Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, Vintage guitars

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

Some time ago I had the opportunity to play on a real “Burst”, a 1960 Les Paul Standard. You will probably know that Les Paul Standards between 1958 and 1960 are something like the ‘Holy Grai’l for guitar players and collectors, with prices ranging over $ 200,000. (And yes, Mark Knopfler has even two of these!) As you might guess from the surrounding in the video, the guitar belongs to the same collector as Mark Knopfler’s sunburst Schecter Strat, or the blue 1961 Stratocaster I played in one of the last videos. Only about 1,700 of these were made (possibly 434 in 1958, 643 in 1959, and 635 in 1960). After that the model was discontinued because it failed commercially, as it was too conventional looking for Rock’n’Roll players who prefered Fender solid-body guitars, and not conventional enough for jazz players who prefered Gibson arch top guitars. It was some years later when players like Eric Clapton or Peter Green made the model famous and sought-after again when they played these guitars and showed them on their albums (e.g. a probably 1960 Les Paul on the Bluesbrakers album). So these Les Paul became something like the first vintage guitars. Gibson made Les Pauls again starting in 1968 but these had some different specs than the old sunburst Standards.

Early 1960 Les Pauls are almost identical to the 1959 model, however, later in 1960 the neck became flatter, and the red colour that is known to fade when exposed to sunlight was replaced with a more resistant and darker red dye.

What does it sound like?

This is probably the most important question everyone asks himself. Is such a guitar really worth all the money? The answer is surely “no” as it costs more than 50 times as much as a good replica with original features, and the sound cannot be 50 times better. Still, those old guitars have a magic that the new ones don’t have, and the sound also might have some details thatmake it different from newer ones (apart from the simple fact that each guitar is an individual piece and sounds different than any other), so the question is rtaher how much you think these little details are worth for you. And it is all a matter of taste so you might like some new ones really better.

I recorded some minutes of video, and I recorded some sound samples directly into my recorder so that I can compare the guitar to any other later.

This first video has the directly recorded sound which I reamped with a software amp.

In the second video the guitar was played over a Tone King Metropolitan amp and was recorded with the camera mic. Obviously these do not like the volume typically produced by a guitar amp and thus heavily compress dynamics or cause distortion.

And here I finally compared it to my own 1974 Les Paul Custom. I recorded my guitar into the same recorder, and reamped it with the same software amp, all settings 100% identical. The Custom has an ebony fingerboard instead one of Brazilian rosewood, and some other construction details are different so it will never sound the same. My guitar is equipped with Haeussel 1959 pickups so you can listen yourself to how these compare to the original PAF pickups.

Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear, MK guitar style and licks

A/B Comparing Mark Knopfler’s 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 loaded Schecter-style pickguard with the F500T pickup replicas, and with a prototype of the coming brass Dream Machine tremolo bridges (to be released as it seems at the end of this month, note that this prototype is not finished yet, the release version will be available in chrome or gold plated, like Schecter).

Of course these guitars do not have too much in common, the body wood and the kind of laquer alone (poly on mine 🙁 )  are reason enough so that they can never sound 100% identical – besides one has a value probably 50 times as much as the other –  but of course I was curious how my guitar compares to the Telegraph Road Schecter, especially to see how close I can come with the F500T-style pickups in my pickguard. (After measuring various  specs on the Mark Knopfler guitar pickups, I meanwhile even updated my pickups to have not only electrical values of a Schecter guitar but of this particular Schecter.)

Both guitars re-amped with identical settings

As I recorded the Schecter directly into a portable recording device (via a buffer that avoids the normal treble loss you will encounter when recording a guitar directly into such a device), I could do the same later with my guitar, which means both were recorded not at the same time and in different countries, but with the same cable into the same buffer and into the same recorder. I then re-amped both guitar samples with the same software amp, of course with 100% all identical settings, not even a volume match. This way I got two absolutely comparable files, with the same signal chain except the guitar itself.

Both guitars were recorded directly into this Olympus PCM recorder, the box is a buffer as the Olympus does not have a guitar input
re-amping
These are the effects and the amp settings for the videos. By the way, I “built'” the amp myself years ago while I was working for the Creamware company who developed the recording software

When I had the chance to play the Mark Knopfler Schecter, I filmed about 20 minutes. I tried to play the same licks on my guitar so that I can edit both videos to put the same licks side by side for ideal comparing. This video might also be of great help to see in how far it is the guitar that matters (“Do you need the same  guitar to get that sound?”), or do only all the other sound factors matter, or just the player  (“It’s all in the fingers”). All in all I am pleased with my 1,000 Euros guitar against such a famous piece of rock history, however, there are moments when that Schecter sounds so beautiful, just listen to the tone on the Tunnel of Love licks (2nd video towards the end, well, it IS the Tunnel of Love guitar  (live version) 🙂 ).

some chords on the different pickups, various licks and tunes, Where do you think you’re going:

Sultans of Swing and Tunnel of Love stuff:

More info on the loaded Schecter-style pickguard

MK guitar style and licks, Vintage guitars

Down to the Waterline on 1961 Fender Stratocaster Sonic Blue

When I had the opportunity to play on Mark Knopfler’s sunburst Schecter Strat some weeks ago, I could also try out some other great guitars over there. Here is a video of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster in all original sonic blue that really impressed me. Some slab board Stratocasters from the very early sixties can have a rather dark or even muddy sound, that’s why some players prefer Strats after summer 1962 when the transition from the fat slab board of Brazilian rosewood to the thinner curved fingerboard was. Not so this 1961 Strat, it rang like a bell and sang like a bird (IMHO)! But listen and decide for yourself.

The guitar was played through an Ernie Ball volume pedal into a Tone King Metropolitan amp. The strings on the guitar were 09-42. Recorded with the mic of the camera, that’s why you hear that much compression (almost all cameras have a built in compressor to avoid distortion).

Misc, Vintage guitars

Brazilan rosewood and German authorities

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

 

Carrying such a vintage guitar on a tour requires a lot of different papers – acording to German authorities

 Vintage Guitar Show cancelled

Germany’s biggest vintage guitar show which was planned for the coming weekend (November 3/4) has been cancelled for legal reasons that have to do with this wood. What happened? German authorities (the Bundesamt für Naturschutz) released an anouncement (German language) about Brazilian rosewood last year that explicitely explains how to deal with any items, like guitars, that contain parts of this wood: if you want to travel with such a guitar from e.g. the US into the EU, you need a paper from the US authorities that allows exporting, and another one from German authorities that allows importing it. This is true for new instruments (which makes sense), but also for any instruments that were built before this wood was added to the CITES list (1992). It also requires another special paper (Vermarkungsbescheinigung) to display such an instrument in public on a non-private event.

This means: if you are an amateur musician and own such a guitar, you are not allowed to play it on a local gig in a pub, or to display it on a guitar show, theoretically not even to play it in a youtube video that includes advertizing, unless you have such a paper from the authorities.

This paper however requires a (sometimes expensive) certificate that your guitar was produced before 1992, and that you bought it before this date. If you bought it after 1992, you need papers that prove when and where the guitar was imported into the EU. If you bought it in e.g. 2005 on ebay, you might not got such papers from the seller, who also maybe had bought it from somwhere else without these papers, and you cannot prove legitimacy of the EU import.

This theoretically also applies to touring bands. Mark Knopfler’s Les Pauls, his ’61 Strat, his sunburst Telecaster, some of his Pensas and Pensa Suhrs, and possibly some of his Martins, have fingerboards of Brazilian rosewood. If after the US leg of a tour he continues the tour in the EU, the customs office might insist on an export paper from the US, an import paper from the EU, plus the licence to use it in public, and this for each guitar. If he does not have these papers, they might confiscate the guitar, or finally even destroy the wonderful 1958 Les Paul  “due to public interest”.

This has not happened to any touring artist yet (and hopefully never will), but it has been officially confirmed that this is law (or at least the way German authorities interprete some EU laws), and it is thus a theoretical threat for any musician.

Violin confiscated

The following however has happened, and it shows the way  German authorities can act: A Japanese star violin player carried a violin worth about 7.6 million Euros on a tour. German customs insisted on her paying 19% VAT (about 1.4 million Euros) to get the instrument into the EU, and this although it was clear that she did not want to sell it there but to play it on a classical concert (the violin was not even hers but a loan of some cultural institution). The violin was confiscated. It took an argument between the Japanese and German government to get it back some time later.

It is good to control trading with endangered species, and thus to protect the rain forest, but it is crazy to make playing an instrument illegal which you might have for years and that was built when the wood was legally available everywhere, unless you can provide a bunch of  difficult to get papers.

Dire Straits/ Mark Knopfler live pictures and videos, Guitars, Mark Knopfler gear

Clips from Guitar Stories

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Update: Soon after Sky Arts aired  Guitar Stories, the full video appeared on youtube:

 

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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 addition to the first trailer, a few more preview clips appeared recently which I put together for you here:

Trailer:

Clips 1 – 4:
The National Style-O

1961 Fender Stratocaster

Hofner V2

Another clip, with the 1958 Les Paul, cannot be embedded. You can watch it directly on youtube.

Misc

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 Heads tour on which Dire Straits were the support band, 5 days after the gig in Leeds which is – with the exception of the song Eastbound Train that was recorded live in 1977 and released as b-side of the Sultans of Swing single –  the first existing Dire Straits live recording.

On this Talking Heads recording, Mark appeared on two encore songs It seems a third one – Gloria – was played on that concerts but it is missing on the recording, too bad. John Illsley also appeared on one of the two. So it is really a very early diamond that was dug out (the full recording is available at the Spanish City tracker – thank you guys for your great work over there).

The first song with Mark is called I’m Not In Love. Unfortunately he is rather low in the mix, and as it as an audience recording )of course …) plus the fact that Talking Heads already had two guitar players on stage, it is hard to identify what exactly he is playing, and what the other two guitar players. The bright rhythm guitar should be David Byrne, but the second guitarist Jerry Harrison has a similar sound and makes identifying a bit difficult.

Here is an excerpt of the song I’m Not In Love, the first solo you hear is probably Mark (as said very low in the mix), while the second solo (starting at 0:50) might be Jerry Harrison. Another solo, starting at 1:56, is IMHO Mark again.

 

The second song is Psycho Killer (one of their hits, so you might know this one). Interestingly it was played before on that concert, and then again as an encore with Mark and John Illsley. Comparing both versions makes it easier to tell what is Mark – probably the guitar parts that were not there in the first version (in which we hear also a guitar solo, but much louder). I think Mark’s solo starts around 0:40, while another guitarist plays the riff starting at 1:00. Then Mark plays the licks and solo parts during the rest of the song.

 

Talking Heads on stage a few weeks later (May 1978)
Guitar in general

Crazy – J.J. Cale’s 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). Just to make it clear: this is not what the guitar looks like from the back after removing some backside lid, this was the way he played it in the studio and on stage.

Crazy, isn’t it. Note an even crazier detail: What you can see in the red circle is a coin which he put in to adjust the action of the guitar (it bends the top a bit so that the action becomes higher)!!

This is the matching picture of the front side:

And here is one showing him on stage with the beast:

To even top all this, here is a video in which J.J. shows his guitar – he made a hole for a mic with a hammer !!!! 🙂

Dire Straits/ Mark Knopfler live pictures and videos

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, television and sport. Many of these were long-standing Range Rover owners and enthusiasts keen to get the first view of the All-New Range Rover.

The dramatic reveal culminated in a surprise  performance by  Mark Knopfler with his band. They played seven songs: Walk of Life, Sailing to Philadelphia, Romeo and Juliet, Sultans of Swing, Money for Nothing, Brothers in Arms, Local Hero, So Far Away. With the exception of Sailing to Philadelphia, the set included only Dire Straits hits, and not a single track from Mark’s new album Privateering. The band consisted of   MK, Guy Fletcher, Glenn Worf, Richard Bennett, Ian Thomas, and Nigel Hitchcock on saxophone (Edit/Update: Nigel Hitchcock played sax on Walk of Life, Sailing to Philadelphia, Romeo and Juliet, and Local Hero, no sax break in Sultans).

At the moment there is the following video of the event on youtube. You can see a few snippets of Mark’s performance starting at 1:56.

Two pictures can be found here. You can download these in high resolution, don’t miss to open the first one which shows Mark playing his signature Strat in an astonishing quality (the thumbnail does not show the guitar at all).

The band is probably rehearsing for the coming US tour with Bob Dylan, so they might have taken the opportunity to play there. It is not clear at the moment why they Played almost only Dire Straits songs, and none from Privateering. Maybe Land Rover asked for these, or the DS hits seemed better for a random audience that is not necessarily into Mark’s current music.

MK guitar style and licks, Understanding music

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 know on what scale or idea a MK lick is based when I hear it, I was lost a bit with this one. I was assuming something chromatic and was curious so that I figured it out today. Now looking at it, it does not  really seem unusual anymore, it is based on the same scale as the lick in the break of Calling Elvis, but it is nice anyway.

The song Bluebird is in the key of Ebm / D#m (both Ebm or D#m have the same number (6)  of sharps or flats,  to my humble knowledge it is a matter of taste which one you prefer). The blues- scheme like chord progression consists of the chords Ebm , Abm, and Gb (or D#m, G#m, and F#). The lick runs over the last chord (Ebm / D#m) of the chord progression.

The chromatic feel I refered to is on fact only because of just one note, the flattened fifth (b5, here an A) that connects the Bb and the Ab (the blue note in the tab, in fact it is a “blue note” of the scale), all other notes are simply notes of the Ebm / D#M scale. Note how laid-back Mark plays the high Eb (the 11 in magenta)!

Make sure not to play too loud, play rather very softly but accentuated. I cannot say for sure if there are pull-offs or not (e.g. between the two first notes), when played with such soft attack it makes almost no audible difference. Lay your left hand index finger over  all four strings, just like you do when playing barre chords, and keep it pressed down during the whole first bar. This helps to make the lick sound more legato.

Have fun!