I am planning various new products and projects for the next weeks or months, and just thought you might be interested in what is coming. I must say I found myself involved in more and more different ideas lately, but as what is basically a “one-man company” it is often difficult for me to keep them all going at the same time. Whenever I dig more intensively into one thing […]
The following video explains the idea of a tapped pickup as they are typical for the vintage Schecter Dream Machines, and demos the sound of the Walk of Life pickups – my replicas of the Schecter F520T / F521T pickups. These are the pickups that Mark Knopfler plays in his red Schecter Telecaster – the one used for Walk of Life, and also in the black Schecter Tele that he […]
This week I had the pleasure to work an a Schecter Dream Machine. It is a really lovely hard-tail Strat with gold hardware. I am not sure about the wood (none of the codes that normally identify these) but the neck might be Pau Ferro (“Bolivian rosewood”). I am rather lost with the body, maybe ash that is stained, or Shedua, walnut,… ?? Any help is welcome so use the […]
This blog post is about the next step in my Tele Dream Machine project – the wiring of all controls. The main difference to a standard Fender Telecaster wiring is due to the tapped Walk of Life pickups (or Schecter F521T / F520T in the original) Unfortunately the original Omni Pots, those square conductive-plastic potis with the push-pull switch that Schecter used in the Van Nuys era, are no longer […]
After the Walk of Life pickups – a reproduction of the Schecter F520T / F521T sound – are availabable now, I can continue with the next steps of my Dream Machine Tele project (see part 1 here). I meanwhile found a vintage Schecter brass Tele bridge some weeks ago, so – with my own highly-ploshed brass Tele pickguards – I have nearly all essential parts for one guitar together now. […]
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 […]
With the help of my Dream Machine-style pickguards and the Dream Machine brass tremolo I was able to built myself a kind of Schecter Dream Machine Strat (the one I compared to Mark Knopfler’s sunburst Schecter Dream Machine in these videos). What I am working on at the moment is a range of products for the Telecaster to upgrade any T-style guitar to a Telecaster Dream Machine, or to build […]
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 […]
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 […]
In these videos I am a/b comparing two different guitars side by side: Mark Knopfler’s famous sunburst Schecter Dream Machine Strat and my pink part-o-caster, built from a Japanese Squier body in metallic pink with a nice bird’s eye maple neck I bought on ebay some time ago (actually a noname product), equipped with the loaded Schecter-style pickguard with the F500T pickup replicas, and with a prototype of the coming […]