Serious GAS for Les Paul...all thanks to Mark Knopfler!!!

[tucky]

I'm building a USACG strat copy of the David Gilmour strat. It should be a beauty...but after listening to Mark Knopfler's latest CD Get Lucky I am seriously questioning WTF I have done in building a strat. See on a couple of songs on the album, particularly "Cleaning my gun" and "So far from The Clyde" Mark gets a beautiful crying tone from his Les Paul. Its magic and gives me goosebumps. I can't possibly get this tone from a strat, especially a maple neck one.

I have always loved the shape of the Les Paul, but whenever I've played one I have never bonded with them. However the sound Mark gets is AWESOME. It makes me want one SO BAD!! They're about $6000 Australian dollars here for a new re-issue.

[Ang3lus]

www.warmoth.com

nuff said

here is mine:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=5309.0

all the quality without the huge price tag.

[oldgtarz]

Originally Posted by Ang3lus

www.warmoth.com

nuff said

here is mine:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=5309.0

all the quality without the huge price tag.

You're kidding right? With all respect, that is not a Les Paul. It might look like one but it just isn't. It probably sounds great with the maple neck and ebony fretboard but it's not a Les Paul and built like that it will never sound like one either.

The OP might want to check out MLP for some nice Gibson Les Pauls

[funkmaster]

Originally Posted by oldgtarz

You're kidding right? With all respect, that is not a Les Paul. It might look like one but it just isn't. It probably sounds great with the maple neck and ebony fretboard but it's not a Les Paul and built like that it will never sound like one either.

The OP might want to check out MLP for some nice Gibson Les Pauls

of course its not a les paul. its only a les paul if gibson made it, because its their design and their name. you can call it a lp style but unless its made by gibson its not a les paul. personally, that thing looks like it will sound amazing. I can't warm up to les pauls either. to the O P, if you've never been able to warm up to the sound of an LP, try an LP with p-90's. the first ones had P-90's and if you're not a huge fan of that humbucker sound, those are a great place to start

[Ang3lus]

that's the reason I chose the warmoth, I digged the lows and versatility of the les paul to do jazz/blues/metal very well all within the same guitar, so I built that one.

I also got another which is a 59 replica (also warmoth) that was built by an ex-gibson employee, nitro finish and lollar pickups, SOUNDS like a les paul, but feels like a more modern guitar.

[Doc55]

To have Knopfler's tone you need three key ingredients:

1) One of the nicest 1959 Flame Top Les Paul's I've ever seen or heard...and I'm old enough to have heard and seen a few. No, no no...not a clone. Not a Gibson Heritage series, not a Custom Shop, not a Warmoth, or Beetlefly or Battlebutterfly or whatever you can scare up for cheaper dollars, but a real '59 with the PAF's he's got in there. That's a quarter million dollar guitar, ladies and gentlemen, and he plays it live!

2) Very high gain, PTP handwired expensive Marshall type boutique amps. Try a Bob Reinhardt like he uses lately, but get out your wallet.

3) 50% of his tone is in his hands according to MK himself. Get that part down first, then we'll worry about chasing warmoths or any other little insects that flutter about.

Boys...tone does not come cheap. Who ever told us that it was a budget based quest?

Cheers, Doc

[stratman89]

Mark makes a Les Paul sound sooooooooo good on those tunes!

Although he'd make a particle board guitar sing!

[saltydogg]

I've owned 6 Les Pauls and currently own 3 and I continue to battle Les Paul GAS as I have for over a decade. It's a disease and I'm dealing with it. How you ask? I just bought a Firebird-LOL......

[Doc55]

Originally Posted by stratman89

Mark makes a Les Paul sound sooooooooo good on those tunes!

Although he'd make a particle board guitar sing!

Exactly right. That and very very good vintage or boutique gear. There's no cutting corners, is there?

[Bobby D]

Originally Posted by Doc55

Boys...tone does not come cheap. Who ever told us that it was a budget based quest?

Cheers, Doc

truer words have never been spoken.....it may be a 5% difference, but it's there.

[Doc55]

Thanks Bobby..most of us have learned that the hard way I think!

Cheers

[tucky]

I'm fine with the all in the hands thing. I've been playing for 20 years now. The last 14 of those on the cheapest Yamaha Pacifica available in Australia with a few mods. I've really enjoyed playing the c*&p out of that guitar without worrying about scratches, dings, etc. But when you go into a shop and play a good guitar...MAN!!! the feel and the resonance even when played acoustically is great. And I agree to that the last 5% does seem to make a huge difference both soundwise...and costwise.

I know about MK connection to Reinhardt amps. I'd love one of those too as I have always been a marshall fan (currently play JTM 30 - all valve), but don't have the financial resources some on the forum do. It would be probably $3K to get one to Australia + $6K for a 59 re-issue.

With his tone though...if any of you guys have heard the tracks I referred to. Is his tone from high amounts of gain? It doesn't sound like that to me...but then I haven't had experience with a Les Paul apart from paying in music shops. It sounds more overdrive with an amp on the edge of breakup...but I am happy to be informed by those that have more experience in Les Paul and boutique PTP amps than I?

[tucky]

Ang3lus...nice guitar BTW. Maybe I'll look at that option as I won't have the dollars to buy a real 59 LP (not in this lifetime anyway).

I think thats cool that Mark actually plays such an expensive but obviously great sounding LP on tour rather than have it sit around in storage.

[OldSchool]

PRS DGT will get it in spades. Especially if you find one modded with 57/08's...........

[Bandalero]

I've seen MK playing a '58 and '59, but its his PAF-equipped plain top '58 that he appears to use the most from Brothers in Arms and On Every Street (Dire Straits) to most of his solo stuff, and yes, whether its with a Soldano SLO-100, a Komet-60 or a Reinhardt Storm, he's usually playing at reasonably high gain. To me, that's the true key to his overall tone. That, his phrasing and his fingers. Watching and listening to him play just makes me want to give it up!

From Strats to Teles to LPs, he's an unbelievable player with incredible tone. Some of his warmest, nicest overdriven LP sounds appear on his joint offering with Emmylou Harris entitled "All The Roadrunning", particularly "I Dug Up A Diamond". The tone of his LP on that tune is just haunting!