I have dug a bit into the recipe of the MK Strat, particularly the wood and pickups and came to some conclusions that are perhaps worth sharing.
1. WOOD
An ash body and a rosewood fingerboard neck seems to be an unusual combo.
There are many discussions on gear page covering this topic, many of them citing an all statement of John Suhr: 'Rosewood fingerboard on Ash body will give too much sizzle for many players. We would only build such combination if you are positive that this is what you want.'
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/swamp-ash-rosewood-fingerboard-clarification.542427/ John Suhr later commented in a forum: 'Rosewood has a more brilliant presence than Maple, Maple is strong in the upper mids but not brilliance. Most of the misconceptions regrading Maple has to do with the neck construction and a thicker finish. If Maple is close to no finish at all with a vintage truss rod construction it is pretty fat and sweet. Rosewood does however have a rounder warmer bottom end than Maple on the bass strings. This is still a generalization since each specific piece of wood can and will sound different. Even at Fender I remember many of the Master builders not liking Brazilian Rosewood and Ash. It is a personal choice and nothing is right or wrong. It will depend on all the gear you run thru and the way you play.'
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/ash-body-tele-with-a-rosewood-board.1016577/page-2#post-12267636 Sounds like the wood choice for the MK Sig makes it a mid scooped guitar, i.e. very prominent treble and somewhat prominent bass. The ash will give a sweet sound.
2. TEXAS SPECIAL PICKUPS
The following information comes from the Fender webpage. All of this is rather theoretical, but it gives you a point of reference.
https://www.fender.com/articles/gear/a-guide-to-fender-single-coil-stratocaster-pickups Found in Fender American Special Stratocaster guitars and characterized by their midrange chirp, crystalline highs and tight bass, Fender Texas Special Strat pickups feature an overwound single-coil construction that produces big Texas-blues tone.
NECK PICKUP
TREBLE — 8/10 | MID — 6/10 | BASS — 4/10
MIDDLE PICKUP
TREBLE — 7/10 | MID — 6/10 | BASS — 4/10
BRIDGE PICKUP
TREBLE — 7/10 | MID — 6/10 | BASS — 8/10
TOTAL POWER RATING: 4/5
A comparison with the Pure Vintage 59 pickup, that would be somewhat similar to what Mark has in his 1961 Strat (different polarity but rest is good enough for an approximation):
NECK PICKUP
TREBLE — 5/10 | MID — 4/10 | BASS — 6/10
MIDDLE PICKUP
TREBLE — 5/10 | MID — 4/10 | BASS — 6/10
BRIDGE PICKUP
TREBLE — 5/10 | MID — 4/10 | BASS — 6/10
TOTAL POWER RATING: 2/5
-> we see that the Texas Specials are more powerful, have more treble and more mids than a vintage voiced pickups.
THE EQUATION 1+2=?
The wood gives us a "scooped" sound with pronounced treble and bass. The Texas Specials offset the mid scoop with their own mid chirp. Bass is also balanced. Treble stays very prominent.
I can only guess that Mark likes the prominent treble because he plays with his fingers, with the meat part, so no nails like Chet Atkins. He doesn't use 'the biggest amplifier there is' - the pick. The Texas Specials compensate with more treble and output. It's simply a Strat setup tuned to fingerstyle!
This sounds all very theoretic haha
Apologies.
Looking at Marks 61 Strat things are of course different. The body wood is alder, but that alder is offset by a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. Brazilian Rosewood has a little more presence compared to Indian rosewood - this is why John Suhr referred to that one specifically as problematic paired with ash. The pickups in a 1961 Strat are of course vastly different than Texas Specials but let's not forget that Mark did like hot pickups even early in his career (DiMarzio FS-1).
On another note: his other favorite guitar, the Gibson Les Paul, also has very interesting wood combinations. It's very mellow mahogany offset with bright sounding maple caps for the body and bright Brazilian Rosewood for the fingerboard. The pickups are PAFs, so much more powerful than single coils, and yet rather trebly compared to later hum buckers. People say that the best Les Pauls sound like Telecasters on steroids - so not dark at all!
I do all the maths because I consider going Custom Shop and having a higher quality version of that guitar built. It would cost the same as a mint MK. Before I order I try to explain myself what I order
It is all worthless anyway because each piece of wood is different
