I don't think I can. He most likely said it somewhere on thegearpage forum (he's known as Husky there) or perhaps somewhere else. What he said is that some came out great, some not so much and that he didn't really know exactly why that was at that time. Now he knows and claims that those that he's making now are better.
I can only take his word for it, he's the guy that made the old ones and he's making the new ones and certainly has first hand experience. I don't and those few youtube videos of people playing are not really a reliable source in my opinion. Other than that, I'm not aware of anybody playing a Pensa Suhr on a studio record besides Mark. Ingo made a comparison as well but can't say off the top of my head which ones he played exactly.
What I heard live was Mark playing a shorter scale version I believe and that was a Pensa not Pensa Suhr. That was once and I couldn't say anything about what it sounded like if it was to save my life. I'm not the one that takes notice of such things if I attend one concert every 9 years. It seemed good to me at the time but if it was sounding like a Pensa should sound like - I have no idea.
Sorry for derailing the thread. I had this idea of building a Pensa Suhr like guitar as well a few years ago but I would source my body from Warmoth if I was going to do it but I was never exceptionally satisfied with the quality/service from Warmoth after I bought a body and a neck for another project. Plus those 2 knobs and the switch are positioned differently to what they normally do and this being a carved top guitar the knobs have to be nicely recessed (if that's the right word) and I would not get that from Warmoth even as a custom order. The guitar your friend built looks like it's done properly. I don't think it would be possible for me to get below at least $2,500 as a partscaster and that's a lot of money for something that has hardly any resale value. So it will likely be a genuine Suhr at some point. After all, those are made by the same guy that was making Pensa Suhrs. Current Pensas are just sold by the same shop and in my opinion also way overpriced.
I own a PensaSuhr and when I say I heard 'many' I mean mine + the ones owned by some friends of mine, all live, I don't judge from youtube ...
Yes, I know J Suhr writes as Husky on gearpage, infact he answered some questions of mine there and he is always very nice also through
private messages and emails
Not sure what you mean with 'J Suhr made the old ones and he's making the new ones' , first of all he didn't make all the PensaSuhr which were made in the past. Then he created his own brand 'Suhr' which is not PensaSuhr obviously.
Mark Knopfler used the original PensaSuhr MK1 until 1996, then it 'disappeared'.
Since 1996 he has ordered and played several different Pensa guitars, but nothing from Suhr.
Suhr both privately and publicly told me that he is quite disappointed that MK never contacted him again.
