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# Mark Knopfler Guitar Site

The website for the Mark Knopfler inspired guitar player by Ingo Raven

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.mk-guitar.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Scarborough Fair - Three different lead guitars for Mark Knopfler sounds](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2026/02/06/scarborough-fair-three-different-lead-guitars-for-mark-knopfler-sounds/) - Just like in my previous Youtube video, I am again playing different Knopfler-related guitars in my latest video. The tune is the traditional English ballad Scarborough Fair, made famous by Simon & Garfunkel. There are four sections, each arranged differently and featuring a different guitar sound. Fender Stratocaster In the first and last section you
- [Dire Straits Guitar Sounds on Four Different Guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2026/01/16/dire-straits-guitar-sounds-on-four-different-guitars/) - In my latest Youtube video I am playing four different guitars to a self-produced backing track. This backing track combines some Dire Straits flavours, a little inspired by songs like News, Single Handed Sailor or Once Upon a Time in the West (meter changes!), Tunnel of Love, plus some more. I am playing these guitars:
- [Guitar solo inspired by 'Lady Writer' - including backing track](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2025/04/09/guitar-solo-inspired-by-lady-writer-including-backing-track/) - This instrumental guitar performance was inspired by the Dire Straits song Lady Writer (from the Communiqué album). However, it is not a cover, nor is it a different solo over the same backing track. Instead I followed the chord progression of Lady Writer but created a backing track with a different tempo and a different
- [Dire Straits Tunnel of Love licks and sounds played on two Schecter Dream Machine replicas](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2025/03/18/dire-straits-tunnel-of-love-licks-and-sounds-played-on-two-schecter-dream-machine-replicas/) - Check out my latest Youtube video where I am playing guitar over a backing track inspired by Tunnel of Love from the third Dire Straits album. I built both of these guitars myself, the one with the birch body is actually the very first guitar I built ever in my life. The specs of this
- [Communique guitar sound - Knopfler-style guitar licks and improvisation over the A chord](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2025/03/18/communique-guitar-sound-knopfler-style-guitar-licks-and-improvisation-over-the-a-chord/) - In this Youtube video I played some licks and sounds taken from the Dire Straits song Communique, and from the song Lions (ending solo, live versions played around 1978-79). I blended these with some improvisation to a mixture-tune over a backing track. The guitar is my 'Part-o-caster' with early Japanese Squier neck and body. The
- [Stratocaster Sound with Nature Photography](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2025/03/18/stratocaster-sound-with-nature-photography/) - My friend Thomas Schwarze is a nature photographer. You can find his great photos on his Instagram page. I had two recordings of some instrumental music, featuring Stratocaster sounds, one more in the Knopfler-style, the other one is a bit Pink-Floyd-ish. So I made a slide show with some of Thomas' photos, and put these
- [Santana Cover Samba Pa Ti - On clean fingerpicked Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2023/12/23/santana-cover-samba-pa-ti-on-clean-fingerpicked-strat/) - Watch me playing a version of the Santana classic 'Samba Pa Ti'. The original stands for a distorted guitar sound on a humbucker guitar - so I tried with a clean guitar sound on my self-built Bubinga / Pao Ferro Strat instead. Santana normally plays with a pick - I played Knopfler-style fingerpicking here. But
- [Lions - Intro and Solo Cover - On three different guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2023/10/31/lions-intro-and-solo-cover-on-three-different-guitars/) - In his video I am playing the intro and the 1st solo of 'Lions' (from the 1978 first Dire Straits album) over a backing track. I am playing both parts three times, using a different 'classic-Knopfler' guitar each time. These are my 'Partocaster' for the Fender sound, a Suhr to represent Knopfler's 90ies sound (no
- [Simple trick to jam over major 7 chords](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2023/09/14/simple-trick-to-jam-over-major-7-chords/) - In this video I am explaining a simple trick how to improvize over major 7 chords using standard minor scales. I made a backing track with Fmaj7 and Cmaj7 chord changes and jammed over it using my self-built Dream Machine Strat. It is the very first I have ever built, with a flamed birch body
- [Check out this unbelievable guitar collection - A 'Must-See' for all Mark Knopfler fans](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2022/09/20/check-out-this-unbelievable-guitar-collection-a-must-see-for-all-mark-knopfler-fans/) - With this blog post I want to feature a website that hosts one of the most astonishing guitar collections in the world: Guitar Motel - guitarmotel.net It is not only a collection with many great vintage guitars like Fenders or Gibsons but also with exactly those guitars that are 'the ones' for us Knopfler fans
- [A trip to Mark Knopfler's sunburst Schecter Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/05/a-trip-to-mark-knopflers-sunburst-schecter-strat/) - The good thing about running a website about Mark Knopfler and his guitar sound and style is that you get in touch with so many other people who share your interest. I guess everyone who is really interested in this topic sooner or later finds his way to this site. So it happened that one
- [Two great Bob Dylan videos from the Infidels recording session](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2022/03/08/two-great-bob-dylan-videos-from-the-infidels-recording-session/) - Here are two videos from the official Bob Dylan Youtube channel, posted some months ago already. It is only a mimic session for a promotional video but it is from the original recording session at the New York Power station recording studio in April/May 1983. And it features an alternate mix of the two songs,
- [Knopfler-style Rock'n'Roll Riffs](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/11/30/knopfler-style-rocknroll-riffs/) - Don't miss my latest video on Youtube. Here I am playing and explaining some riffs with that typical thumb-and-fingers picking pattern. You've heard such riffs on Knopfler/Dire Straits songs like Two Young Lovers, Walk of Life, Next Time I'm in Town, Overnight Sensation (by Tine Turner), Industrial Disease, Poor Boy's Blues, and countless others.
- [Ingo Raven - Whales](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/06/02/ingo-raven-whales/) - I decided to release a video of a song that I recorded 20 years ago. It is less Knopfler-stylish than the guitar videos I normally post here but more in the mood of some Pink Floyd tunes. However, the long outro guitar solo on a Les Paul is of course inspired by Mark's playing style
- [Money for Nothing - Riffs / Cover](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/04/07/money-for-nothing-riffs-cover/) - I made another video some weeks ago where I talked about doubling guitar riffs for a fatter sound. I played a Japanese Erlewine Automatic, a very cool guitar with one humbucker, and dialed in a sound similar to the Dire Straits classic Money for Nothing. I did not try to get as close as possible
- [First Sound Test of another Knopfler Style Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/03/12/first-sound-test-of-another-knopfler-style-strat/) - Here are two videos I recorded to try out another guitar I am building on: a Schecter Dream Machine-like Strat with an ash body and a birdseye-maple neck, with a brass tremolo and a 'Making Movies' pickguard. In other words, a Strat inspired by Mark Knopfler's S8001 Schecter Strat. It is not finished but assembled
- [Where Mark Knopfler's blue Fernandes Strat is today](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/03/13/where-mark-knopflers-blue-fernandes-strat-is-today/) - In the early 80ies - in the Love over Gold / Local Hero / Infidels era - Mark Knopfler used a metallic blue Japanese Fernandes Strat copy with Seymour Duncan pickups in the studio. John Suhr once told me that in his opinion Mark created some of his best guitar sounds of that time with
- [Doubling Guitar Riffs for a fatter and wider sound - Comparing different ways](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/02/05/doubling-guitar-riffs-for-a-fatter-and-wider-sound-comparing-different-ways/) - Here is a video I made to demonstrate the use and the different sound effect of different 'doubling techniques'. Doubling is nothing too fancy or secret but a common studio recording technique. Still it might be interesting not only for beginners as each of the different approaches leads to different results which are compared in
- [Neck Pickup Sound with the VFS-1 - Jam over Backing Track](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/02/03/neck-pickup-sound-with-the-vfs-1-jam-over-backing-track/) - In my last two videos I got some nice guitar sounds out of the integrated amp simulation and effects of my Soundcraft UI24R mixing desk. I was playing the MK61 pickups in the bridge & middle position of my Strat. This week I tried the same with the neck pickup. This is a VFS-1 pickup.
- [News - Cover Intro and Solo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/01/30/news-cover-intro-and-solo/) - This week again I recorded some guitar sounds over a backing track produced for this purpose. After Once Upon a Time in the West in my last video, this time it is the next song on the same album: News. The guitar sound on the whole Communiqué album is very special to me because it
- [Comparing three clean guitar sounds - Once Upon a Time in the West - Solo cover](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2021/01/11/comparing-three-clean-guitar-sounds-once-upon-a-time-in-the-west-solo-cover/) - For my latest Youtube video I recorded three different lead guitars over a self-produced backing track with the chords and groove of the Dire Straits classic Once Upon a Time in the West. The three guitars - a 'normal' Strat, a Schecter Dream Machine replica, and a Suhr - are similar to what Mark Knopfler
- [Blues on Mahogani Telecaster with Walk of Life pickups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2020/10/01/blues-on-mahogani-telecaster-with-walk-of-life-pickups/) - Last month I made a video of a mahogani body Strat. Mahogani is a standard wood for Gibsons but not very popular for Stratocasters. Nevertheless, Mark Knopfler's metallic red Schecter Strat is said to feature a mahogani body, and possibly his red 'Walk of Life' Schecter Telecaster as well. I also built a Telecaster with
- [Sound check of a Mahogani body Strat with the Alchemy Pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2020/08/28/sound-check-of-a-mahogani-body-strat-with-the-alchemy-pickguard/) - Here you can watch me trying out another guitar I am building at the moment: with a Mahogani body, a dotless birdseye maple neck, brass tremolo, and the Alchemy loaded pickguard it should be obvious that this was inspired by Knopfler's red Dream Machine Schecter Strat. The guitar is still in a rough state so
- [Blues Improvisation on Ibanez Les Paul with MK58 pickups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2020/08/18/blues-improvisation-on-ibanez-les-paul-with-mk58-pickups/) - In the following video you can watch me jamming to a blues backing track. The guitar is a 1974 Ibanez 2351 Les Paul copy, all stock with exception of two MK58 pickups. It is not a close copy of a Les Paul but a model with a bolt-on neck, and the top is not solid
- [Knopfler-style licks on Dream Machine Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2020/08/24/knopfler-style-licks-on-dream-machine-strat/) - One of the things I was a bit busy with over the last years is guitar building. The guitar in the following video was inspired by the vintage Schecter Dream Machines that Mark Knopfler started to play in the early 80ies. I also built some models closer to the particular ones that Mark had -
- [Repairing an Electro Voice EVM12L speaker - rattling dust cap](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2020/02/04/repairing-an-electro-voice-evm12l-speaker-rattling-dust-cap/) - The Electro Voice EVM12L is a legendary vintage guitar speaker, favoured not only by Mark Knopfler who uses this speaker in various 4 x 12 speaker cabinets. I have these in a 4 x 12 cab as well, and I like the sound of these very much. The last time I played with this cab
- [Chris Rea – how he gets his signature sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2019/09/11/chris-rea-how-he-gets-his-signature-sound/) - Chris Rea is an artist that has surely more than a few things in common with Mark Knopfler - playing a red Fender Stratocaster is one of them. Chris plays a lot of slide guitar, so his Strat is normally tuned to open E, and his sound is different for this reason but often his
- [CITES regulations exempt musical instruments - ban of rosewood lifted](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2019/09/08/cites-regulations-exempt-musical-instruments-ban-of-rosewood-lifted/) - This is what I consider good news for all of us guitar players - after severe CITES restrictions for trading guitars with parts of rosewood or bubinga that were introduced in 2017, these woods can soon be used for musical instruments again, without any horrifying paperwok that almost made many companies stop using these woods
- [Romeo and Juliet on National Style-O](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/25/romeo-and-juliet-on-national-style-o/) - This week was again a rather busy one, so not much time for the next article. All I have is a video of me playing Romeo and Juliet on that National Style-O (read style-"Oh", the letter not the number, see this article for some detail pictures of this guitar), but there are no instructions or
- [Featured artist - Richard Thompson](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/14/featured-artist-richard-thompson/) - Let's feature another artist today: besides Mark Knopfler, I admire the work of Richard Thompson. Richard played with England's folk-rock band Faiport Convention in the late 60ies, and started a solo career afterwards. His first records were with his then-wife Linda Thompson who is a great singer. Thompson has a lot of similiarities with Mark
- [Knopfler goes Jazz - Video with licks from Comfort and Joy soundtrack](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/29/knopfler-goes-jazz-video-with-licks-from-comfort-and-joy-soundtrack/) - In 1982 Dire Straits recorded their Love over Gold album in New York. According to Knopfler himself, he spent some time before with learning new chords and licks from a book by Mickey Baker. This circumstance, and the collaboration with Jazz musicians of the New York jazz scene - like Mike Mainierei, Michael & Randy
- [Mark Knopfler licks using the b5 note](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/30/mark-knopfler-licks-using-the-b5-note/) - The b5 notes means the flattened fifth note of any scale. If we have e.g. a C-major scale (c - d -e -f -g - a - b - c ), the fifth note is the g , and if this note is flattened, we get the gb. The same logic works with any major
- [Dire Straits Eastbound Train - Rhythm riff, licks and solo explained](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/01/dire-straits-eastbound-train-rhythm-riff-licks-and-solo-explained/) - Eastbound Train was one of Dire Straits' first songs. It was recorded as a demo before the first album was recorded, and it is the song of the earliest Dire Straits live recording that exists (from the Hope & Anchor, London, December 1977). This live version was released as the b-side of the single Sultans
- [The one-man band - Playing both rhythm and lead guitar together](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/02/the-one-man-band-playing-both-rhythm-and-lead-guitar-together/) - The video in today's post demonstrates an important aspect of Mark Knopfler's unique guitar style: the blend of rhythm and lead guitar playing. I remember the day I first saw Mark Knopfler on TV in the late 70ies. I knew their stuff from the records, and I heard his lead guitar playing on these. What
- [The DiMarzio FS-1 pick-up of Mark Knopfler’s red Stratocaster](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/10/the-dimarzio-fs-1-pick-up-of-mark-knopflers-red-stratocaster/) - According to an interview with Guitar Player magazin from 1979, Mark Knopfler played a DiMarzio pick-up in one of his two red Fender Stratocasters that he played around the time of Dire Straits' first two albums: On one there's a DiMarzio pickup for the bass, and I like it because it just seems to give
- [Different ways to record a clean guitar - sound clips for A/B comparing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/20/different-ways-to-record-a-clean-guitar-sound-clips-for-ab-comparing/) - There are countless ways to record an electric guitar. While some of these do not really work for distorted guitars, you have even more choices when you want to record a clean guitar: you can plug it directly into the mixing desk, or use a DI-box before. Then there are special recording solutions like digital
- [Micing a guitar amp with two microphones](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/21/micing-a-guitar-amp-with-two-microphones/) - In this article you will find a sound clip to hear the sound of a guitar amp ... (a) mic'ed close to the speaker (Shure SM 57) (b) mic'ed at a distance of about 2 m (6 ft.) (Audio Technica AT 4050) (c) with both microphones [of (a) and (b)] blended together. The close mic'ing
- [Recording distorted guitars - The digital POD vs the analog Tubeman](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/22/recording-distorted-guitars-the-digital-pod-vs-the-analog-tubeman/) - One of the last articles was about how to record a clean guitar, and the POD and the Tubeman have already been mentioned there. This time it is about what these two devices were mainly built for: a distorted guitar sound. You will hear the same track first recorded with the POD (lead and rhythm
- [Recommended artist: Chris Rea - some rare video clips](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/28/recommended-artist-chris-rea-some-rare-video-clips/) - Most people who like Mark Knopfler might know Chris Rea, who has been popular especially here in Europe since the 80ies. Due to health problems, he ended his active career some yeasr ago. I first heard of him in 1983 when a friend of mine who was also into Dire Straits at that time told
- [Gear on Dire Straits’ first TV appearance at Old Grey Whiste Test](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/21/gear-on-dire-straits-first-tv-appearance-at-old-grey-whiste-test/) - I recently watched the video clips of Dire Straits performing Sultans of Swing and Lions live on the British Old Grey Whistle Test again. It is one of the earliest videos that exist, recorded in Manchester on May 15, 1978, about three months after the first CD. Sultans of Swing Lions Let's have a look
- [Mark Knopfler’s 1938 Gibson Advanced Jumbo acoustic guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/05/14/mark-knopflers-1938-gibson-advanced-jumbo-acoustic-guitar/) - Mark Knopfler owns two beautiful vintage Gibson acoustic guitars which he seems to play a lot on his studio albums these days. One is a 1953 Gibson Southerner Jumbo, the other a 1938 Gibson Advanced Jumbo which I would like to feature in this article. Both have a sunburst finish and thus look a bit
- [Dire Straits Down to the Waterline explained: licks - chords - solo - no tabs](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/07/09/dire-straits-down-to-the-waterline-explained-licks-chords-solo-no-tabs/) - Summer is here and with it my summer holidays, so the ideal opportunity for some more song tutorials here in my Mark Knopfler guitar blog. This time I will explain the song Down to the Waterline - the first song on the first Dire Straits CD (1978). Down to the waterline is surely another highlight
- [Mark Knopfler chord shape of Vic and Ray and for a lick in Money for Nothing live intro](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/07/13/mark-knopfler-chord-shape-of-vic-and-ray-lick-money-for-nothing-live-intro/) - In this article I will cover a little chord progression that Mark Knopfler apparently discovered some day and - as he sees himself mainly as a songwriter - directly translated into a song. He often learned such little patterns and licks by accident - finding something when playing for hours - or learned them from
- [The Synclavier – The guitar sound of Dire Straits So far away](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/10/02/the-synclavier-the-guitar-sound-of-dire-straits-so-far-away/) - I recently saw a few threads in numerous forums about the guitar sound of So far away on Dire Straits' fifth album, Brothers in Arms. People speculated that there was a flanger, a delay, a chorus, or other effects involved to create the rather unusual sound of the lead guitar. And unusual it is in
- [Cover version of Dire Straits Six Blade Knife](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/08/31/cover-version-of-dire-straits-six-blade-knife/) - During the last weeks I played around a bit with the backing tracks from the Jam with Dire Straits book by Total Accuracy. Some of these are great and sound very good. Unfortunately, the one for Sultans of Swing seems almost unusuable to me because of the harsh rhythm guitar sound. Since I still had
- [Sultans of Swing solo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/09/22/sultans-of-swing-solo/) - Last weekend we had guests and one of them had this new photo camera - a Panasonic Lumix FX 37 which costs less than 200,- €. Besides taking great photos you can also record videos in HD quality (1280 x 720 pixels). As I was curious what these look like with my stuff I played
- [Recording acoustic guitar with two microphones - Audio Technica AT 4050 and Schoeps CM 64](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/10/14/recording-acoustic-guitar-with-two-microphones-audio-technica-at-4050-and-schoeps-cm-64/) - I recently recorded an acoustic guitar for a cover version of Brothers in Arms. I used two different microphones - a large diaphragm condensor Audio Technica AT 4050 near the bridge and a small diaphragm condenser Schoeps CM 64 over the neck. I had seen pictures showing Mark using a similar approach from a radio
- [My Sunburst Schecter Strat Copy](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/11/16/my-sunburst-schecter-strat-copy/) - Following on from Ingo's excellent article on the stolen sunburst schecter used on Tunnel Of Love. I (Dermot O'Reilly also known as strat61 on some forums) have been invited to write a piece on my Schecter come fender strat inspired by that guitar. Inspiration Although I followed Dire Straits from 1978 with Sultans it was
- [Soundcheck Brothers in Arms – the Music Man 212 HD 130 for distortion](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/08/soundcheck-brothers-in-arms-the-music-man-212-hd-130-for-distortion/) - Normally I use my Music Man 212 HD 130 amp for clean guitar sounds, but the other day I was tinkering around with the Les Paul jamming to Brothers in Arms. The Music Man has a solid state pre-amp section which is not ideal for distorted sounds. Yet, I was surprised to get some really
- [Rehearsing Southbound Again](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/12/rehearsing-southbound-again/) - I recently made a backing track and started to rehearse Southbound Again (live version, not an easy one I think) from Dire Straits' first album. In fact the live version they played from 1977 to 1979 (often as an encore) is a totally different song than the studio version. Unfortunately not one single video exists
- [Acoustic guitar cover of Boom like that and Song for Sonny Liston](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/01/02/acoustic-guitar-cover-of-boom-like-that-song-for-sonny-liston/) - I got a new camera for Christmas, so I immediately tried it out and filmed a few clips. Here are two acoustic guitar covers of Boom like that and Song for Sonny Liston. In both cases I did not play the complete song but a 2 minutes and something version (especially Sonny Liston has so
- [Southbound Again riff](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/01/05/southbound-again-riff/) - Here is a small video clip in which I play the Southbound Again riff, this time the studio version (I put another video online with the completely different live version a few weeks ago). I played it in standard tuning. A few years ago I read an interview where Mark said that it was open
- [Rasgueado and other flamenco techniques in Sultans of Swing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/02/02/rasgueado-and-other-flamenco-techniques-in-sultans-of-swing/) - Sultans of Swing from Dire Straits' first album is surely one of THE songs that comes to mind when talking about fingerstyle guitar playing. In addition to Mark Knopfler's unique playing style it also features some striking Spanish-sounding elements, starting from the chord progression itself to some flamenco-like strumming techniques - which is this blog
- [Rare video of Brendan Crocker gig featuring Mark Knopfler](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/02/12/rare-video-of-brendan-crocker-gig-featuring-mark-knopfler/) - Today while surfing youtube I found this rare video which I have never seen before, showing Mark Knopfler as a guest on a Brendan Crocker gig in Leeds, June 18, 1989 (the youtube video title says July 18, June 18 is confirmed and I doubt that there was a second gig one month later). For
- [Chris Rea Bombollini - live from Loreley 1985](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/17/chris-rea-bombollini-live-from-lorelei-1985/) - This is the second time I want to feature Chris Rea here (first time: click here). The reason was that today I surfed into a video on youtube from a concert I watched about 25 years ago on television: Chris Rea on a festival from the Loreley - that famous rock on the river Rhine-
- [Dire Straits – Wild West End – Cover by Ingo Raven](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/04/10/dire-straits-wild-west-end-cover-by-ingo-raven/) - Wild West End from Dire Straits' first album has always been one of my all-time favourite songs, so it is no wonder that it is one of the songs I recently started to practice a bit. Of course you will never come to a point where you think that you really can play it (at
- [Thomas Schwarze / Ingo Raven - Jamming on Stratocaster and Telecaster](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/04/14/thomas-schwarze-ingo-raven-jamming-on-stratocaster-and-telecaster/) - A few days ago I jammed a bit with a friend of mine - Thomas Schwarze - in our little home studio. Thomas is a great guitar player and also plays fingerstyle, using a technique similar to the MK style. Our first idea was to play "something" and upload it to youtube. We tried out
- [Version without backing tracks of my Wild West End video](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/04/17/version-without-backing-tracks-of-my-wild-west-end-video/) - Just a quick note: I added a version of my Wild West End video from last week without backing tracks, just vocals and lead guitar as I played it live over the backing track. The mix including all effects and EQ is the same as in the full video with exception that I increased the
- [Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms - Cover by Ingo Raven](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/05/01/dire-straits-brothers-in-arms-cover-by-ingo-raven/) - This week-end I found time again to record another cover version - Brothers in Arms. After Six Blade Knife and Wild West End, this is the third video I put some additional effort into, which means I did not record the audio with the microphone of the camcorder but with the gear in our homerecording
- [Mark Knopfler – Guitars on the Get Lucky tour 2010](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/05/12/mark-knopfler-guitars-on-the-get-lucky-tour/) - The US leg of Mark Knopfler's 2010 Get Lucky tour is over, and we in Europe are looking forward to the next part. Due to the new recording policy on all MK concerts, there seem to be less videos on youtube than we had the years before, but still we have some :) On the
- [Mark Knopfler on Thomas Dolby's 17 Hills - Auditioning different lead guitar takes](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/01/10/mark-knopfler-on-thomas-dolbys-17-hills-auditioning-different-lead-guitar-takes/) - I recently watched a few Youtube videos by Tomas Dolby about recording for his new album. One track - 17 Hills - features Mark Knopfler on lead guitar. There is one video in which Thomas tells about recording the guitar at Mark's British Grove Studio. Mark recorded various guitar takes for this song, and Thomas
- [The different Mark Knopfler signature Strats used on the Get Lucky tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/07/17/the-different-mark-knopfler-signature-strats-used-on-the-get-lucky-tour/) - After seeing Mark Knopfler live on the recent Get Lucky tour I can confirm that he plays different MK Signature Stratocasters on stage (compare the post on Guitars on the get Lucky tour). In Oberhausen und Amsterdam he seemed to play four different red MK Strats: #1 - on Border Reiver This one is tuned
- [New site shop launched](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/09/27/new-site-shop-launched/) - Some of you might already have noticed that this site has its own shop since a few days. You can enter the shop with the MK-Guitar.com Shop button on the right side of the header section. After some initial beta testing I am proud to announce that you can buy stuff like * Gear (partly
- [Jamming over "Dire Straits - In the Gallery" groove loop](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/12/07/jamming-over-dire-straits-in-the-gallery-groove-loop/) - For some weeks I have been playing around with a Boss RC-50 loop station. The RC-50 allows you to record your own playing and play it as a loop. This way you can create multiple sound layers, and then jam to it. A really nice tool that makes a lot of fun. Here I am
- [The Dire Straits Rock Pop in Concert TV show in Dortmund 1980](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/03/29/the-dire-straits-rock-pop-in-concert-tv-show-in-dortmund-1980/) - The Dire Straits concert from the German Rock Pop in Concert TV show in December 1980 was indeed a very special concert for me. The reason is simple: it was the first concert of my life. I was 15 then and had been a Dire Straits fan for one and a half year. Dire Straits
- [A/B Comparing Mark Knopfler's Schecter to my Strat with the mk-guitar.com loaded pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/11/20/ab-comparing-mark-knopflers-schecter-to-my-strat-with-the-mk-guitar-com-loaded-pickguard/) - 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
- [Playing on the Holy Grail of Electric Guitars: 1960 Les Paul Standard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/11/28/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
- [Abigail Ybarra winding pickups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/05/07/abigail-ybarra-winding-pickups/) - I recently watched this video on youtube and felt to share it with all readers of my blog. It shows Abigail Ybarra winding a pickup in the Fender custom shop. In case you haven't heard of her, she started to wind pickups at the Fender factory in 1956, and again does so at the Fender
- [Gator Blood live on the white 1964 Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/05/07/gator-blood-live-on-the-white-1964-strat/) - Mark's Privateering tour has started, and they played the first 8 concerts around south-east Europe and Italy. One song that has been played on some of these - compared to previous tours they vary the setlist a lot - is Gator Blood. I saw the picture of Mark with the white Strat - it seems
- [Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster resembling Mark Knopfler's maple neck Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/02/21/custom-shop-fender-stratocaster-resembling-mark-knopflers-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
- [New Mark Knopfler album Down the Road Wherever and tour coming](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2018/10/26/new-mark-knopfler-album-down-the-road-wherever-and-tour-coming/) - I guess most fans are already aware that a new Mark Knopfler album called Down the Road Wherever will be released on November 16. You will already find a track list and the lyrics to all songs here on the official Mark Knopfler website. A new single called Good on you son is already available,
- [The Schaller Floyd Rose tremolo on the Pensa Suhr MK-1](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2017/08/29/the-schaller-floyd-rose-tremolo-on-the-pensa-suhr-mk-1/) - Recently I did a service job on a Suhr MK1. It is the same guitar in fact that I played on a youtube video and that was featured in a blog post six years ago. It belongs to a collector of MK-related guitars who lives near my place, and who kindly also lent me some
- [Possible loss of sound and sustain on a guitar bridge with block saddles](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2018/03/12/possible-loss-of-sound-and-sustain-on-a-guitar-bridge-with-block-saddles/) - With this blog post I just want to make you aware of a possible sound loss due to a wrong setup. This affects all Strat or Tele bridges with the 'block' saddles instead of the bent steel pieces of the vintage Fender design, like the American Standard bridge, or vintage Schecter bridges and consequently also
- [The sound of your pickups - What makes a difference, what not?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/01/31/the-sound-of-your-pickups-what-makes-a-difference-what-not/) - It seems to be out of question that the pickups are an important ingredient that defines the sound of an electric guitar. Besides obvious contruction differences - like overwound single coil pickups, or single-coil sized humbuckers etc. - there are many details , like different magnet alloys or different wire for the coil, that make
- [Detail pictures of 1936 National Style-0](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/25/detail-pictures-of-1936-national-style-0/) - One of Mark Knopfler's most famous guitars is surely his National Style-O (read "style - oh"). This is the guitar on the cover of Brothers in Arms. AFAIK he bought this guitar from his buddy Steve Phillips long before Dire Straits, it was his second National (the first was a Tricone from the late 20ies
- [Guitar portrait: 1983 Squier JV Stratocaster, fiesta red](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/02/guitar-portrait-1983-squier-jv-stratocaster-fiesta-red/) - Some general info about Japanese vintage guitars from the early 80ies was subject in one of the last articles. This time I want to feature my fiesta red Squier Strat from the almost legendary JV series. It was simply the overall quality of these guitars that left such a deep impact when they appeared on
- [The Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer compressor – Did Mark Knopfler really use it?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/09/the-dan-armstrong-orange-squeezer-compressor-did-mark-knopfler-really-use-it/) - Today the Orange Squeezer compressor by Dan Armstrong is an almost legendardy guitar effect. An essential portion of this fame is probably due to the fact that it is often named as an ingredient for the early Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits sound. Ironically this goes back to my old Dire Straits Guitar Page which
- [Guitar portrait: 1983 Squier Stratocaster JV pink metallic](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/28/guitar-portrait-1983-squier-stratocaster-jv-pink-metallic/) - After the portrait of the fiesta red 1983 Squier Stratocaster, today's article features another Japanese vintage Squier, this time an ultra-rare model in all original pink metallic finish. Since all important facts about that great JV series that was available in 1982-83 only have been mentioned in two previous articles (the mentioned portrait of the
- [Pictures of Dire Straits, Live at the Zirkus Krone, Munchen, May 29, 1979](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/09/pictures-of-dire-straits-live-at-the-zirkus-krone-munchen-may-29-1979/) - For your enjoyment, here are a few rare pictures of Dire Straits. They are from a concert in the Zirkus Krone building, Munchen, Germany, on May 29, 1979. After February 1979, they returned to Germany in May, still on the Communiqué tour. The gear used on this part of the tour has changed slightly against
- [Tokai Springy Sound - Japanese Vintage Stratocaster Copies that caused lawsuit](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/06/tokai-springy-sound-japanese-vintage-stratocaster-copies-that-caused-lawsuit/) - I already wrote three articles about Japanese vintage Strats, an introduction and a portrait of the fiesta red and the pink metallic Squier JV. I noticed that a lot of people surf into this site because of these articles, so I want to release a fourth one, this time about the almost legendary Tokai Springy
- [Mark Knopfler’s Sultans of Swing amp – The brown Fender Vibrolux](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/13/mark-knopflers-sultans-of-swing-amp-the-brown-fender-vibrolux/) - Mark Knopfler got his first Strat only shortly before Dire Straits were formed. Before that time he had played a Gibson Les Paul Special through a Selmer tube combo amp in a band called The Cafe Racers. It is not clear if he owned the Selmer amp or if it was borrowed. What we know
- [Pictures from Hamburg Oct. 28, 1978 (?)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/22/pictures-from-hamburg-oct-28-1978/) - Edit 2012: I had to correct myself. These pictures were probably from the next day, October 29, 1978, when they played in Berlin (compare this blog post). Unlike these days, when each concert is not only recorded on audio or video, not to mention all pictures made by a million people it seems, there are
- [The 6/#9 chord - Mark Knopfler's Train Chord](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/20/the-69-chord-mark-knopflers-train-chord/) - Imitating the sound of a freight train whistle seems to be an obligatory part of all blues players' vocabulary. For this purpose Mark Knopfler often uses a particular chord, a chord that appears on songs like Eastbound Train or Gravy Train (live), but also on the The Bug. The chord in question is often called
- [Loudness War - Louder is better? Why CDs are reduced in dynamics](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/07/loudness-war-louder-is-better-why-cds-are-reduced-in-dynamics/) - Here comes an article not really related to guitar but possibly interesting for everyone who likes to listen to music. The term "loudness war" is something you might have come across when talking or reading about modern music productions. There is even a Wikipedia article on this matter. I will explain in short what exactly
- [How to hear more on a recording than normal ears can hear](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/04/how-to-hear-more-on-a-recording-than-normal-ears-can-hear/) - Have you ever tried to transcribe a solo from a recording and you wished you could hear that guitar better in the mix than you actually did? Or did you ask yourself if there is chorus or not, or any other effects? Instead, the vocals, the bass, the drums, everything is louder than what you
- [Guitar refinishing – nitro vs poly and how to remove a polyester finish](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/02/guitar-refinishing-nitro-vs-poly-and-how-to-remove-a-polyester-finish/) - Over the last days I was working on a Strat project. I had some parts from a 70ies Japanese Strat copy, which together with an American Fender neck and a loaded pickguard should make a nice part-o-caster. In the seventies many guitars were finished with polyester. This finish is like a coat of hard plastic
- [Two interesting live clips of Dire Straits Six Blade Knife](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/19/two-interesting-live-clips-of-dire-straits-six-blade-knife/) - Jean-Francois wrote in a comment: I didn`t know where to post this : Somme years ago, I remember you talked on mKnews forum about Six blade Knife on 17/02/1979 in Cologne that has a longer solo in the middle than usual. I`ve never heard it. It would be very nice from you if you could
- [Which key is In the Gallery on the first Dire Straits CD? Am or Bbm?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/06/30/which-key-is-in-the-gallery-on-the-first-dire-straits-cd-am-or-bbm/) - The song In the Gallery of Dire Straits' first album seems to be in a strange key. The official songbooks transcribe it in the key of Bbm. On all live versions Dire Straits played it in Am. So, why is this? If you listen carefully to the CD version and and try to play along
- [Cover version of Setting me up by Albert Lee](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/07/15/cover-version-of-setting-me-up-by-albert-lee/) - Many Mark Knopfler fans like Eric Clapton and are familiar with his work. Especially his live album Just one Night from 1979 was a milestone in his career. It features a live version of Setting my up - a Mark Knopfler song from Dire Straits' first CD. However, many do not realize that this cover
- [Sultans of Swing – The alternate single version and the demo version – sound and gear](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/11/18/sultans-of-swing-the-alternate-single-version-and-the-demo-version_sound_and_gear/) - Dire Straits' first hit was Sultans of Swing, recorded in Basing Street studios, February 1978. But did you know that there was a different studio recording before (demo version, Pathway Studios, July 1977), and also a later recording (Pathway Studios, April 1978) that was recorded to be released as a single in some countries? The
- [Sensational: Sultans of Swing guitar track solo - without backing tracks - from Guitar Hero 5](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/15/sensational-sultans-of-swing-guitar-track-solo-without-backing-tracks-from-guitar-hero-5/) - I reported about the vocals only and karaoke tracks of Sultans of Swing in the last post. If you read all the comments there you will already have heard the latest news: a guitar-only track is also available. They all seem to be from the Guitar Hero 5 game. It seems the makers of the
- [Angel of Mercy live in early 1979 – Mark Knopfler on slide guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/24/angel-of-mercy-live-in-early-1979-mark-knopfler-on-slide-guitar/) - Mark Knopfler never played that much bottle-neck guitar on his albums or concerts, nevertheless he occasionally did: except Water of Love from the first Dire Straits album of course, songs like The Man's too strong (from Brothers in Arms), Do America (from Sailing to Philadelphia), Money for Nothing intro (live version 2001 tour), or Right
- [Pictures of Dire Straits live in Rotterdam, October 19, 1978](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/27/pictures-from-dire-straits-live-in-rotterdam-october-19-1978/) - The radio concert of Dire Straits live at the Schouwburg in Rotterdam, October 19, 1978 was one of the earliest Dire Straits live bootlegs, and for this reason has been known for long among fans. However, I have never seen pictures of this concert (at least none with realizing that they were from this gig).
- [Trying to recreate that Sultans of Swing sound - The gear I used on the Puresolo competition.](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/09/16/trying-to-recreate-that-sultans-of-swing-sound-the-gear-i-used-on-the-puresolo-competition/) - Like many others, I recorded an entry for the Puresolo competition (you could play your solo over one of the following backing tracks: Sulans of Swing, Calling Elvis, or Speedway at Nazareth). I always find it a bit frustrating to take part in such a competition because as it seems nobody knows before who decides
- [Money for Nothing on Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/11/02/money-for-nothing-on-guitar-hero-warriors-of-rock/) - The new Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock features Dire Straits - Money for Nothing from the Brothers In Arms CD (1985). We had a lot of fun and many valuable insights with Sultans of Swing from this game some months ago. This one is also a great listen for all of us MK-style guitar players
- [Alternate Sultans of Swing solo take from first album session - unheard before - exclusively on mk-guitar.com](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/01/15/alternate-sultans-of-swing-solo-take-from-first-album-session-unheard-before-exclusively-on-mk-guitar-com/) - Here you will find an alternate take of the Sultans of Swing first solo from the recording session for the first album at Basing Street Studios in February 1978. Unfortunately the quality is more than poor, you might guess where it is coming from... It is not so much different, but it is for sure
- [The bridge section between Expresso Love and Down to the Waterline on the Making Movies tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/06/15/the-bridge-section-between-expresso-love-and-down-to-the-waterline-on-the-making-movies-tour/) - This blog post is about the 50 seconds instrumental part that bridged the two songs Expresso Love and Down to the Waterline on the Making Movies tour (aka On Location tour) of Dire Straits in 1980/81. I always admired this part, especially how it transferred the energy of the ending of Expresso Love to the
- [Early Dire Straits radio interview from 1978](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/07/05/early-dire-straits-radio-interview-from-1978/) - Here you can hear a very early radio interviews with Mark and David Knopfler of Dire Straits from summer 1978. Mark talks about how they recorded their first demo, how they got their record contract, about London, and about plans for the second album. I got it on an old analog tape many years ago.
- [Pictures from Dire Straits gig - Hamburg, October 28, 1978](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/08/27/pictures-from-dire-straits-gig-hamburg-october-28-1978/) - I recently wrote various blog posts about 'new' pictures from some early Dire Straits gigs (e.g. here or here). Normally it happens only rarely that such new pictures appear - we are talking about a period more than 40 years ago, a time before digital cameras existed - but these days again someone pointed me
- [Talking Heads live in 1978 - Encores with Mark Knopfler and John Illsley](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/10/07/talking-heads-live-in-1978-encores-with-mark-knopfler-and-john-illsley/) - It is always a nice surprise to see "historic" pictures or recordings appear from the very early Dire Straits era. This time no pictures but a recording from the Talking Heads tour in early 1978 - to be precise , from February 5 at the Greyhound Croydon. This was the last gig of the Talking
- [Dire Straits at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, October 23, 1978](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/01/14/dire-straits-at-the-paradiso-amsterdam-october-23-1978/) - Recently another diamond was dug out: an uncirculated early Dire Straits recording appeared out of nothing, from the Paradiso, Amsterdam, October 23, 1978. Unfortunately it is "only" an audience recording, nevertheless the sound quality is really nice. And it is the complete show. This gig was only a few month after the release of Dire
- [Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer compressor confirmed by Mark himself](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2017/09/30/dan-armstrong-orange-squeezer-compressor-confirmed-by-mark-himself/) - In addition to the rumour that Mark Knopfler used the Orange Squeezer compressor in the 70ies with Dire Straits for his unique guitar sound, here is a confirmation coming from an interview with Mark himself: In the September 1979 edition of the Portuguese magazin 'Musica & Som' we find an interview with Mark, most likely
- [Mark Knopfler's contribution for the Soundbreaking series](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2017/05/09/mark-knopflers-contribution-for-the-soundbreaking-series/) - If you have not seen this already, here is Mark's contribution for the Soundbreaking series on Youtube. Soundbreaking is a documentary series about the creation of new sounds in the rock music history, based on more than 160 interviews with celebrated recording artists, producers, and music industry pioneers. Mark is demonstrating various guitar techniques and
- [The Gibson Chet Atkins CEC - Classical Electric Guitar with Nylon Strings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/10/23/the-gibson-chet-atkins-cec-classical-electric-guitar-with-nylon-strings/) - This week I had a nice guitar here - a Gibson Chet Atkins CEC. The CE stands for classical electric, in other words a solid-body guitar with nylon strings and a piezo pickup, while the last C stands for conventional neck width (2"/5.1 cm at the nut, a CE model with a neck width of
- [Great Android Music Player App: AB Repeat Player](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2016/03/25/great-android-music-player-app-ab-repeat-player/) - With this blog post I want to recommend a free Android app that I use myself not only for listening to music but also for figuring out licks, riffs, or lead stuff. It is the AB Repeat Player. The feature I love most on it is not the one that gave it the name -
- [The black Fender Strat on Portobello Belle on the Love over Gold tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2016/02/27/the-black-fender-strat-on-portobello-belle-on-the-love-over-gold-tour/) - The song Portobello Belle has been played as a great 'Irish-reggae-calypso' version on the Love over Gold tour. An edited version has been released on the Money for nothing compilation sampler a long time ago. However, it was not included on the Alchemy video, and there is no youtube video at all of this song
- [Jamming with the BOSS DR-80](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2016/01/23/jamming-with-the-boss-dr-80/) - The BOSS DR-80 is an astonishing little device with a vey high fun-factor. In short, it is a digital 8-track multitrack recorder with a lot of effects, and at the same time a virtual band with a great number of jam grooves. And maybe the most astonishing feature is the price which is just about
- [Simple trick to meaure neck thickness with strings on](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/12/16/simple-trick-to-meaure-neck-thickness-with-strings-on/) - Recently I wanted to measure the neck thickness of some of my guitars. I was surprised to find something as trivial as this to turn out to be rather difficult job. The strings always hindered my calipers from lying flat against the neck surface, no matter how I tried. I solved the problem with the
- [Easy way to cure a scratchy voice coil in a guitar speaker](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/11/25/easy-way-to-cure-a-scratchy-voice-coil-in-a-guitar-speaker/) - I recently had a problem with a Music Man HD130 amp (the one Mark Knopfler used in the early days of Dire Straits). One speaker was creating a scratchy, distorted sound, surprisingly only at very low volume while it was fine at medium or high volume. I managed to cure it with an easy trick,
- [Building a Schecter Dream-Machine Style Telecaster Copy](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/10/28/building-a-schecter-dream-machine-style-telecaster-copy/) - Finally, I finished the second Telecaster-style guitar with Dream Machine brass hardware. You might remember my first build report about a Dream Machine Telecaster clone. Even back then when I started that first project, I already got the body and neck to start a similar project with these but never found the time to complete
- [Preview: Tunnel of Love Birch Dream Machine Strat Copy](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/11/01/preview-tunnel-of-love-birch-dream-machine-strat-copy/) - Here are just two quick pictures of what I have been spending time with lately: This is a body of one-piece (!) flamed (!!) birch (!!!), shaped like a Schecter Dream Machine body (yes, the shape is slightly different to a Fender body, e.g. slimmer horns and cutaways) . The neck is a one-piece birds-eye
- [Strange guitar sound on the Werchter 1981 recording - Did Mark mix direct out and microphone?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/09/14/strange-guitar-sound-on-the-werchter-1981-recording-did-mark-mix-direct-out-and-microphone/) - On July 5, 1981, Dire Straits played on the Werchter festival in Belgium. The concert was broadcasted on the radio and on TV and is one of the very few soundboard recordings from the 1980/81 On Location tour. There is one thing that always strikes me about that recording: Mark's guitar sound was what I'd
- [Bridge on the Dire Straits Stratocaster: Japanese or Original?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/08/25/bridge-on-the-dire-straits-stratocaster-japanese-or-original/) - You probably know the discussion started by John Suhr about the originality of Mark Knopfler red Dire Straits Stratocaster (the one with the maple neck, not the 1961 Strat with the rosewood fingerboard). John Suhr worked on Mark's guitars in the early 80ies and stated that this guitar was not an original vintage Fender but
- [Two pickups on the National Style-O on the Nelson Mandela concert](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/07/28/two-pickups-on-the-national-style-o-on-the-nelson-mandela-concert/) - I guess most of you know the the Dire Straits concert at the Nelon Mandela 70th birthday tribute concert in Wembley Stadium, 1988, and have probably - just like me - watched the video of it many times. I at least have never noticed that on this gig Mark has two output jacks on the
- [Some notes on the Dire Straits "Honky Tonk Demos" - released on vinyl single on Record Store Day 2015](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/06/30/some-notes-on-the-dire-straits-honky-tonk-demos-released-on-vinyl-single-on-record-store-day-2015/) - On April 18, 2015, some 'historical' Dire Straits recordings were officially released for the first time - four tracks from the 'Honky Tonk Demos', a demo tape the band recorded in July 1977. These were the first recordings of Dire Straits at all, five tracks recorded in a little London studio for a demo to
- [The Mark Knopfler Rig on the 2015 Tracker Tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/05/31/the-mark-knopfler-rig-on-the-2015-tracker-tour/) - Guy Fletcher was so kind to post a picture of Mark's effect rack in his tour diary . With this blog post I am trying to explain a bit what we can see in the picture, and some details we can conclude from what we see. But first here is what Guy wrote on it:
- [Playing some riffs, licks & solo from Dire Straits - Setting me up](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/04/25/playing-some-riffs-licks-solo-from-dire-straits-setting-me-up/) - Today I was just sitting around and playing bits and pieces of Setting me up from the first Dire Straits album. As the camera and recording gear was still in place from the last video, I spontanously decided to film a short sequence. It is not really a performance of the song in the sense
- [Comparing sound: Schecter Dream Machine vs. Fender Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/04/19/comparing-sound-schecter-dream-machine-vs-fender-strat/) - With the following video I was trying to demonstrate the basic sound difference between a vintage Schecter Dream Machine and a 'traditional' Strat. The Dream Machine is from about 1980, it has a Koa body and a one-piece Pau Ferro neck. The three pickups in the brass pickguard are the tapped F500T's. It has s
- [Better picture of Mark Knopfler's stolen sunburst Schecter Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/03/31/better-picture-of-mark-knopflers-stolen-sunburst-schecter-strat/) - In 1980, shortly before recording the Making Movies album, Mark Knopfler got several Schecter Dream Machines. It was a sunburst Schecter Strat (serial number S8136) that was used at least on the song Tunnel of Love and that was stolen from the boot of a car near the band's rehearsal room in Greenwich soon after.
- [Show your own Dream Machines: Gallery with user pictures online now](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/07/11/show-your-own-dream-machines-gallery-with-user-pictures-online-now/) - I added a gallery where all customers can upload pictures of the guitar they build with mk-guitar.com products, mainly with the loaded pickguards. I started with some pictures that satisfied customers sent me during the last months, but uploading is easy for everyone, not even a registration is required. So don't be shy and show
- [Photoshopped MK1 in Official Pensa Ad](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/01/04/photoshopped-mk1-in-official-pensa-ad/) - I was browsing through the Sailing to Philadelphia tour book (2001) recently when I noticed an odd thing about the MK-1 in a Pensa ad there. The ad shows a picture of Mark's famous MK1 guitar that was taken in 1992 during the On Every Street tour. As we all know the guitar was built
- [A few remarks on the Tracker film by Henrik Hansen](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2015/02/23/a-few-remarks-on-the-tracker-film-by-henrik-hansen/) - The deluxe box set of Mark's new Tracker album features a short film by the Danish director Henrik Hansen. It is already available on Youtube: I think it is a nice film which shows Mark at work, developing songs for the new record, and at leisure, walking his dogs. I am sure you will enjoy
- [Total Resistance - Add Sweetness - Remove Harshness - Shaping the sound of your pickups for the Mark Knopfler Sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/12/11/total-resistance-shaping-the-sound-of-your-pickups-for-the-mark-knopfler-sound/) - I guess most of you know that the value of the volume pot affects the sound of your pickups. I already wrote a blog post on this some time ago - please refer to this to understand terms like 'resonance peak' and what it means for the sound. Today I will cover some more details
- [Sultans of Swing Sound - Comparing pickup position and 009 vs. 008 strings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/12/07/sultans-of-swing-sound-comparing-pickup-position-and-009-vs-008-strings/) - A few days ago I wrote a blog post in which I compared the first Sultans of Swing solo played with 010 strings and with 009 strings. With today's blog post I want to have a closer look at some details of that sound: I recorded a video to compare lots of different pickup combinations,
- [Which strings for the Sultans of Swing sound? - Comparing 010 and 009 strings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/12/04/which-strings-for-the-sultans-of-swing-sound-comparing-010-and-009-strings/) - Listening to Sultans of Swing in 1979 was one of the reasons I started to learn the guitar. From this time on I wanted to get that magic guitar sound. One major component for a guitar sound is the right string gauge. I guess you all have heard about using heavier strings to get a
- [Experimenting with the FS-1 / vintage pickup combination](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/11/17/experimenting-with-the-fs-1-vintage-pickup-combination/) - This week I was playing around a bit with the combination of the fat-sounding DiMarzio FS-1 (FS in fact stands for 'fat Strat') plus a 'normal' vintage-sound pickup. I have the DiMarzio in the middle and a MK61 - a reproduction of a 1961 Strat pickup, becoming available exclusively on mk-guitar.com soon - in the
- [Two ways to connect the string ground wire on a Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/10/31/two-ways-to-connect-the-string-ground-wire-on-a-strat/) - For better hum shielding, the strings on electric guitars are normally grounded, which means they are connected internally to the ground of the guitar. For this purpose, usually a ground wire is connected somewhere to the guitar bridge, in the case of a Stratocaster with tremolo this is normally a wire from the case of
- [Mark's guitar tribute for The Last Post project ](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/10/30/marks-guitar-tribute-for-the-last-post-project/) - This was a nice surprise: someone posted a link to a youtube video in the A Mark in Time forum showing Mark recording The Last Post for a tribute project to soldiers who died in World War I. More information about this project here: http://www.superact.org.uk/thelastpost/ Mark plays the tune on his 'Blue Ice metallic' Pensa.
- [Songs that Mark Knopfler plays with a pick](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/09/30/songs-that-mark-knopfler-plays-with-a-pick/) - This blog post was written by Jean-François. Thank you J.F. ! :) [some comments by Ingo in brackets] Mark Knopfler has always been associated with fingerpicking. His totally unique right hand technique has become his landmark since the first Dire Straits album in 1978. However, Mark also sometimes plays with a guitar pick
- [Building a Telecaster Dream Machine – Part 4 - Brass Hardware](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/08/31/building-a-telecaster-dream-machine-part-4-brass-hardware/) - It is a while ago that I started my Tele Dream Machine project. The project advanced and got to a stage where I had a playable fine instrument some months ago (which can be seen e.g. here when I was demoing the Walk of Life pickups with this guitar). However, various parts were not finished
- [Mark Knopfler on the J.J. Cale Tribute Album by Eric Clapton & Friends](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/07/31/mark-knopfler-on-the-j-j-cale-tribute-album-by-eric-clapton-friends/) - J.J. Cale - who sadly died last year - has been a huge influences for Mark Knopfler. Especially for the early Dire Straits sound, J.J. Cale was probably the biggest influence at all. So it is no wonder that Mark appears on the tribute album The Breeze that was released on July 25. The project
- [The volume pot – what is the right resistance and how does it affect the sound of a guitar pick-up](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/10/25/the-volume-poti-–-what-is-the-right-resistance-and-how-does-it-affect-the-sound-of-a-guitar-pick-up/) - In forums I often read questions about different volume pots and the best value they should have. A normal Fender Strat pot has 250 kOhms, but 1MOhms (=1000 k Ohms) is used on Telecasters, while Gibson often uses 500 kOhms. And then there are the no-load pots, so all in all it seems there is
- [Kluson guitar tuners for the Schecter Dream Machines](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/06/30/kluson-guitar-tuners-for-the-schecter-dream-machines/) - I am an official Kluson dealer now, so you can get the correct Kluson guitar tuners for a Schecter Dream Machine replica now in the online shop of my site. During the Van Nuys era, Schecter used Kluson guitar tuners for their guitars ans basses. I have seen a lot of Schecters from this time
- [Mark Knopfler’s effect rack of the Love over Gold (Alchemy) tour in 1982/83](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/05/31/mark-knopflers-effect-rack-of-the-love-over-gold-alchemy-tour-in-198283/) - From 1980 on, Mark's guitar effects were mainly integrated into huge rack systems. At the time of Dire Straits, these were designed and built by Pete Cornish, specialist on high-quality racks and effects for numerous big names like Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Lor Reed, ... Pictures of Mark's racks however are extremely rare,
- [Coming new products](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/04/30/coming-new-products/) - 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
- [Music Man Amps are back](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/03/31/music-man-amps-are-back/) - What a nice surprise on this year's Frankfurt Music Fair: Music Man amps are coming back. DV MARK (dvmark.it) displayed reissues of those silver-black Music Man amps that were popular in the seventies and eighties. Clapton played Music Man amps, Albert Lee played them, and of course Mark Knopfler. He used 130 watts combos on
- [Location of the Strap Button on the Maple Neck Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/02/10/location-of-the-strap-button-on-the-maple-neck-strat/) - When Mark Knopfler started with Dire Straits in 1977, he played two different Stratocasters. One of these had a laminated maple fingerboard and some other modifications, including one of the strap buttons at the back side of the guitar. Unfortunately photos that show the exact location of this button - is it near the neck
- [Guitars with Brazilian Rosewood - Exporting from the US into the EU - What is possible and what not](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/01/31/guitars-with-brazilian-rosewood-exporting-from-the-us-into-the-eu-what-is-possible-and-what-not/) - I was involved in a few discussions about the possibility of buying guitars with Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) from the US - e.g. Fender Strats from the early 60ies - on the Strat-Talk Forum. After talking with two officials from Germany's authorities / customs I got some new information which I want to present with
- [Building a Telecaster Dream Machine - Part 3 - The wiring](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/06/09/building-a-telecaster-dream-machine-part-3-wiring/) - 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
- [Interested in video tutorials or lessons to play the Mark Knopfler guitar style?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/01/05/interested-in-video-tutorials-or-lessons-to-play-the-mark-knopfler-guitar-style/) - I often get emails from people who ask me for help with playing some particular Mark Knopfler stuff, for tutorial videos, or for personal video tutoring via e.g. Skype. In fact I have been thinking about this for some time but am not sure yet in which direction to go (DVDs, online tutoring,...), or how
- [Cleaning a scratchy poti of the older Ernie Ball volume pedal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/12/03/cleaning-a-scratchy-poti-of-the-older-ernie-ball-volume-pedal/) - The Ernie Ball volume pedals often become scratchy after a long time of usage. While you can replace the current poti model with a brand new poti, it is almost impossible to get a replacements for the older poti types. However, the older potis can be opened and cleaned which - not always but often
- [Explaining and demoing the tapped Walk of Life Telecaster Pickups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/11/29/explaining-and-demoing-the-tapped-walk-of-life-telecaster-pickups/) - 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
- [Guitars with Brazilian Rosewood: Info Update](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/11/04/guitars-with-brazilian-rosewood-info-update/) - I already reported in two previous blog posts (here and here) about the difficult situation we are facing when buying or selling guitars with parts of Brazilian rosewood (e.g. the fingerboard on vintage Fender or Gibson guitars). Yesterday I was on Germany's biggest vintage guitar show in Oldenburg. Last year the show was cancelled due
- [New Theory on the Sultans of Swing Sound: DiMarzio FS-1 Pickup in the Middle Position](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/30/new-theory-on-the-sultans-of-swing-sound-dimarzio-fs-1-pickup-in-the-middle-position/) - Mark Knopfler's guitar sound on the first two Dire Straits albums is firmly associated to the 1 & 2 position (bridge & middle) of the 5-way switch. This position causes a special, nasal "out of phase" sound. The term out of phase is technically incorrect as both pickups are still in phase but - similar
- [Restoring a Schecter Dream Machine Electronics](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/10/04/restoring-a-schecter-dream-machine-electronics/) - 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
- [Japanese Vintage guitars – the situation in the late 70ies /early 80ies](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/29/japanese-vintage-guitars-the-situation-in-the-late-70ies-early-80ies/) - When I started playing the guitar in 1979 (after hearing a certain Mark Knopfler playing Sultans of Swing) I wanted a Strat of course. At that time Fender made exactly one model - the "Stratocaster", no Deluxe, Standard, Hot Rod, Super, Extra, and the like - only and simply the "Stratocaster". On the other hand
- [Tremolo Setup of the Sultans Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/02/tremolo-setup-of-the-sultans-strat/) - When browsing Adrian Boot's Dire Straits photos, I found one from early 1980 that allowed a very rare view on Mark's 1961 "Sultans" Stratocaster: a view on the back of the guitar. As the tremolo cover plate is missing on this guitar - back then and still today - we can see the inside of
- [Mark Knopfler playing with a pick in 1979](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/08/29/mark-knopfler-playing-with-a-pick-in-1979/) - While Mark Knopfler is strongly associated with playing fingerstyle, we know he always used a pick occasionally as well. Before he started Dire Straits, he did a lot of fingerpicking- e.g. on his National resonator guitar - but also used a pick much more than he did later. With his band before Dire Straits -
- [Dire Straits pictures by Adrian Boot](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/08/28/dire-straits-pictures-by-adrian-boot/) - Adrian Boot is one of Britain’s best-known music photographers. You might know his name from pictures in magazines (e.g. in NME or Melody Maker) or books - e.g. from the Dire Straits book by Michael Oldfield which features a lot of his pictures. While searching the web for unknown Dire Straits pictures, I recently found
- [Amp Settings of the Tone King Imperial on Privateering Tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/07/13/amp-settings-of-the-toneking-imperial-on-privateering-tour/) - Aa I included the Tone King Imperial amp settings of the last tour (Get Lucky, 2010) in this blog post, I did not want to miss the opportunity to take a photo of the amp on this tour (I was in Cologne on July 3). Of course the Reinhardt amps are used for most songs,
- [Which songs of the Get Lucky tour are played with the Tone King Imperial? And what was the amp setting?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/07/15/which-songs-of-the-get-lucky-tour-are-played-with-the-tone-king-imperial-and-what-was-the-amp-setting/) - Visitors of the recent Get Lucky tour have seen the Tone King Imperial on stage again, located between two red Marshall cabs just like on the previous tours. I had ideal seats for the two concerts I have been to (Oberhausen and Amsterdam) and tried to make out for which songs Tone King was used,
- [Building a Telecaster Dream Machine - Part 2](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/04/23/building-a-telecaster-dream-machine-part-2/) - 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
- [No Vintage Guitars with Brazilian Rosewood at the Frankfurt Music Fair](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/04/23/no-vintage-guitars-with-brazilian-rosewood-at-the-frankfurt-music-fair/) - I reported about the increasing problems concerning guitars with Brazilian rosewood (used e.g. for fingerboards on vintage Fender or Gibson guitars) last year (see here). As a consequence of this, Germany's biggest vintage guitar show last November was cancelled, as the CITES restriction does not allow to display a guitar with parts of Brazilian rosewood
- [Walk of Life Pickups available now - Reviving the legendary Schecter F520T / F521T Tele Pickups ](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/04/15/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,
- [Mark Knopfler's Martin Acoustic Guitars - Signature, Vintage, different models](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/03/14/mark-knopflers-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
- [Building a Telecaster Dream Machine](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/03/13/building-a-telecaster-dream-machine/) - 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
- [Limited Alchemy Edition of the white Schecter pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/03/15/limited-alchemy-edition-of-the-white-schecter-pickguard/) - The family of the loaded Schecter-style pickguard - currently available in white aluminium and brass with tapped F500T-style pick-ups - got a new member: A pickguard with a pick-up configuration just like in Mark Knopfler's red Schecter Strat in the early 80ies - thus the name Alchemy Edition. For now it is a really limited
- [The Foghorn Chord in Down to the Waterline](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/01/08/the-foghorn-chord-in-down-to-the-waterline/) - I recently realized that I used to play the foghorn chord wrong (the very first notes in the intro of Down to the Waterline). I played those foghorn sound on only the two lowest strings - this way I explained it in a Youtube tutorial on Down to the Waterline. In fact it is played
- [Step 2: The Dream Machine Tremolo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/12/22/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
- [The hang tag shadow on vintage Les Pauls](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/12/11/the-hang-tag-shadowe-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
- [New Products Coming](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/12/05/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
- [Down to the Waterline on 1961 Fender Stratocaster Sonic Blue](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/11/07/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
- [Brazilan rosewood and German authorities](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/10/30/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
- [Clips from Guitar Stories](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/10/13/clips-from-guitar-stories/) - ******************* Update: Soon after Sky Arts aired Guitar Stories, the full video appeared on youtube: ******************* As most fans will already know, Sky Arts 1 will broadcast Guitar Stories on October 16 at 10pm (some more info on Guitar Stories' facebook page). Presented by John Illsley, Mark talks about his most important guitars. In
- [Crazy - J.J. Cale's Harmony guitar - pictures and video of the inside](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/09/11/crazy-j-j-cales-harmony-guitar-pictures-and-video-of-the-inside/) - These pictures are nothing new neither secret, I saw them for the first time so many years ago in a J.J. Cale songbook. I stumbled upon them again today, and just thought that these are simply worth to have a look at (and I know that J.J. Cale ranks high among us Mark Knopfler fans).
- [Fingerpicking on 1936 National Style-O](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/09/11/fingerpicking-on-1936-national-style-o/) - This is just some fingerpicking on that old National Style-O. The guitar is tuned to open g.
- [Mark Knopfler surprise performance at the Range Rover event](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/09/08/mark-knopfler-surprise-performance-at-the-range-rover-event/) - In the evening of September 6/7, Mark Knopfler and his band played a surprise performance at the Range Rover event at the Royal Ballet School in Richmond Park, where Land Rover revealed the All-New Range Rover, the fourth generation of the world’s most capable and luxurious SUV. The audience consisted of leaders from business, film,
- [The opening lick of the last solo in Bluebird](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/09/07/the-opening-lick-of-the-last-solo-in-bluebird/) - In the following you will find a tab of a lick in the song Bluebird from Mark Knopfler's last album Privateering. It is the lick the last solo starts with (2:40 - 2:43). I like this lick because I thought it sounds unusual and thus interesting when I first heard it. While I often immediately
- [My Privateering review](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/09/04/my-privateering-review/) - This week Privateering was released, Mark's new double-CD album. As there will be a lot of reviews anyway, I will focus on some particular aspects like guitars, sounds, songwriting techniques etc in my review. Likewise, I will not discuss anything related to lyrics. I will tell you what I love but also what I personally
- [Videos from a trip to Mark Knopfler's sunburst Schecter Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/08/03/videos-from-a-trip-to-mark-knopflers-sunburst-schecter-strat/) - Here are some videos with the Mark Knopfler Schecter Dream Machine Strat SN 8001, the guitar I had the chance to play a few weeks ago (see A trip to Mark Knopfler's sunburst Schecter Strat ). The amp was a Tone King, not the Imperial but a Metropolitan combo, no effects except reverb from the amp.
- [Keys for all Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits songs](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/07/31/keys-for-all-mark-knopfler-and-dire-straits-songs/) - I found this in the AMIT forum and thought it might be very useful info for us guitar players. The author - nickname foma - allowed copying it, so here it is, a list of all keys with the songs in that key. It even included the songs of Privateering, Mark's coming album (to be
- [More early Dire Straits pictures: unknown 1978 gig](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/22/more-early-dire-straits-pictures-unknown-1978-gig/) - The late 70ies were long before the invention of the digital camera. There would be so many more pictures of all kind of events if everyone could take pictures as easily as today. As this was not the case, the majority of all pictures of rock bands from that time were taken by professional photographers
- [Early Dire Straits picture](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/03/15/early-dire-straits-picture/) - I recently found this picture showing Dire Straits on one of their probably earliest gigs - I guess 1977 or early 1978 at the latest. Not the earliest picture, but I think a nice one which I at least haven't seen before. It is only b/w, but Mark's '61 Stratocaster should still have the bare-wood
- [Dire Straits at the Hope & Anchor pub 1977 - new picture](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/05/16/dire-straits-at-the-hope-anchor-pub-1977-new-picture/) - I recently got an old Dutch magazine called JOEPIE from February 1979 with a two-page story about Dire Straits. It features two pictures that show the band on stage at the Hope & Anchor pub. Dire Straits played there several times in late 1977: on September 10 (in the evening after they played the Clapham
- [New picture of the Sultans Strat before being refinished to red](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/12/new-picture-of-the-sultans-strat-before-being-refinished-to-red/) - Today I found a picture showing Dire Straits live in 1977, before they recorded their first album. At this time the famous red 'Sultans' Strat was not refinished to red yet but still had the bare wood finish in which Mark got it (probably earlier that year). There are a few pictures around that show
- [Jim Kelley amps - the FACS model used on the Brothers in Arms tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/12/jim-kelley-amps-the-facs-model-used-on-the-brothers-in-arms-tour/) - Jim Kelley was a small manufacturer of boutique amps who started his business in the late 70ies. He started with only one amp model, a single channel amp with 6 tubes and just 3 knobs. The later dual channel was still based on this model. Compared to other boutique amp that were favourits at that
- [Guitar and amp used for the solos on One World](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/08/guitar-and-amp-used-for-the-solos-on-one-world/) - I recently got a reliebable information about the guitar and the amp that Mark used for the solos in the song One World of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms album (studio version, 1985). I put up a quiz with five possible question for you to find out the answer, hoping this way you have some
- [Albert Lee - a recent live version of Setting me up](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/06/04/albert-lee-a-recent-live-version-of-setting-me-up/) - I think I wrote a blog post about Albert Lee's cover of Setting me up from the first Dire Straits album before (see here). Today I surfed into this video clip on youtube which I really like a lot. It is a bit on the slow side, much slower than e.g. Albert's live version that
- [Dire Straits book by Michael Oldfield - the French Edition](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/05/26/dire-straits-book-by-michael-oldfield-the-french-edition/) - Some days ago I got the French version of the Dire Straits book by Michael Oldfield. Unlike the English version - which price meanwhile skyrocketed on the used-book market as it seems - I got this one for a couple of Euros on ebay. Nevertheless, I guess it is a clear indicator that you are
- [Inside the Schecter F500T pick-up - What is a tapped pick-up?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/01/10/inside-the-schecter-f500t-pick-up-what-is-a-tapped-pick-up/) - The Schecter-F400 loaded pickguards normally came with Schecter's F500T pick-ups. The 'T' stands for tapped. So, what is meant with this, what is a tapped pick-up? A normal Strat pick-up consists of six individual magnet pole pieces wrapped by a coil of thin wire. The original Fender design had about 8,000 turns (varying to some
- [Pickguard wiring of vintage Schecter Strat](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/20/pickguard-wiring-of-vintage-schecter-strat/) - Here is an original drawing from Schecter Guitar Research showing the wiring layout of a vintage Schecter Stratocaster pickguard with those F500T pick-ups. I found it in an old German book about guitar electronics from the 80ies, and it seems to be pretty rare so I want to share it with you. It is the
- [Mark Knopfler’s Rickenbacker of Portobello Belle live in 1981](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/21/mark-knopflers-rickenbacker-of-portobello-belle-live-in-1981/) - On the Making movies tour in 1981, Mark Knopfler played a Rickenbacker guitar on Portobello Belle. To my knowledge only one single picture exists with this guitar which is the one below. Since I have this picture at a rather high resolution, I also put in an enlarged version with just that guitar. I would
- [Dire Straits - Portobello Belle - The Point, Dublin, 1991](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/10/07/dire-straits-portobello-belle-the-point-dublin-1991/) - Again I found something nice on youtube I personally have never heard before: Portobello Belle from the On Every Street tour in 1991, performed at The Point in Dublin.. I have had one "official" bootleg (= silver pressed CD) called Strait to the Point from a Dublin gig of that tour (August 26 - they
- [Mark Knopfler - Portobelle Belle - the only existing live video (Belfast 1996)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/05/15/mark-knopfler-only-live-video-of-portobelle-belle/) - Although Portobelle Belle from Dire Straits' second album Communiqué was played on so many tours, it seemed that there are no live videos of this song at all. It was played e.g. on each gig of the Love over Gold tour in 1982/3 which ended in the Alchemy live video concert but just this song
- [Loaded pickguards now available in black](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/04/24/loaded-pickguards-now-available-in-black/) - The loaded Strat pickguards in the vintage Schecter style have been available in brass and white aluminium for a while now, but from now on they are also available in black aluminium. You can chose between two versions: with the VFS-1 or the F500T-style pickups. As both are tapped pickups (two different sounds for each
- [mk-guitar.com on Facebook](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/24/mk-guitar-com-on-facebook/) - This site is on Facebook now: check it out here. From now on you can follow interesting news there as well, or simply let the world know that you like this site :) I admit I am still rather new in the world of Facebook, and probably do not fully understand all possibilities and options
- [Mark Knopfler’s Music Man HD 130 212 guitar amp](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/03/07/mark-knopflers-music-man-hd-130-212-guitar-amp/) - Mark Knopfler started to play Music Man amps around September 1978. These amps were used for all live gigs from then on until the end of the Making Movies On Location tour in 1981. The Music Man amp was used on some studio recordings from this era, probably also on Making Movies, but it was
- [Tone King Imperial: Played on which songs?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/26/tone-king-imperial-played-on-which-songs/) - According to Guy Fletcher, the songs on which Mark plays the Tone King Imperial are: True love will never fade Shangri la Prairie wedding Dark is the night/Donegan's Gone Postcards from Paraguay Let It All Go I guess this is meant to be true rather for the latest tours than for the studio albums (click
- [What are Mark Knopfler's vintage guitars worth?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/23/what-are-mark-knopfler-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
- [The Hotcake overdrive pedal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/13/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
- [Mark Knopfler Gear Database: first pages online plus possibility to upload your own pictures](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/11/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
- [They all look the same - How to tell Mark Knopfler's different signature Strats apart](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/08/they-all-look-the-same-how-to-tell-mark-knopflers-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
- [New Mark Knopfler Gear Database started](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/03/04/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
- [The Häussel 1959 pickups for the Mark Knopfler Les Paul sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/02/18/the-haussel-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
- [Sultans of Swing - backing track for long live version available](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/02/15/sultans-of-swing-backing-track-for-long-live-version-available/) - I added a backing track for the long live version of Sultans of Swing to our online shop. Check it out and listen to sound samples here. It is 12:05 min long and includes the piano solo but is without saxophone. I hope to make a youtube cover over this backing track within the near
- [National Style-O 1932 and 1936 - Double Power](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/02/07/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
- [Mark Knopfler Signature Strat with lipstick pickups played on Forever Young (duet with Bob Dylan)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/01/24/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
- [Dire Straits Water of Love guitar tutorial](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2012/01/27/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
- [Mark Knopfler Signature Strats vs. 1964 Stratocaster](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/12/11/mark-knopfler-signature-strats-vs-1964-stratocaster/) - In the videos below we were comparing two Mark Knopfler Signature Strats to a 1964 Fender Stratocaster, also in red (fiesta). Talking about red, note that one of the signature Strats is in the 'wrong' colour the very first ones came with, while the other one is the normal hot rod red. It is always
- [Speaker shoot-out for the Mark Knopfler sound: Electro Voice EV 12L, Celestion Vintage 30 & G12M "Greenbacks" in 4 x 12 cabinets](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/11/26/speaker-shoot-out-for-the-mark-knopfler-sound-electro-voice-ev-12l-celestion-vintage-30-g12m-greenbacks-in-4-x-12-cabinets/) - I recently had three different 4 x 12" cabinets here to play around with. They all were different, and they all had different speakers. In the video below I am playing various licks and chords over the three cabinets, it might be helpful to find out for yourself what you like most. But first, the
- [The iSound-ST - New sounds for the Stratocaster - Does it help to get the Mark Knopfler sound?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/11/22/the-isound-st-new-sounds-for-the-stratocaster-does-it-help-to-get-the-mark-knopfler-sound/) - With this blog post I want to introduce my latest product - the iSound-ST. The what you might ask? The iSound-ST is a rotary switch that is thought to replace one of the controls of your Strat, normally one of the tone controls (I recommend to make the other tone control a master tone control).
- [First demo of the VFS-1 pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/11/21/first-demo-of-the-vfs-1-pickguard/) - After the last video in which I already compared the VFS-1 pickup to a 1955 Fender Strat pickup and to the DiMarzio FS-1, here is a first demo of the complete Schecter-style pickguard with the VFS-1 pickups. I was jamming in the Mark Knopfler style over a self-produced 2 chords backing groove on my metallic
- [The VFS-1 - New pick-up for our Schecter-style pickguards](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/10/24/the-vfs-1-new-pick-up-for-our-schecter-style-pickguards/) - Our loaded metal pickguards are now available with a new pick-up model: the VFS-1. V stands for vintage, F for fat, (and S for Strat). Unlike our Schecter-style pick-up (which is very close to a Schecter F500T), the new pick-up has the "normal" sized magnet pole pieces, like a vintage Strat pick-up, and can be
- [How close is the VFS-1 Pickup to the Original Fender Vintage and the DiMarzio FS-1?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/11/17/how-close-is-the-vfs-1-pickup-to-the-original-fender-vintage-and-the-dimarzio-fs-1/) - I recently introduced the new VFS-1 pickup as an alternative to the F500T-style (Schecter-style) pickups in our loaded pickguards, and I already started to work on some video demos of the complete VFS-1 pickup assembly , the first of these should come within the next days. What I can present today is a side-by-side comparison
- [Audio sample from Hamburg 78 (speed corrected)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/29/audio-sample-from-hamburg-78-speed-corrected/) - Today I messed around with an audio player plug-in for Wordpress (the software used to create this blog). In some other post I wrote something about the Hamburg concert (Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 28, 1978) and mentioned that I slowed it down to the original speed (the concert around in some fan hubs or on
- [What is this? – Unidentified guitar effect on early Dire Straits stage](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/23/what-is-this-unidentified-guitar-effect-on-early-dire-straits-stage/) - This is going to be short article, rather a post meant to build up speculations: The following two pictures (from different shows, both live in early 1979) show something that seem to be an effect box that is still undidentified. I have almost finished an article about one possible explaination that is coming soon, but
- [Amps and Gear on the Dire Straits Bootleg Leeds 1978](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/31/amps-and-gear-on-the-dire-straits-bootleg-leeds-1978/) - The bootleg Dire Straits - Leeds - January 30 (31?), 1978 is one of the earliest Dire Straits live recordings (actually the only earlier live recording is only one song - Eastbound Train from the Hope & Anchor pub, London, December 1977). This bootleg concert was recorded about one week before the recoding sessions for
- [Gear on one of the first Dire Straits gigs on the Clapham Common bandstand](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/22/gear-on-one-of-the-first-dire-straits-gigs-on-the-clapham-common-bandstand/) - As promised in the comments on one of the last articles, I tried to find all pictures of one of Dire Straits' first gigs - the one at the summer party for Charlie Gilett's Honky Tonk Radio Show, on the Clapham Common bandstand, September 10, 1977. Unfortunately there are only 4 pictures it seems, not
- [Dire Straits 1979 concert photos from Liverpool and Birmingham by Alan Perry](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/09/28/dire-straits-1979-concert-photos-from-liverpool-and-birmingham-by-alan-perry/) - Those early years of Dire Straits are still a very special period for me. 1979 was the time when I first heard the band and became a fan of Knopfler's guitar style and sound. For this reason I still have a deep interest in any live pictures from this time but more and more I
- [Video snippet of Dire Straits - In the Gallery - Pinkpop Festival 1979](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/08/29/some-video-snippets-of-dire-straits-in-the-gallery-pinkpop-festival-1979/) - I was surprised to find this video today which starts with an excerpt of Dire Straits - In the Gallery - live from the Pinkpop festival, Gelen/Holland, June 4, 1979. The whole gig was broadcasted on TV in 1979 but it seems those video tapes then disappeared - at least I don't know of any
- [Video Clip of Dire Straits - Lady Writer - Pinkpop Festival 1979](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/09/24/video-clip-of-dire-straits-lady-writer-pinkpop-festival-1979/) - That's the nice thing about internet: I just released the other blog post about a little snippet of In the Gallery which I found on Youtube the other day where I stated that no other video clips (except of a snippet of Lady Writer in bad quality) exist from the Pinkpop Festival in 1979, when
- [The wrong colour of the first Mark Knopfler Signature Strats](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/09/27/the-wrong-colour-of-the-first-mark-knopfler-signature-strats/) - The Mark Knopfler Signature Stratocaster was introduced by Fender in 2003. Officially it was available in one colour only - Hot Rod Red. However, the first production run was in a different colour. I remember when I first saw one in a shop in 2003: it did not look like on Fender's product pictures, or
- [Suhr Custom MK-1 and Pensa Custom MK-1](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/07/26/suhr-mk-1-and-pensa-mk-1/) - This time I am checking two great guitars, a Suhr MK-1 and a Pensa MK-1. The Suhr is the one that you could already see in this video. Both belong to the same person, a collector from Germany. Some background on the first MK1 The Pensa-Suhr MK1 was built in 1988 by luthier John Suhr
- [Comparing different guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/07/17/comparing-different-guitars/) - For this week I had some nice borrowed guitars around which made me record a short youtube video comparing them with some of mine, all played over the same amp with the same setting - only the volume knob was adjusted for each. This was rather a spontaneous session recorded with the camcorder mic. I
- [The Peavey Deuce VT - David Knopfler's amp with Dire Straits](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/06/28/the-peavey-deuce-vt-david-knopflers-amp-with-dire-straits/) - This blog post is not about a Mark Knopfler amp but still has a clear connection to Dire Straits: the Peavey Deuce VT was the amp that David Knopfler played on stage with the band between 1978 and 1979, and thus contributed to the band's unique sound. The Peavey Deuce VT was built from
- [Dire Straits - Where do you think you're going - spontaneous cover on acoustic guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/06/22/dire-straits-where-do-you-think-youre-going-spontaneous-cover-on-acoustic-guitar/) - Today I was jamming a bit on the acoustic guitar and still had the camcorder ready from the last video yesterday, so I simply let it run a bit and recorded this sponatneous version of Dire Straits' "Where do you think you're going". If you wonder about the sound or even about the string bending
- [Demoing pickup combinations of the Schecter style pickguards](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/06/22/demoing-pickup-combinations-of-the-schecter-style-pickguards/) - Here is a youtube video that demonstrates some of the 36 possible pick-up combinations of our loaded Schecter-style pickguards. Each pick-up can be switched to the full or tapped coil which means a fat sound or a vintage-like sound. This way you will not only get new combinations that are not possible with the standard
- [Red Dire Straits Fender Stratocaster clone by XY* guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/11/11/red-dire-straits-fender-stratocaster-clone-by-bravewood-guitars/) - *Note: As there was an issue with this guitar - the neck warp was too big to play properly with 08 strings - the guitar was returned. For this reason, I removed all names - of the builder and the client. XY* - a reader of this blog and singer / guitar player in the
- [Click track on the 2010 Mark Knopfler tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/06/08/click-track-on-the-2010-mark-knopfler-tour/) - We already knew from Guy Fletcher's forum that on stage the band plays some songs to a click track - a metronome only the musicians (or at least drummer Danny Cummings) could hear on their inear monitors - but we could only speculate which songs these were. A click track means a steady beat at
- [Mark Knopfler's brown Fender Vibrolux vs Fender Vibroverb](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/05/31/mark-knopfler-brown-fender-vibrolux-vs-fender-vibroverb/) - This post is about two of Mark Knopfler's Fender vintage amps, the brown Fender Vibrolux - the Sultans of Swing amp that was covered in this blog article - and the similar-sized and similar-looking brown Fender Vibroverb. The Fender Vibrolux (model 6G11a) was one of Knopfler's earliest guitar amps. Probably it belonged to Dire Straits'
- [Mark Knopfler's Guitar Rack of the 2008 Tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/05/10/mark-knopflers-guitar-rack-of-the-2008-tour/) - With this blog post I will try to compile some info on Mark Knopfler's effect rack for his latest tours - based mainly on pictures of his 2008 tour. Probably the same rack was also used on his latest 2010 tour. Here we have a picture of the full rack: The Devices Tuner - On
- [Brett Whiteley - Alchemy - The picture on the Alchemy cover](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/04/20/brett-whiteley-alchemy-the-picture-on-the-alchemy-cover/) - This blog post is not about guitar, not even about music, instead it is about a piece of art - Alchemy by Brett Whiteley, the painting that gave its name to Dire Straits' first live album in 1984, and appeared on the cover. Brett Whiteley (1939 - 1992) was an Australian artist who is represented
- [Mark Knopfler's effect rack of the Making Movies tour in 1980/81](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/04/05/mark-knopflers-effect-rack-on-the-making-movies-tour-in-1980-81/) - One of the commentators to my previous blog post (on the Rock Pop TV gig Dire Straits did on December 20, 1980) asked for Mark's effect rack. He triggered this blog post in which I would like to put together all information I have about it. The Making Movies ( On Location) tour was the
- [MK-Guitar.com presents: Loaded Schecter F400-style pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/12/14/mk-guitar-com-presents-loaded-schecter-f400-style-pickguard/) - I am proud to announce a brand new product which will be available exclusively on this site in the very near future. For a long time those vintage Schecter pickguards, loaded with the sought-after F500T tapped Schecter pick-ups, have been the ultimate tool to convert your guitar into something similar to the legendary Schecter Dream
- [Chord changes in News on live version of the Making Movies tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/02/27/chord-changes-in-news-on-live-version-of-the-making-movies-tour/) - Have you ever noticed that some chords of News were changed in the live version that Dire Straits used to play on the On Location tour (Making Moviers tour) in 1980/81? The original chord sequence of News - as recorded on the Communiqué album - was: Em - Bm - C - Bm - Am
- [Interesting lick in Telegraph Road from a 1992 live version](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/02/24/interesting-lick-in-telegraph-road-from-a-1992-live-version/) - In today's blog post I want to feature a lick again, one I think that stroke me because of the interesting and logical idea behind it. This idea is: what will it sound like if you steadily repeat the same five sixteenth notes? In detail: On a recording of Telegraph Road from Nimes, France, September
- [Why do certain pickups like Stratocaster pick-ups from the 50ies or the Schecter F500T die so often?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/02/22/why-do-certain-pickups-like-stratocaster-pick-ups-from-the-50ies-or-the-schecter-f500t-die-so-often/) - A guitar pickup does not contain any moving parts, and for this reason it is generally free of mechanical wear and might work for many decades (maybe even for centuries?). Nevertheless, certain pickup models seem to be prone to die earlier than others. One example are Fender pickups from the 50ies or early 60ies. For
- [White Aluminium Schecter-style pickguards now available](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/01/25/white-aluminium-schecter-style-pickguards-now-available/) - After the brass pickguards, the white ones are also available now. Just like on Mark Knopfler's red Schecter Strat, they are made of white enamel aluminium, they feature three mini toggle switches, one volume poti and one tone poti with chrome or gold knobs (e.g. Mark Knopfler's blue Schecter - played on stage by Hal
- [Schecter-style loaded pickguard now shipping](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/12/30/schecter-style-loaded-pickguard-now-shipping/) - Just a short note in case you missed the updated information in the last blog post (click or simply scroll down): the brass Schecter-style pickguard is now available, the price is 419,- €. (new pictures e.g. from the inside also added) I wish all readers a great new year 2011 !!!!
- [The Vox Vintage Coil Cord - and why I love spiral guitar cables](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/11/09/the-vox-vintage-coil-cord-and-why-i-love-spiral-guitar-cables/) - When I started playing the guitar in 1979, spiral guitar cables were common. Many players favoured these spiral - or coil(ed) - cables because it is very handy not to have meters of cables lying on the floor between your feet and your effects. The spiral cable shortens automatically to a few feet, while it
- [The Schecter Story: Schecter Guitar Research - Dream Machines - The Van Nuys Era](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/10/22/the-schecter-story-schecter-guitar-research-dream-machines-the-van-nuys-era/) - In the 80ies, Mark Knopfler was probably the most famous user of Schecter guitars. He bought several Schecters in 1980 at Rudy's Music Stop in New York, mainly because he was looking for a guitar that was easier to play and better suited for the high demands on the road than the vintage Fenders he
- [Fender discontinued the 150 super light strings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/10/21/fender-discontinued-the-150-super-light-strings/) - After almost 40 years, Fender recently dropped the 15o SL strings from their product range. For me bad news because the 150 SL (pure nickel, 008, 011, 014, 022, 030, 038) are the strings of choice on most of my Stratocasters. 08-strings had their popularity peak surely some decades ago. They were favoured especially among
- [Mark Knopfler’s Morley Volume Pedal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/22/mark-knopflers-morley-volume-pedal/) - After the other article about Knopfler's Ernie Ball volume pedal, this time I want to feature the volume pedal he played before, which means during the Dire Straits days until the end of the Making Movies tour in 1981. The pedal I am talking about is the silver Morley Volume Pedal. Morley made a whole
- [Ernie Ball volume pedal modification to make the taper like it was with the old Allen Bradley poti](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/09/07/ernie-ball-volume-pedal-modification-to-make-the-taper-sweep-like-with-the-old-allen-bradley-poti/) - Regular readers of this blog might know my first article about the different behaviour of Mark Knopfler's Ernie Ball volume pedal compared to recent Ernie Ball models. In short: In the 80ies a different poti was used that caused a completely different sweep curve than later ones (see diagram below). Knopfler's pedal changes volume drastically
- [Mark Knopfler's Ernie Ball Volume Pedal - and how I use mine](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/10/knopflers-ernie-ball-volume-pedal-and-how-i-use-mine/) - Mark Knopfler has used a volume pedal almost since the very first beginning of his career. He does not only use it to adjust the overall level, but also for his characteristic volume swells that make a note fade in just like a violin. In short, he hits the note with the pedal all the
- [Mark Knopfler's Grosh Electrajet](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/08/31/mark-knopflers-grosh-electrajet/) - Visitors of Mark Knopfler's latest Get Lucky tour might have wondered about one of Knopfler's new guitars which he used on stage for the last song each night - Piper to the End. This song features (live and studio) the Electrajet built by Luthier Don Grosh. Don Grosh started his company Grosh Guitars in 1993,
- [Hello world](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/10/hello-world/) - So, here is my first post in this new blog. The idea behind this blog is to write about some things I am fascinated in, namely electric guitar and playing it in the style of the unique Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame. I created the Dire Straits Guitar Page, one of the earliest and
- [Early Dire Straits: Which of the two red Fenders was used in which concert?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/12/early-dire-straits-when-was-which-of-the-two-red-fenders-used/) - Before Knopfler changed to the Schecter Strat in 1980, he played two red Fender Strats with Dire Straits, one with a rosewood finger board (SN 68354) , one with maple (SN 80470). Rosewood Strat (68354) Maple neck Strat (80470) with white pickguard Maple neck Strat (80470) with the greenish pickguard of the rosewood Strat Have
- [What tuning is Setting me up by Dire Straits, and what guitar?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/16/what-tuning-is-setting-me-up-by-dire-straits-and-what-guitar/) - The guitar playing on Setting me up from Dire Straits' first album is a true masterpiece. The recording features three guitar tracks: the opening riff, the lead guitar (both played by Mark), and a strummed ryhthm guitar by Mark's brother David. On Youtube you can find countless attempts by different players to play this riff.
- [Secrets of Vintage Guitars: Brazilian Rosewood](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/30/secrets-of-vintage-guitars-brazilian-rosewood/) - Fans of vintage guitars normally claim that vintage guitars sound better than new ones. Why? Some say because the wood is old and dry, or it resonates better with the time a guitar is played. Others say that some parts were in detail different than they are today. Some of this is vodoo, but there
- [High-G Tuning](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/03/high-g-tuning/) - A rather strange tuning that seems to be part of any Mark Knopfler concert these days is the high-G tuning. Mark Knopfler owns a beautiful sunburst Telecaster Custom - probably a '67 that was originally played by his brother David with Dire Straits, more on this guitar in a future post. These days (not in
- [Anything better than a red Schecter Strat? – Yes, two of them.](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/07/anything-better-than-a-red-schecter-strat-yes-two-of-them/) - Today something about one of Mark Knopfler most famous guitars ... In 1980 Mark Knopfler started to play a red Schecter Strat on stage instead of the red Fenders he played before. Everyone knows this guitar - it was the guitar on the Alchemy live CD/video, on Live Aid, and on countless other TV concerts
- [Poll on what you would like to see here](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/02/poll-on-what-you-would-like-to-see-here/) - I set up a poll about your wishes for future articles, it can be found under pages (so that it will be up for some time) or directly here (up to 4 possible answers). If you have further suggestions, please use the comment function on that page (click here) instead of the one under this
- [Mark Knopfler’s stolen sunburst Schecter Strat of Tunnel of Love](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/18/mark-knopflers-stolen-sunburst-schecter-strat-of-tunnel-of-love/) - In 1980 Mark Knopfler bought some Schecter guitars (probably 4 Strats and a Telecaster) at Rudy's Music Stop in New York. These were two red Strats (see my article about these here), one blue Strat, a black Telecaster, and a wonderful sunburst Strat. The last was the guitar that was played on the song Tunnel
- [Mark Knopfler on Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/05/mark-knopfler-on-bob-dylan-slow-train-coming/) - In May 1979 Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits drummer Pick Withers were invited to play on Bob Dylan's new album, Slow Train Coming. This was not the first session Mark Knopfler was asked to play on (he already played on the Steely Dan song Time out of Mind and with Mavis Staple before), but it
- [Dream Guitar album on Strat-talk.com – real or fake?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/13/dream-guitar-album-on-strat-talkcom-real-or-fake/) - Today I surfed into the Strat-Talk.com forum where I found a photo album with 12 famous dream guitars. Among these were some Strats and Teles of David Gilmour, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, and three guitars of Mark Knopfler (the red Schecter Strat and Tele, and the red Fender), all in the same high resolution. The
- [Mark Knopfler’s JTM 45 Marshall amp of Money for Nothing and Brothers in Arms](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/19/mark-knopflers-jtm-45-marshall-amp-of-money-for-nothing-and-brothers-in-arms/) - In Guy Fletcher's last recording diary he had a photo of Mark Knopfler's old Marshall amp with the matching cabinet. This seems to be the same amp that was used on the original recording of both Money for Nothing and Brothers in Arms. Marshall's first amps were basically copies of the tweed Fender Bassman. They
- [Mark Knopfler’s Amp and Effect Settings on the On Every Street tour](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/21/mark-knopfler-amp-and-effect-settings-on-the-on-every-street-tour/) - A lot of people wonder how to adjust all the controls on the guitar amp or on effect devices to recreate the sound of song xy. Such questions are common in guitar forums all over the internet. Of course it is almost impossible to say which setting someone needs to recreate an authentic sound with
- [Sunburst and unburst Les Pauls from the late 50ies](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/27/sunburst-and-unburst-les-pauls-from-the-late-50ies/) - Have you ever wondered why Mark Knopfler's Gibson Les Pauls (he has a '58, a '59, and some replicas of late 50ies models) differ so much in their colour? And what is the colour called, simply sunburst, or is it cherry sunburst, or tobacco sunburst? Have you ever heard the term 'unburst'? The answer is
- [Gear and settings on my last youtube videos](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/08/gear-and-settings-on-my-last-youtube-videos/) - A few people asked for the gear I used on the last set of youtube videos that I put online last week, namely on the video clips of the following articles: The one-man band - Playing both rhythm and lead guitar together Dire Straits Eastbound Train - Rhythm riff, licks and solo explained Mark Knopfler
- [Red – redder – the reddest: fiesta, dakota, candy apple, hot rod, and more Fender colours](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/01/06/red-redder-the-reddest-fiesta-dakota-candy-apple-hot-rod-and-more-fender-colours/) - A red Stratocaster has always been one of THE rock'n'roll logos - something that started with Hank Marvin, guitarist of the Shadows, who had the first red Strat in England. He started a desire for exactly this guitar among thousand of English kids in the early 60ies, one of these was a kid named Mark
- [Musitek guitar amp – predecessor of the Dire Straits Music Man 130HD 212](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/05/04/musitek-guitar-amp-predecessor-of-the-dire-straits-music-man-130hd-212-prototype/) - I recently saw this extremely rare amp offered on ebay - a 1974 Musitek combo amp that looks very similar to the "Dire Straits" amp - the Music Man 130 HD 212. In fact Musitek was one of the names under which the very first amps were produced before the company was renamed to Music
- [Music Man Guitar Amps](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/02/15/music-man-guitar-amps/) - The history of the Music Man company began about 1971 when Tom Walker, Forrest White and Leo Fender started a company called Tri-Sonic. Walker and White had worked for Fender before. Leo Fender himself had to sign a 10 years non-compete contract when he sold his company Fender Musical Instruments to the CBS Corporation in
- [Old Geocities Dire Straits Guitar Page down – Please update links and bookmarks](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/11/11/old-geocities-dire-straits-guitar-page-down/) - On October 26 Geocities finally closed. Geocities was one of the first hosts for free websites. They were taken over a few years later by Yahoo who now finally decided to drop Geocities forever. When I built my very first website in 1996, it was Geocities who hosted my original "Dire Straits Guitar Page" at
- [Installing a Highlander iP-1X – The best pick-up for the National resonator guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/09/05/installing-a-highlander-ip-1x-the-best-pick-up-for-the-national-resonator-guitar/) - I have my National for some years now but never found the time, money, and courage to install a pick-up into this sensitive instrument. But a few weeks ago I decided to order what is said to be the best available pick-up for single cone Nationals: the iP-1X pick-up from Highlander - the same model
- [Mark Knopfler’s amp settings on Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (Boom like that promo, Germany 2004)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/09/mark-knopflers-amp-settings-on-fender-hot-rod-deluxe-boom-like-that-promo-germany-2004/) - I just got this picture via email (thank you Wolfgang of the Dire Strats tribute band) which shows the settings on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp that Mark Knopfler used for a promo gig in Germany, 2004. He played live the song Boom like that on a German TV show. Volume 5 ; Drive
- [Rhett Davies and the sound of the first Dire Straits album](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/01/30/rhett-davies-and-the-sound-of-the-first-dire-straits-album/) - In the blog post about the Sultans of Swing lead guitar track that was made available through the Guitar Hero 5 game we had some interesting discussions about some technical aspects of the guitar sound. One was whether the effects we hear (compression, chorus, reverb) were added later in the mix or were recorded right
- [The King of Clean – Mark Knopfler’s Tone King Imperial amp – Hand-built vintage technology and sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/02/15/king-of-clean-mark-knopflers-tone-king-imperial-amp-hand-built-vintage-technology-and-sound/) - Everyone who has seen Mark Knopfler live on one of his recent tours might have notived that cool-looking turquoise combo amp next to Knopfler's Marshall cabinets. Knopfler's second guitarist Richard Bennet also plays one. It is the Tone King Imperial. Tone King amps are built from selected quality parts by Mark Bartel in Baltimore. Mark
- [Features and specs of a ’61 Vintage Stratocaster](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/02/24/features-and-specsof-a-61-vintage-stratocaster/) - Mark Knopfler's "Sultans" Strat (ser.-no. #68354) is from 1961. The second red Fender Strat he played with Dire Straits (ser.no #80470) was from about the same period (apart from the question in how far it was original Fender at all). For this reason I put together a table to give you a survey about the
- [Some new thoughts on the Ernie Ball volume pedal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/06/29/some-new-thoughts-on-the-ernie-ball-volume-pedal-2/) - On the recent Get Lucky tour I became aware of a little technical detail I had never paid attention to before: I was sure that the guitar cable coming from the guitar would first go into the Ernie Ball volume pedal and then back to the area on the right side behind the stage where
- [Mark Knopfler - You can't beat the house - Variations of the standard blues scheme](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/04/16/mark-knopfler-you-cant-beat-the-house-variations-of-the-standard-blues-scheme/) - The song You can't beat the House of Mark Knopfler's latest album Get Lucky is a traditional sounding blues song, reminding of some Chicago blues. However, something in its chord scheme sounds somewhat surprising and fresh, so I had a closer look at the chords and the structure of the song. You can't beat the
- [How to identify an original pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster body](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/01/how-to-identify-an-original-pre-cbs-fender-stratocaster-body/) - I often read threads in forums about how to check if a certain part on a Fender vintage guitar is original or not. Of course there are countless books and websites which show many details that help to do so. However, there is one particular detail which is only rarely mentioned: the 'dowel holes' on
- [Nice: Fender online guitar tuner](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/02/nice-fender-online-guitar-tuner/) - Today I was on the Fender website and accidentally found a nice little tool there: the online guitar tuner. When you click on one of the six tuners of the peghead, the software will play a sample of the corresponding note, played with a clean Fender sound. There are some very useful options: loop on
- [New Forum on this site](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/03/01/new-forum-on-this-site/) - As many of you might already have noticed, I recently added a forum to this site. We have the comment function below each blog post which has been used to discuss everything that is related to the post subject, but many times completely new threads emerged within the comments which became easily off-topic in a
- [Why not become an author for this blog?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/01/29/why-not-become-an-author-for-this-blog/) - After more than 100 articles in this blog I am still not running out of ideas for future posts. I just wish I had more time for blogging and producing video tutorials. I know that many readers of this blog are also experts and wonder if anyone would like to write an article for the
- [Guitar portrait: 1976 Gibson MK-81 acoustic guitar (Mark series)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2010/01/20/guitar-portrait-1976-gibson-mk-81-acoustic-guitar-mark-series/) - With this article, I want to feature my good old acoustic guitar: a Gibson MK-81 from 1976. I got this guitar more than 20 years ago. I was looking for an acoustic guitar and was trying out all the guitars in that shop. After a while the shop owner brought one more from some room
- [Another key element of the Mark Knopfler guitar style: Quarter note triplets - with example tabs](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/11/25/another-key-element-of-the-mark-knopfler-guitar-style-quarter-note-triplets-with-example-tabs/) - Quarter note triplets are notes of a certain duration, or in other words they produce a certain rhythimcal effect. Such a note is shorter than a quarter note but longer than an eighth note. They do not "fit" into the normal grid of half, quarter, eighth or sixteenth notes; they break out of the normal
- [Sultans of Swing: Studio version vocals alone, karaoke track, plus the last seconds - unheard before](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/12/13/sultans-of-swing-studio-version-vocals-alone-karaoke-track-plus-the-last-seconds-unheard-before/) - Found a link in the amarkintime forum today to three audio clips of Sultans of Swing: a) complete b) only vocals (!!), and c) without vocals. Those tracks must be made from the original multitrack recording, and they are even a few seconds longer than what is one the CD. No fade out - instead
- [The Tai Chi of guitar playing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/10/18/the-tai-chi-of-guitar-playing/) - Recently my son started to practice Tai Chi - an internal Chinese martial art that is often practiced for health reasons. Tai Chi is originally a sophisticated martial art in which you learn to control and relax your mind and your body and to win over the hard with softness this way. It is not
- [Chord changes for ending of Romeo And Juliet](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/09/13/chord-changes-for-ending-of-romeo-and-juliet/) - Romeo and Juliet is a song I have been playing on my National for many years, but I never tried to play the wonderful ending of recent live versions where the piano leads through a rather unusual chord sequence. Yesterday I played around with the piano a bit and had a look at this. After
- [Mark Knopfler on facebook and myspace](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/08/26/mark-knopfler-on-facebook-and-myspace/) - In todays post I just want to direct your attention to the official Mark Knopfler facebook and myspace pages: Mark Knopfler on facebook Mark Knopfler on myspace Both have been regularly updated during the last weeks. The facebook pages now feature some preview clips of Mark Knopfler's new album Get Lucky (release scheduled for September
- [How to apply a waterslide decal to a guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/04/30/how-to-apply-a-waterslide-decal-to-a-guitar/) - I recently put one of these waterslide Fender decals on one of my guitars, which is basically an easy job that does not take very long. However, I remembered that I heard of even a luthier who got big problems with it. The mistake he made was that he left the decal too long in
- [Sailing to Philadelphia to mix yourself](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2009/02/17/sailing-to-philadelphia-to-mix-yourself/) - Today I want to feature a little software that was available as a free dowwnload on the official Mark Knopfler site some years ago. It is a flash mixer with individual tracks of the song Sailing to Philadelphia, in other words, a software mixer that does not only allow to listen to the individual instruments
- [Backing tracks player to jam with at JamCenter.com](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/27/backing-tracks-player-to-jam-with-at-jamcentercom/) - I recently surfed into a nice site called JamCenter.com where you find a "jam machine" - an online loop player that plays backing tracks to jam with. Simply choose a key in the left sidebar, scroll down (the loop player appears at the very bottom of the page), select one of the styles (rock, cool,
- [The Circle of Fifths: What is it for? - plus: example analysis of Knopfler songs](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/20/the-circle-of-fifths-what-is-it-for-plus-example-analysis-of-mk-songs/) - What is the Circle of Fifths and what do I need it for? Every guitar player pretty soon realizes that certain chords seem to belong together, they are related in a way, while other chords are only rarely used within the same song. The chords C , F, and G seem to be such related
- [Understanding songs - chords and structure analysis of True love will never fade](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/12/26/understanding-songs-chords-and-structure-analysis-of-true-love-will-never-fade/) - Have a look at the following chords, these are all chords for the song True Love Will never Fade, the opener of Mark Knopfler's latest album Kill to get crimson. Each chord is played for one bar: C F Dm G C F Dm G C F Dm G C F Dm G C C
- [Mark Knopfler licks around the 7/9 chord](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/04/mark-knopfler-licks-around-the-79-chord/) - The last poll about what you would like to read here is still running (so vote if you haven't yet), but it seems to be clear that many readers want to read about licks (or rather want to see something as video I guess). So here a quick reaction (to be honest, I started to
- [Eastbound Train: opening chord analysis](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/14/eastbound-train-opening-chord-analysis/) - The song Eastbound Train is a boogie groove in the key of E. It was the b-side of Dire Straits' first Single Sultans of Swing, and has been played live on most concerts during the first two years of Dire Straits. Below you will find an explanation of the opening chord (listen to sample, live
- [50th Article](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/30/50th-article/) - With this post I am proud to annouce the 50th article of this blog, which went online on August 10, 2008. 50 articles in 104 days means an average of 0.49 article per day, or 3.4 articles every week. In these three months the blog built up a reputation among Mark Knopfler fans and guitar
- [John Illsley's photo stream on flickr](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/28/john-illsleys-photo-stream-on-flickr/) - Today I surfed into some early Dire Straits photos I have never seen before on flickr.com. These belong to - guess who - Dire Straits' bass player John Illsley. He has his own photo channel there. Check out! John Illsley's photo stream Update: I meanwhile also found a comment from John about these pictures on
- [Shubb capo for vintage Strats](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/26/shubb-capo-for-vintage-strats/) - I have been using the great Shubb capo for some years now. I love it because it is not only easy to use, but it also allows you to set the tension on the strings very precisely so that you have hardly any problems with detuning. Of course it is available for curved or flat
- [How to avoid RSI for guitar players - part 2](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/12/how-to-avoid-rsi-for-guitar-players-part-2/) - In the first article on this subject I explained what RSI is and where it results from. This second article should focus on what you can do to overcome it in case you already have problems. Since I am not a medical doctor and do neither work in this field, I might not be competent
- [Mark Knopfler licks using the Memphis scale](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/22/mark-knopfler-licks-using-the-memphis-scale/) - This article is about a "two-strings scale" sometimes called Memphis Scale. Normally these two strings are not adjacent strings, instead you skip one string and play licks e.g. on the D- and B-string (as in the video examples below), or on the G- and high E-string. With the help of these licks you will increase
- [Calling Elvis chord analysis - Major, minor, no-third, power chords](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/13/calling-elvis-chord-analysis-major-minor-no-third-power-chords/) - This time I will start with some very basic stuff: major and minor chords. Every guitar beginner soon learns that there is e.g. an A major chord, and an A minor chord. Obviously they are similar, they just differ in one single note (in case of the first position chords, in the example it is
- [Unusual double-string bend in Sultans of Swing and Once Upon a Time](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/11/tricky-double-string-bend-in-sultans-of-swing-and-once-upon-a-time/) - Remember the guitar lick In Sultans of Swing following "and Harry doesn't mind.." ? In songbooks or tabs you will find something like: (play b-string at fret 8, plus g-string at 7th fret, bend g-string one whole note, notes g and d, the d is bent to e) In fact this is the way Knopfler
- [Mark Knopfler licks on an acoustic - How to practice electric guitar on your acoustic](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/18/mark-knopfler-licks-on-an-acoustic-how-to-practice-electric-guitar-on-your-acoustic/) - (At the end of this article you will find a matching video for all who prefer watching to reading) An acoustic guitar has normally heavier strings than an electric guitar because you want a loud and rich sound. With an electric guitar you don't need that much volume because you can adjust the sound easily
- [Some Mark Knopfler licks using double-string bends](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/10/19/some-mark-knopfler-licks-using-double-string-bends/) - What I mean with double-string bends are licks that are played on two or more strings and one or more of these are bent. Such licks appear in countless Mark Knopfler or Dire Straits songs. The following video clip demonstrates how to use such licks, and their relation to the chords they are based upon.
- [Zen and the art of playing the guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/27/zen-and-the-art-of-playing-the-guitar/) - Zen - a word sometimes heard, but only rarely explained. Those who practice Zen say that "Zen is what cannot be explained" - not really helpful. So what is it, what does it have to do with art, and what with playing the guitar? Basically Zen is a Japanese form of Buddhism. It is not
- [How to avoid RSI, carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist pain etc. when playing guitar extensively (part 1)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/27/how-to-avoid-rsi-carpal-tunnel-syndrome-wrist-pain-etc-when-playing-guitar-extensively-part-1/) - RSI - the nightmare of musicians, even a Mark Knopfler got RSI problems on a tour a few years ago. RSI is a relatively new expression for a relatively new kind of health problem. RSI stands for 'repetetive strain injury', which means "any of a loose group of conditions resulting from overuse of a tool,
- [Mark Knopfler in the studio again](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/24/mark-knopfler-in-the-studio-again/) - According to Guy Fletcher's forum, he and Mark started to prepare the next album recently. Later the band will come in to record the new songs. There is no scheduled release date announced yet. source: Guy Fletcher's forum , various posts from September 23, 2008
- [How to get that Sultans of Swing Sound - Mark Knopfler played 08 strings?](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/14/how-to-get-that-sultans-of-swing-sound-mark-knopfler-played-08-strings/) - It cannot be answered with 100% certainty which string gauge or brand Mark Knopfler played on e.g. the first Dire Straits album or on Communique. There were a few interviews with major guitar magazines, but unfortunately none of these asked for strings. For a long time the earliest information was from the Making Movies tour
- [A plumber's C chord](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/09/02/a-plumbers-c-chord/) - What do you think is the most important chord for the average guitar player? Well, presumably it is a rather simple, basic chord that is played often in all kind of tunes. So probably a 'normal' major chord, something like C or D. Even a beginner quickly learns that there are many ways to play
- [Recommended listening: Amazing Rhythm Aces - "The End is not in Sight"](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/25/recommended-listening-amazing-rhythm-aces-the-end-is-not-in-sight/) - Whenever people are listed who influenced Mark Knopfler to come up with that Dire Straits sound, you more or less will find the same names: J.J. Cale, Bob Dylan, Hank Marvin, Ry Cooder, Eric Clapton, sometimes Django Reinhardt or Richard Thompson, etc. I remember that I was surprised to hear another name, a band that
- [Suggestions what you would like to see here](https://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/08/23/suggestions-what-you-would-like-to-see-here/) - This weekend is a rather busy one, so not too much time for the blog so far:( This blog is online for less than two weeks, and the number of readers is steadily increasing, thank you a lot. I was wondering if I can go on blogging about this stuff forever or if I will

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- [Schecter Dream Machine sunburst 1980 - the replacement](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/schecter-dream-machine-sunburst-1980-the-replacement/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Schecter Model: Dream Machine (upgraded Stratocaster copy) Year: 1980 Serial No.: S8001 Colour: two-tone sunburst Woods: one-piece ash (birch? alder?) body / birds-eye one-piece maple neck with 6110 frets Pickups: Schecter F500T Strings: possibly 09 (Fender Extra
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- [Amps](https://www.mk-guitar.com/amps/) - Also check out: Gear used on all songs for all albums I started to re-work the guitar section, and continued with the most important amps of the Dire Straits era. More recent amps being used by Mark will follow : Amps
- [Schecter Telecaster red "Walk of Life"](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/schecter-telecaster-red-walk-of-life/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Schecter Model: Telecaster Year: 1983 - 1984 Serial No.: S8703 Colour: Vermillion red [older info here that this is a kind of metallic red turned out to be wrong, it is not metallic] Woods: unknown body /
- [Guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/guitars/) - Also check out: Gear used on all songs for all albums Guitars Electric Solid Body
- [Fender Stratocaster 1961](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-stratocaster-1961/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender Model: Stratocaster Year: 1961 Serial No.: 68354 Colour: stripped to bare wood when he got it, refinished to red in late 1978 (similar to fiesta red but more intense), finish cracked in early 90ies and was
- [Mark Knopfler Gear Database](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/) - Here the ultimate gear database with all of Mark Knopfler guitars, amps and effects will be established. Also check out: Gear used on all songs for all albums Guitars Amps Effects
- [Effects](https://www.mk-guitar.com/effects/) - Also check out: Gear used on all songs for all albums Effects I am re-doing the gear pages, not much content on this page yet, but there is much stuff on Mark Knopfler's effects in the blog. Use the search field or the category menu.
- [Pensa Suhr Mk 1 1988](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/pensa-suhr-mk-1-1988/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Pensa Suhr Model: Mk 1 Year: 1988 Serial No.: 001 Colour: original two-tone sunburst Woods: two-piece (see comments) mahogany body with one-piece flamed maple top / maple neck with bound Brazilian rosewood fingerboard Pickups: EMG SA
- [Mark Knopfler Signature Strat SE 00000](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/mark-knopfler-signature-strat-se-00000/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender Model: Mark Knopfler Signature Strat Year: 2003(2002?) Serial No.: SE 00000 Colour: hot rod red Woods: body ash, neck maple, rosewood fingerboard Pickups: Fender Texas Specials Strings: 010 First seen with MK: 2003 Still in MK's
- [Schecter Dream Machine sunburst 1980 - the one stolen](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/schecter-dream-machine-sunburst-1980-stolen/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Schecter Model: Dream Machine (upgraded Stratocaster copy) Year: 1980 Serial No.: S8136 Colour: two-tone sunburst Woods: birch body / birds-eye one-piece maple neck Pickups: Schecter F500T Strings: possibly 09 (Fender Extra lights ?) First seen with MK:
- [Schecter Dream Machine red 1980](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/schecter-dream-machine-red-1980/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Schecter Model: Dream Machine (upgraded Stratocaster copy) Year: 1980 Serial No.: S8218 Colour: metallic red (similar but not identical to candy-apple red) Woods: mahogany body / birds-eye one-piece maple neck Pickups: came with Schecter F500T which were
- [Music Man HD130 212](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/music-man-hd130-212/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Music Man Model: HD130 212 Year: ca. 1978 (the model was produced from 1974 - 1980) Serial No.: ? Power: 130 watts from four 6CA7 (EL34) tubes Speaker: two 12" speakers by Eminence First seen with MK:
- [Mark Knopfler Signature Strat SE 00001](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/mark-knopfler-signature-strat-se-00001/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender Model: Mark Knopfler Signature Strat Year: 2003(2002?) Serial No.: 0001 Colour: hot rod red Woods: body ash, neck maple, rosewood fingerboard Pickups: Fender Texas Specials Strings: 010 First seen with MK: 2003 Still in MK's possession/Last
- [Jim Kelley dual channel FACS amp](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/jim-kelley-dual-channel-facs-amp/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Jim Kelley Model: dual channel amp (FACS) Year: ca. 1984 Serial No.: ? Power: 30 / 60 watts from four 6V6 Speaker: - (head) First seen with MK: when recording One World for Brothers in Arms, then
- [Gibson Les Paul Standard 1959](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/gibson-les-paul-standard-1959/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Gibson Model: Les Paul Standard Year: 1959 Serial No.: ? Colour: original cherry sunburst (faded) Woods: mahogany body with maple top / mahogany neck / rosewood fingerboard Pickups: original 1959 Gibson PAF pickups Strings: 010 First seen
- [Gibson Les Paul Standard 1958](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/gibson-les-paul-standard-1958/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Gibson Model: Les Paul Standard Year: 1958 Serial No.: ? Colour: original cherry sunburst (faded) Woods: mahogany body with maple top / mahogany neck / rosewood fingerboard Pickups: original 1958 Gibson PAF pickups Strings: 010 First seen
- [Fender Vibrolux 1961](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-vibrolux-1961/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender Model: Vibrolux (6G11 or 6G11-A) Year: ca. 1961 (the model was produced from 1961 - 1963) Serial No.: ? Power: ca. 30 watts from two 6L6 tubes Speaker: one 12" speaker, probably Sound City Speaker (=
- [Fender Stratocaster 1962](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-stratocaster-1962/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender (possibly parts were from a Japanese Strat copy) Model: Stratocaster Year: 1962 (?) Serial No.: ?? (the number 80470 found in some old gear lists turned out to be the one of David's black Strat) Colour:
- [Fender Stratocaster 1954](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/fender-stratocaster-1954/) - Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info. Manufacturer: Fender Model: Stratocaster Year: 1954 Serial No.: 059 Colour: original two-tone sunburst Woods: ash body / one-piece maple neck Pickups: original 1954 Fender Strat pickups Strings: 012 (wound g-string) First seen with MK: 1996, Golden heart tour
- [Contents (List)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/table-of-contents-list-of-all-articles/) - Here you will find a list of all 'static pages' (gear descriptions, gear WIKI for songs, etc.), and further below the list of hundreds of blog articles, sorted into the various categories. Use the 'Options' menu to sort, collapse, show,... the various contents.
- [Forum](https://www.mk-guitar.com/forum/) - Simply register with a nick of your choice to post. If you are already registered to the blog, you can use your existing log in. (see our Privacy Policy)
- [Contact](https://www.mk-guitar.com/contact/) - You might use the Forum for general question. This way the whole community benefits from your question and the answers. Or use the following contact form (* = required fields):
- [Privacy policy](https://www.mk-guitar.com/privacy-policy/) - We are very delighted that you have shown interest in our enterprise. Data protection is of a particularly high priority for the management of mk-guitar.com. The use of the Internet pages of mk-guitar.com is possible without any indication of personal data; however, if a data subject wants to use special enterprise services via our website,
- [User Pictures Gallery: Build your own MK guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/user-pictures-gallery-build-your-own-schecter-dream-machine/) - Show your guitar here! This page is meant to show all the beautiful guitars that people have built with my loaded pickguards , or the Dream Machine tremolos, or similar stuff. Some built themselves a replica of one of Mark Knopfler's guitars, like the red Schecter Dream Machine, or one of the sunburst
- [Shop](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mk-shop/) - Oops, you should have been redirected automatically into my shop ... If not, please click on link above!
- [Widget landing page](https://www.mk-guitar.com/widget-landing-page/)
- [Gear on all songs for all albums - WIKI](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/) - Click on an album: Dire Straits Communiqué Making Movies Love over Gold Extended Dance Play Brothers in Arms Notting Hillbillies Neck & Neck On Every Street Golden Heart Sailing to Philadelphia Ragpicker's dream Shangri-la All the Roadrunning Kill to get Crimson Get Lucky Privateering
- [Gear on album All the roadrunning](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-all-the-roadrunning/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven Guitars .
- [Gear on album On every street](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-on-every-street/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Dire Straits](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-dire-straits/) - Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven Guitars There is hardly information available that tells us anything about the gear on the famous first Dire Straits album. Amps and effects on this album It seems likely that the brown Fender Vibrolux - an amp that originally belonged to Dire Straits' bass player John Illsley - was used
- [Gear on album Communiqué](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-communique/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Making movies](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-making-movies/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Love over gold](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-love-over-gold/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Brothers in arms](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-brothers-in-arms/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven Guitars . Amps
- [Gear on album Golden heart](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-golden-heart/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Sailing to Philadelphia](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-sailing-to-philadelphia/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album The ragpicker's dream](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-the-ragpickers-dream/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Shangri-La](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-shangri-la/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Kill to get crimson](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-kill-to-get-crimson/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Get lucky](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-get-lucky/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on Extendedanceplay](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-extendedanceplay/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Privateering](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-privateering/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven under construction ...
- [Gear on album Missing...presumed having a good time](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-missing-presumed-having-a-good-time/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven Guitars .
- [Gear on album Neck and Neck](https://www.mk-guitar.com/gear-on-all-songs-for-all-albums-wiki/gear-on-album-neck-and-neck/) - This page is a Wiki page. To contribute you need (a) to register for the blog (left sidebar: Meta --> register), and (b) write me a short note (using the contact form) with your user name so that I can set your user status to WIKI editor. Contributors: Jean-François Convert, Ingo Raven Guitars .
- [Coming (no content yet)](https://www.mk-guitar.com/mark-knopfler-gear-database/coming-no-content-yet/) - Your input is appreciated and required! Please use the comment function at the bottom of the page to add any missing relevant info about this guitar. I will update this page regularly to include such information into the page itself but will leave your comments so that the origin of all information remains documented. Manufacturer:

## Fancy Grid Gallery

- [Amps](https://www.mk-guitar.com/fancy_grid_gallery/amps/)
- [Guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/fancy_grid_gallery/guitars/)

## Categories

- [testing...](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/testing/)
- [Mark Knopfler gear](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/gear/)
- [MK guitar style and licks](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/licks/)
- [Vintage guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/general/vintage/)
- [Guitar in general](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/general/)
- [Understanding music](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/music/)
- [Easy stuff for beginners](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/licks/easy-stuff-for-beginners/)
- [Misc](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/misc/)
- [Amps](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/gear/amps/)
- [Recording](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/recording/)
- [Guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/gear/guitars-gear/)
- [Effects](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/gear/effects-gear/)
- [Misc](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/gear/misc-gear/)
- [Dire Straits/ Mark Knopfler live pictures and videos](https://www.mk-guitar.com/category/stage/)

## Tags

- [Mark Knopfler](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/mark-knopfler/)
- [Stratocaster](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/stratocaster/)
- [Dire Straits](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/dire-straits/)
- [Sultans of Swing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/sultans-of-swing/)
- [Setting me up](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/setting-me-up/)
- [Knopfler](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/knopfler/)
- [Music theory](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/music-theory/)
- [song analysis](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/song-analysis/)
- [Amazing Rhythm Aces](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/amazing-rhythm-aces/)
- [Zen](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/zen/)
- [meditation](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/meditation/)
- [Lions](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/lions/)
- [Vintage guitar](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/vintage-guitar/)
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- [volume pedal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/volume-pedal/)
- [volume swells](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/volume-swells/)
- [strings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/strings/)
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- [Japanese vintage](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/japanese-vintage/)
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- [dynamics](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/dynamics/)
- [music industry](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/music-industry/)
- [effects](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/effects/)
- [Indian rosewood](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/indian-rosewood/)
- [Fender](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/fender/)
- [string bending](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/string-bending/)
- [Money for Nothing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/money-for-nothing/)
- [electronics](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/electronics/)
- [wiring](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/wiring/)
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- [In the Gallery](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/in-the-gallery/)
- [Romeo and Juliet](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/romeo-and-juliet/)
- [Leeds bootleg](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/leeds-bootleg/)
- [Vibrolux](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/vibrolux/)
- [transcribing](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/transcribing/)
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- [adaptor](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/adaptor/)
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- [Slow Train coming](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/slow-train-coming/)
- [live](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/live/)
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- [famous guitars](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/famous-guitars/)
- [Richard Thompson](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/richard-thompson/)
- [Marshall](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/marshall/)
- [JTM 45](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/jtm-45/)
- [Brothers in Arms](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/brothers-in-arms/)
- [amp settings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/amp-settings/)
- [capo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/capo/)
- [shubb](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/shubb/)
- [Gibson](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/gibson/)
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- [unburst](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/unburst/)
- [John Illsley](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/john-illsley/)
- [Comfort & Joy](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/comfort-joy/)
- [jazz](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/jazz/)
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- [video](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/video/)
- [guitar licks](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/guitar-licks/)
- [50th article](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/50th-article/)
- [b5 note](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/b5-note/)
- [Down to the Waterline](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/down-to-the-waterline/)
- [Eastbound Train](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/eastbound-train/)
- [rhythm](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/rhythm/)
- [solo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/solo/)
- [Springy Sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/springy-sound/)
- [settings](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/settings/)
- [youtube](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/youtube/)
- [sound](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/sound/)
- [DiMarzio FS-1](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/dimarzio-fs-1/)
- [pick-ups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/pick-ups/)
- [POD](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/pod/)
- [tube amps](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/tube-amps/)
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- [microphones](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/microphones/)
- [Tubeman](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/tubeman/)
- [structure](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/structure/)
- [backing tracks](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/backing-tracks/)
- [jam](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/jam/)
- [improvisation](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/improvisation/)
- [Chris Rea](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/chris-rea/)
- [finish](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/finish/)
- [nitro](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/nitro/)
- [polyester](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/polyester/)
- [fiesta red](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/fiesta-red/)
- [candy apple red](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/candy-apple-red/)
- [dakota red](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/dakota-red/)
- [amp](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/amp/)
- [Six Blade Knife](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/six-blade-knife/)
- [Music Man](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/music-man/)
- [Sailing to Philadelphia](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/sailing-to-philadelphia/)
- [waterslide decal](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/waterslide-decal/)
- [Advanced Jumbo](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/advanced-jumbo/)
- [Vic and Ray](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/vic-and-ray/)
- [Albert Lee](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/albert-lee/)
- [facebook](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/facebook/)
- [myspace](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/myspace/)
- [Get lucky](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/get-lucky/)
- [cover](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/cover/)
- [Highlander](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/highlander/)
- [iP-1x](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/ip-1x/)
- [resonator](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/resonator/)
- [pick-up](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/pick-up/)
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- [Alchemy pickguard](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/alchemy-pickguard/)
- [Mahogani](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/mahogani/)
- [Walk of Life pickups](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/walk-of-life-pickups/)
- [neck pickup](https://www.mk-guitar.com/tag/neck-pickup/)
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