Fender 'Mark Knopfler' Signature Series Stratocaster (0117800-815) - Owners list

[3Strats]

Beautiful Lester there 3strats.

The MK ones all sold out immediately and are like gold dust no so there’s no way MK has to market them. He will only play guitars he wants to play. And he’s been playing reissues for 20 years anyway.

I have to be honest and say I couldn’t tell the difference between the reissues and the 58 live, and I was looking out for it.

Also, MK’s 58 is a real mongrel that had Guild pickups in it at one point, so it probably doesn’t have the original pickups in it now.

Thanks Dusty.

As far as I could tell he was using at least two of the MK Les Pauls on the last tour. The one he used for Why Aye Man appeared to have the Peter Green Mod
(reversed pickup). I asked Guy about this, and he said he'd check, but I didn't see a further reply about it.   

Considering their age, I would think that a lot of the vintage Les Pauls have been "messed about with" and returned to their original specifications over the years. There is a market for the original pickups, A quick google came up with a set of '59 PAFs for £3600.00.

[dustyvalentino]

What made you think that?


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[3Strats]

about the Peter Green Mod? -  I noticed & confirmed from photos that one of the pickups had the pole pieces in the wrong position ( i.e. turned through 180 degrees & put in upside down)  - That in itself wouldn't make the guitar sound out of phase in the middle position, which is why I asked Guy if it had the modification.
It would certainly add to the "honk" in the tone on that song.
I also thought he used one of the MK models on Going Home but I can't be sure.

From my own photos, my opinion is that if he has a capo on a Les Paul it is most likely a reissue rather than the '58 or '59 but I can't be absolutely sure of that either.

In general, from reading posts on the Les Paul forum people are often asking questions about the originality of a guitar, and pickups do sometimes break & need replacing, or get damaged when someone decides to take the covers off - My Brother even had a modern '60's reissue in which one of the burstbuckers had a broken wire in a coil- so much for quality control.

[dustyvalentino]

You are definitely correct about the capo.

His 58 has more than just a clipped wire,  it had chunks chopped out of it!

[3Strats]

I don't know the history of either of Mark's  "bursts"  but the Humbucker was only introduced in 1957. Before that the Les Paul's were fitted with (smaller) P90 pickups and production of both continued for a while. It's quite possible Mark's '58 was built as a P90 model and was later "converted" to humbuckers by routing larger cavities for the pickups. Many of the Les Pauls produced in that era were goldtops, but were (professionally) stripped & refinished as sunbursts if there was a suspicion that there may have been flamed maple underneath the paint. Anything is possible when it comes to 1950's Les Pauls. 

edit: I've just been looking at my photos from the last tour again. I do think he uses an MK model on Going Home. the guitar seems to have a bit more flame than the '58 and the headstock doesn't look as bashed about.  Another "tell" is the guitar straps- I think the straps are fitted before the show and stay on the individual guitars so you can tell from that when he has changed between 2 similar guitars.
Going Home:   
https://dtvaviationimages.co.uk/mark-knopfler-tour-photos/down-the-road-wherever-tour-2019/mk_0197lq/

The '58 ( Silvertown Blues)
https://dtvaviationimages.co.uk/mark-knopfler-tour-photos/down-the-road-wherever-tour-2019/mk_0159lq/

[dustyvalentino]

The shift to humbuckers was 1957, his LP definitely had them originally, but it was subsequently hacked up.

I’ll try to find the info.


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[dustyvalentino]

https://www.lespaulforum.com/index.php?threads/burst-pic-of-the-week-the-old-switcheroo.95644/

This is his guitar.


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[3Strats]

Oh. Dear. Me.     
I hadn't seen any of that before. Thanks for the link.
Presumably someone wanted a coil tap or an out of phase option !   

I've just been looking through my photos for one where his hand wasn't casting a shadow on that part of the guitar.
and I've got a few going back to 2005. They've done a good repair, but it's not invisible.

from the previous tour:
https://dtvaviationimages.co.uk/mark-knopfler-tour-photos/mark-knopfler-20515-tracker-tour/mk_0017lq/

From the Shangri-La tour:
https://dtvaviationimages.co.uk/mark-knopfler-tour-photos/shangri-la-22505/mk_0111lq-2/

[quizzaciously]

I immediately noticed Mark was using a Peter Green mod on his LP. I like the look of pole pieces (screws) and I like the sound this mod produces.

[Tomcaster]

I read somewhere that MK used the out of phase position of his 1980s LP Standard on "Fade To Black"

[firmstools]

If around 2400 MK strats were made why do we have serial numbers in excess of 12000 out there?
Was the SE neck plate used for other models and only 2400 randomly fitted to the MK model?
Just wondering

[dustyvalentino]

Where did the 2400 figure come from?


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[firmstools]

First post on here, just before the owners list

[Knopflerfan]

If around 2400 MK strats were made why do we have serial numbers in excess of 12000 out there?
Was the SE neck plate used for other models and only 2400 randomly fitted to the MK model?
Just wondering

Fender told me 2,400 were made in total but the numbers therefore are certainly not sequential....
They must clearly have been built in batches of a few at a time....that's obvious on the register..

[firmstools]

They certainly seem to be made in batches looking at the register!
I genuinely thought they started at SE00000 and ascended logically during  the 10 years of production.
This cant be the case or there would be well over twelve thousand  out there!
To the best of my knowledge the S prefix was only used for signature models, SN2 is a1992 Clapton strat, by that logic would some SE numbers have been previously used on 1980s signature models? Only Clapton and Malmsteen at that time I think?
Maybe I am overthinking this!