Dr. Matt typically plays a 1970s Fender Telecaster Bass which differs from the 1950s Telecaster Bass in that the bass has a humbucker rather than a single coil pickup (note: In the "Hate to Say I Told You So" music video, he plays a Rickenbacker bass) in the band's signature white/black color combo through a white Hiwatt amplifier; he almost always uses bass distortion and a pick.
Manufactured from 1997 to 1998 by Fender, the California Series Stratocaster, Telecaster and bass models were a joint effort between the company's factories in Corona and Ensenada.
The most famous user of the Fender Harvard, in conjunction with a Telecaster guitar, was Steve Cropper, who said that he used the amp for most of the classic recordings made with the Stax house band Booker T. & The M.G.'s, including Green Onions and (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay.
Victor Damiani, bass player on the first and second Cake albums, used a second version Fender Telecaster Bass on the Fashion Nugget album.
It was used on the original pickups that Leo Fender (founder of Fender Guitars) created for the Stratocaster, Telecaster, and the Precision Bass.
Knopfler used several guitars during the sessions, including four Schecter Stratocasters—two red, one blue, and one sunburst—a black Schecter Telecaster, an Ovation classical guitar on "Private Investigations" and "Love Over Gold", a custom Erlewine Automatic on "Industrial Disease", and his 1937 National steel guitar on "Telegraph Road".
His favourite electric guitars are a Fender Telecaster and an Ibanez 7-string, both of which he uses with a variety of effects.