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

[Knopflerfan]

For that pricetag you can get two elephants!

Hahaha!

[Knopflerfan]

Very nice neck for sure.

Do Harrods sell guitars?!

It is said that if you go to Harrods and say you wanna buy an Elephant, they will sell it to you.

So, I guess they have anything.

Not online. If I remember rightly from my last visit there, there is indeed a musical instrument store in there. In fact I remember the late Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) playing at Harrods to promote his Fender Skins...

[Tomcaster]

Hi Guys!

I wanted to ask your opinion about this tone:

This tone has a distinctive thickness to it. Reminds me also strongly of the thick tone in "What it is", which was clearly 2000, so this is not about the Texas Special pickups. Also, I had the TX Specials and they don't do this thing.

I see the Tone King Imperial in the background in the YouTube clip. This is also puzzling because but the clean channel of the Imperial is essentially a blackface. It does not have a mid knob on the clean channel. I don't have a Tone King but a have a Deluxe Reverb, so very close on paper. No chance to get this thickness in the sound. What I get is the old Dire Straits tone, think Six Blade Knife.

How to get the modern Knopfler clean tone?

And don't tell me fingers, please

[dustyvalentino]

Did you have the Texas Specials with an Ash body and rosewood board?

The Texas Specials are quite mid focussed in my experience.

[hunter]

Hi Guys!

I wanted to ask your opinion about this tone:

This tone has a distinctive thickness to it. Reminds me also strongly of the thick tone in "What it is", which was clearly 2000, so this is not about the Texas Special pickups. Also, I had the TX Specials and they don't do this thing.

I see the Tone King Imperial in the background in the YouTube clip. This is also puzzling because but the clean channel of the Imperial is essentially a blackface. It does not have a mid knob on the clean channel. I don't have a Tone King but a have a Deluxe Reverb, so very close on paper. No chance to get this thickness in the sound. What I get is the old Dire Straits tone, think Six Blade Knife.

How to get the modern Knopfler clean tone?

And don't tell me fingers, please

Firstly, Mark's clean tone isn't actually clean. I believe he actually sets the gain pretty high and picks lightly. This gives a lot of natural compression, but without the crunch. Then there is all that is done in post-production and mixing. I feel more gain than you'd set for pure clean, master volume set high (even full), mid knob bumped a little, and light picking should get you in the ballpark.

[quizzaciously]

Firstly, Mark's clean tone isn't actually clean. I believe he actually sets the gain pretty high and picks lightly. This gives a lot of natural compression, but without the crunch. Then there is all that is done in post-production and mixing. I feel more gain than you'd set for pure clean, master volume set high (even full), mid knob bumped a little, and light picking should get you in the ballpark.

Yeah, the sound could easily be tweaked in post. Don't forget it's a live album and DVD! It was mixed by Guy Fletcher though, so I'm pretty sure he would brag as usual about not using anything at all, but no doubt this sound is "too good to be true". I'd suggest searching for bootlegs of that tour for reference.

[border_reiver]

No 1 Guitarshop in Sweden has one now. Looks nice, unknown date.

Circa €3500 / £2950.

https://no1guitar.se/sv/elgitarrer/172506-fender-artist-series-mark-knopfler-stratocaster-hot-rod-red.html

[Tomcaster]

Firstly, Mark's clean tone isn't actually clean. I believe he actually sets the gain pretty high and picks lightly. This gives a lot of natural compression, but without the crunch. Then there is all that is done in post-production and mixing. I feel more gain than you'd set for pure clean, master volume set high (even full), mid knob bumped a little, and light picking should get you in the ballpark.

Yeah, the sound could easily be tweaked in post. Don't forget it's a live album and DVD! It was mixed by Guy Fletcher though, so I'm pretty sure he would brag as usual about not using anything at all, but no doubt this sound is "too good to be true". I'd suggest searching for bootlegs of that tour for reference.

Thanks guys, feedback much appreciated!

I do have the Signature Model by the way but I have to admit I was too lazy to get it out. I used one of my other Strats - slab RW, alder body. When playing the master model I did notice a different underlaying tone. It must be the ash / rosewood combination indeed. A very special tone! Also, I set the bass side of the pickups a bit higher and that gave the notch position more meat.

What is still puzzling: the 'Why Worry' Tone reminds me so much of 'What It Is', and the latter is clearly before the Signature Model era. He would have done 'What It Is' with standard pickups, like in his 1961 or in his Schecter.

Good input on checking bootlegs. Here is one. https://youtu.be/lMcvm6z-aQo?t=203
Sounds the same to me...

Good point on the amp volume and light touch, will try it out once the family leaves the house

[Jules]

I'm not an expert but, for Why Worry, if you mean the BIA version, it's a Fender with Lindsay Fralin pick ups (I think) or others similar, but not Texas Special

MK fenders or schecter had very different pickups than his signature model.

As far as I know, MK guitars never had Texas Special until his model.

[Tomcaster]

I'm not an expert but, for Why Worry, if you mean the BIA version, it's a Fender with Lindsay Fralin pick ups (I think) or others similar, but not Texas Special

MK fenders or schecter had very different pickups than his signature model.

As far as I know, MK guitars never had Texas Special until his model.

Good insights on the BIA version, thanks!

I was asking about specifically the tone from the performance in the video clip from 2006, which constitutes the "modern" MK Strat tone to me. I also compared it to "What It Is"

Another question is whether MK actually HAS the TX Specials in his guitars because although he doesn't admit he is a massive tinkerer For example, a while ago I reported here that Seymour Duncan had wound pickups for Knopfler in the last years.

[Jules]

I'm not an expert but, for Why Worry, if you mean the BIA version, it's a Fender with Lindsay Fralin pick ups (I think) or others similar, but not Texas Special

MK fenders or schecter had very different pickups than his signature model.

As far as I know, MK guitars never had Texas Special until his model.

Good insights on the BIA version, thanks!

I was asking about specifically the tone from the performance in the video clip from 2006, which constitutes the "modern" MK Strat tone to me. I also compared it to "What It Is"

Another question is whether MK actually HAS the TX Specials in his guitars because although he doesn't admit he is a massive tinkerer For example, a while ago I reported here that Seymour Duncan had wound pickups for Knopfler in the last years.

I'd say he's playing with his signature more or less since 2005, so anything prior to that, has to be other pickups.

Unless you mean ther versions played after he had his signature.

[dustyvalentino]

No 1 Guitarshop in Sweden has one now. Looks nice, unknown date.

Circa €3500 / £2950.

https://no1guitar.se/sv/elgitarrer/172506-fender-artist-series-mark-knopfler-stratocaster-hot-rod-red.html

Looks dark, possibly Dakota red?

[Jules]

No 1 Guitarshop in Sweden has one now. Looks nice, unknown date.

Circa €3500 / £2950.

https://no1guitar.se/sv/elgitarrer/172506-fender-artist-series-mark-knopfler-stratocaster-hot-rod-red.html

Looks dark, possibly Dakota red?

I once saw pictures of all the kind of reds for guitars and, well, some were quite clearly different, others are so similar that I won't notice the difference.

[dustyvalentino]

BTW, here is the Reverb price guide:

https://reverb.com/uk/p/fender-mark-knopfler-artist-series-signature-stratocaster-hot-red#price-guide

[dustyvalentino]

No 1 Guitarshop in Sweden has one now. Looks nice, unknown date.

Circa €3500 / £2950.

https://no1guitar.se/sv/elgitarrer/172506-fender-artist-series-mark-knopfler-stratocaster-hot-rod-red.html

Looks dark, possibly Dakota red?

I once saw pictures of all the kind of reds for guitars and, well, some were quite clearly different, others are so similar that I won't notice the difference.

Ingo has some good pics (including my guitar!)

https://www.mk-guitar.com/2011/09/27/the-wrong-colour-of-the-first-mark-knopfler-signature-strats/