) - Note the string holder that is almost on the height of the tuner for the a string
The “d” of the word “Fender” is towards the d string tuner, there is a noticably gap between the string holder and the “d”
Mark Knopfler Signature Strat SE00001 (left) - Note how close together the string holder and the "d" of "Fender" are, the "d" is roughly in the middle between the a and d string tuners.
Glen Worf's MK Signature Strat (2nd from right) - note how the string holder and the "d" of Fender are also close together, but the "d" is more towards the d string tuner.
Glen Worf's guitar is lighter than the other Signature Strats - however this can only be seen on pictures when both are next to each other
The hints discussed in the previous pictures clearly show that this is Mark's SE00000 Strat. Besides the rather long distance between the string holder and the "d" in "Fender", this guitar can also be identified with a little ding at the side near the lower cutaway (in the centre of the circle)
Although we cannot see the decal here, the ding (circle) tells that this is again SE00000.
The sring holder and the "d" are close together and towards the d string tuner - this is Glen Worf's MK Signature Strat. Note that the decal with Knopfler's signature is also at a slightly different position, more towards the floor.
Guitar in general, Mark Knopfler gear

New Mark Knopfler Gear Database started

I finally decided to start  a new database for all the Mark Knopfler gear that was used over the years. This will take surely several weeks (or even months), and finally will be a never-ending progress.

The idea is to have one dedicated page for each guitar/amp/effect that holds all info we have on that guitar/amp/effect. As each page has the possibility to add reader  comments (at the bottom of the page), everyone – even without being registered – can add relevant info that is not included yet. I will then regularly add these pieces of information into the page itself but will leave all comments so that the author and the origin of all information will be documented and remains visible. So please all help with your input to create something that one single person alone would not be able to.

You can access the database from the navigation bar on top of the page (“Mark Knopfler gear database”) or from the sidebar (under “Pages”), or for now here (at this very moment only a handful of  Strats have been finished. So, if you have good ideas for improvements, now would be the right time as it should be possibly to add these easily at this early stage.

Click on the screenshot to enter the gear databse

Me and (mainly) Jean-Francois already started a “which guitar/amp/effect on which song” database some time ago (find it here). I always felt the problem that this alone did not make too much sense since we could not link from the piece of gear like e.g. the guitar mentioned there to a page with info on that guitar, but now things start to go together.

By the way, I recently moved the whole site from mk-guitar.com/blog/ to mk-guitar.com (your links and bookmarks that point to /blog/ should be redirected to the new address automatically) – just to let you know.

 

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, Vintage guitars

The Häussel 1959 pickups for the Mark Knopfler Les Paul sound

Those beautiful 1958/59 Les Paul Standards are probably the holy grail not only for Mark Knopfler fans – Mark owns a 1958 and a 1959 and plays them on all his tours – but for all guitar players. Unfortunately the prices for these are in the region you’d normally pay for a house, so most of us will hardly ever get the chance to touch one of these. They came with those legendary original PAF humbucker pickups. Germany’s top pickup winder Harry Häussel has tried to replicate all tonal nuances of these with his 1959 model. Here is what the manufacturer himself says about his pickup:

The “Häussel-1959” model gives you that legendary old PAF sound, still sought-after by professionals the world over. Manufactured with original wire, original-sized magnets and our optimally-matched winding, this pickup will captivate you with its silky, ‘woody-warm’ sound – on chord work, the sound of each string is clearly defined, while the overall sound is breezy and slightly nasal, but never muddy. The extremely agreeable, sweet highs make each tone a desirable delicacy for sound gourmets, while solos become a symphony of soaring sonic satisfaction. The 1959 model ‘smacks’ beautifully each time you strike the strings, gliding effortlessly into harmonic overtones and feedback. This is a pickup with a powerful ‘hook’ -and perfect if you want to get that truly authentic PAF sound.

Of course I don’t own a 1958 or 59 Les Paul, just an ‘ordinary’ 1974 Les Paul Custom . With its cherry sunburst finish it looks nice, especially after I replaced the black plastic parts to cream ones, and I also like the sound.  I was really satisfied with the original pickups – and many commentators on my youtube clips on which I played this guitar agreed with me. Nevertheless, I recently installed the Häussel pickups to hear for myself what all the talk about the silky, woody tone of the Häussel 1959 is about.

I recorded a youtube video when I plugged in the guitar directly after putting in the pickups, so you will really witness my first impression of these pickups. Check out why I will leave them in my guitar and why I cannot go on with the original Gibson pickups anymore.

The Häussels are not cheap but if you like me become addictive of this warm but transparent sound, you can get them for a top price here in my online shop.

 

Guitars, Vintage guitars

National Style-O 1932 and 1936 – Double Power

What can be nicer than one of those wonderful old National resophonic guitars like the Style-0? The answer is, of course, two of these! My friend Thomas brought his 1932 Style-O along for a photo session. And what a wonderful guitar this is – shiny and sparkling like one of the new reissues but real vintage, almost 80 years old. The pictures from the photo session show the guitar from all sides, and some in contrast to my battered-looking 1936 Style-O.

1932 National Style-0

1932 (above) - 1936 (below)

Differences

The National Style-0 from the early 30ies have a different, longer body shape. The body joins the neck at the 12th fret, while from the mid-30ies on the joint was near the 14th fret. For this reason the body was slightly larger, and thus has more volume. In fact Thomas’ National sounds deeper and has more low end than the 1936, however, you never know in how far the sound difference is caused by other aspects. One is that on his 1932 the resonator rests on a ring of thin rubber foil. This was done by a luthier some time ago to remedy buzz from the resonator.

Both guitars differ a lot in detail, e.g. different resonator covers, different logos, different headstocks, etc. The pictures might tell more than many words here.

Different body shape: 1936 (left), 1932 (right)

The 1932 has a flat fingerboard while the 1936 is curved. Both have the original frets, but in case of the 1932 these are heavily worn, especially in the middle of the frets so that the frets appear almost concave which makes it unpleasant to fret certain chords. The 1936 has an extremely fat neck, the Shubb capo can be used only up to to the 5th fret and does not fit anymore beyond this point.

Headstock shape: closed (1936, left) and slotted (1932, right)

 

Both have the Hawaiian scene with a volcano, a canoe and the palm trees on the back, but both are different. National used many different variations over the years.

 

Hawaiian scene: 1936 left, 1932 right
Resonator (1932)
Resonator (1936)

Video

MK guitar style and licks, Understanding music

Dire Straits Water of Love guitar tutorial

In this blog post you will find another guitar tutorial video, this time not about a certain aspect of Mark Knopfler’s guitar playing but one that explains how to play a particular song again, similar to the ones I did about Down to the Waterline some time ago. As Down to the Waterline is the first song of Dire Straits’ first album, I thought why not go on with the second song, Water of Love (there might be another on on Setting me up – the third song –  in the future). Again my intention is not simply to demonstrate you which notes to play but also to explain what might be interesting or special about particular licks, or how things go together etc. And my intention is neither to show a particular version with 100% accuracy but a mix of licks he played on different versions, or the scales he used to build his licks.

I do not refer to the studio version but to live versions from 1978-79.The studio version was played on two different guitars, a National Tricone and a standard acoustic guitar, and Mark did not play his usual mix of rhythm and lead as he did on stage. Live Mark played the black Fender Telecaster Thinline (the f holes were closed by his friend Steve Phillips), which was tuned to open A)low to high: a – e- a- e- c# -e), capo’ed at the 5th fret to open D  (while the National was probably open G, capo’ed at the 7th fret).

The chords of Water of Love are like this:

Solo

D – D – C – C – G – G – Am – C
D – D – C – C – G – G – D – D

Verse

D- D – D – D – D – D – D – D
Am – Am – Am – Am – D – D – D – D

Chorus

Am – Am – G – D
Am – Am – G – D

So, here is the video. You will find links to two different live version from 1978 in the video itself (at 1:17)

Guitars, Vintage guitars

Mark Knopfler Signature Strat with lipstick pickups played on Forever Young (duet with Bob Dylan)

The recent Mark Knopfler & Bob Dylan tour ended with the show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on November 21, 2011. The last encore played that day was a duet of both masters – the song ‘Forever Young’ (from Dylan’s 1974 album Planet Waves). A new guitar appeared on this song – a Mark Knopfler Signature Strat with lipstick pickups.

The original lipstick pickup

The lipstick pickup was the pickup on vintage Danelectro and many  Silvertone guitars – like the one that Mark plays on Donegan’s Gone. It is called lipstick pickup because those silver tubes that house the coil look like a lipstick  – in fact they originally were surplus lipstick tubes! Inside, a lipstick pickup does not have individual pole pieces like a standard Stratocaster pickup but one alnico 6 bar magnet instead, and the coil is simply wound around the bar (see picture).

The interior of a lipstick pickup

 

The sound of the lipstick pickup is rather different than the stock Stratocaster pickup. Generally pickups without single pole pieces have a less dominant resonance peak (more information on the resonance peak in this blog post)  and thus softer treble end, plus the metall lipstick tube dampens that resonance peak even more (like the cover on a Telecaster neck pickup does). The sound can for this reason be described with warm, jangly,  silky, transparent, but less harsh than a normal Strat, less bite, less high end.

 

Mark Knopfler with his Danelectro

In Danelectro and Slivertone guitars both lipstick pickups were normally wired in series instead of the parallel. This also causes a drastic sound change.

Lipstick pickups for the Stratocaster

Mark Knopfler was probably enthused for these pickups by Mike Henderson, who was Mark’s third guitarist on the 2001 tour. Mike favours Danelectro guitars for slide. The original lipstick pickup is too long to fit into a Stratocaster pickguard but many manufacturers offer replacements that fit into the  Stratocaster. In fact the pickups in Mark’s guitar are Seymour Duncans  SLS-1. As his guitar  does not look modified otherwise (normal 5-way switch) the pickups are probably wired in parallel, like in a standard Stratocaster. Mark played the 2&3 position (neck and middle) on Forever Young.

Seymour Duncan SLS-1

 

Here finally is a video showing Mark and Bob Dylan playing Forever Young:

Update: Simon was so nice to let us know through his comment that there is video on the official Seymour Duncan channel that shows Seymour Duncan himself with the loaded pickguard he made for Mark Knopfler. One detail he mentions is that it is a RWRP pickup (reverse wound/reverse polarity) in the middle position to cancel hum.