How to sound like Mark Knofler?

Ah, the age old discussion of tone is in the fingers! He plays with a lot of hart and sole, throw in some technique and you have Style!
 
The original "Sultans of Swing" album is probably the best recorded, mixed, mastered and pressed original vinyl guitar oriented rock album in my collection - and I have a ton, maybe two tons. Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits are popular with the audiophile types for good reason. Rumor has it that MK was instrumental in developing that sound, pun intended.

Some people are just better at stuff.
 
Virtually every guitarists recorded tone is not their actual tone. By the team we hear the recorded version, which is what so many people are trying to recreate, the original tone has been stepped on along the way. Level changes, dynamics, eq, doubling, overdubs, time based effects, etc., are usually applied between the input microphone and the final product.

So, while a good start to copy someone's tone might be a vintage 50's Strat in to a Dumble, the sought after tone is still missing a few racks worth of gear that would greatly influence the final sound. This recording of MK and Chet is a perfect example. It's obviously been mixed and edited for the video. That's probably not the tone or mix the audience actually heard. BTW, Chet's chorus effect is to die for. I'm sure at least some of that was applied in post.
 
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