Mark Knopfler is the king of "the claw". No pick, just a precision right hand with his '61/62 Fender Strat and a '61 Brown Fender Vibrolux. Sultans Of Swing is about as classic as it gets, and for good reason. Amazing song, brilliant tones and a great feel across the board. The end solo is famous for the 16th note arpeggios. Sometimes you'll see a bar band version where the guitarist will play triplets at the end, but that's the easy way out!
To record this I used my Partscaster (MJT body, Musikraft neck, Virgil Arlo pickups) set on the middle position running though an MXR DynaComp to tighten up the attacks a bit, then into a 1959 Tweed Vibrolux. Mic'd with a Neumann U87 and recorded through a UA Apollo x8p into Studio One 5.
The difference between the Tweed and Brown Vibrolux is minimal. The Tweed is a bit heavier in the mids and that's about it. Very similar but I did use a little bit of EQ to get the tone closer to the record. It came pretty close.
