Hi, hope this isn't an insipid question, but I'm curious on what is needed to get that early 60's classic surf guitar sound a la Dick Dale, etc. I believe someone told me that a Fender Jazzmaster or Jaguar is used. Is there any other guitars that can get that twangy baritone sound? How about the amp? I imagine you'd need a spring reverb, but does any amp with a spring reverb work?








_________________
Greg B Host

Anyone?








_________________
Greg B Host

I've been interested in Surf Guitar for some time now and I too have been looking for that Surf Guitar sound.

Since no one is responding, I did a little research. Since Dick Dale is my favorite I did my searches based off of his style.

He used a Fender Strat that was customized for him. They added a five postition switch and moved the pickups forward.

His strings were really heavy and used a heavy plastic pick. 14, 18, 28, 38, 48 and 60 gauge regular wound Fender strings.

With the 60 gauge strings and his style, he kept blowing his speakers so Fender built him a 100 watt Dual Showman with two D-130F 15-inch JBL Lansing speakers.

"With the introduction of the 'reverb' unit by guitar maker Leo Fender in 1962," wrote Paul Johnson, "lots of lead guitars took on the big, hollow, tubular tone of the reverb. The Fender reverb gave the guitar a slippery, 'wet' sort of tone, which naturally served to solidify the music's identification as 'the sound of surfing.' Some of the most memorable surf sounds (such as the Chantays' 'Pipeline', the Surfaris' 'Wipe Out', the Pyramids' 'Penetration', and Dick Dale's 'Miserlou') were literally drenched in reverb."

Here's the link to the article. Scroll down to the Dick Dale Section.

http://www.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/lsc212.html#dick_dale

I also have the Surf Guitar music book that gives a playing description for each song.

Authentic note-for-note transcriptions straight off the original recordings for 30 of the best surf guitar songs ever! Includes: Let's Go + Lonesome Town + Misirlou + Mr. Moto + Poor Little Fool + Rumble + Surfin' Safari + Tequila + Wipe Out + and more. Also features a souvenir photo section and playing notes on each song. Includes tab.

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/book.asp?ppn=BKHL315168

I hope that helps a little. I'm using a Fender Tele and my strings are pretty light. After reading the Dick Dale info, I'm going to get thicker strings. I did switch to a super heavy pick and that helped a lot. I'm just using a small Crate practice amp with spring reverb and it's fun to play around with.

I'm sure there are a bunch of modern technology that'll recreate the same sounds. I found it interesting to see how Dick Dale created his sound. It seems pretty basic. I'll continue to research and post any new findings.

Interesting. Thanks.








_________________
Greg B Host

In general Surf Guitar is known for clean tones (as opposed to distorted), with a tone of reverb. A hint of delay may help as well. Also one signature aspect of surf guitar is tremolo picking chromatic slides (aka strumming a string really fast and sliding your finger from a higher fret to the lower frets). In order to keep with surf tones, you want every note, especially the low ones, to ring out clearly and not sound muffled. You can achieve this by having a decent guitar and keeping the volume high enough. (If you don't know the sound I'm talking about, try turning the amp volume down really low on a clean setting and strum hard, and you'll hear a lot of nasty sounding low notes).

Good luck man.

I use a number of guitars to achieve this sound and have gotten good at it over the last 20 years. I used to use a Fender Stratocaster, then switched to a Gretsch ProJet with TV jones pickups. These two guitars will give you a good twang with a little bit of beefiness. It's really in the amp. I used to use a Roland Jazz Chorus but switched to Vox amps. To get that great reverb sound, I use a 1960s Fender spring reverb unit. It pushes the reverb and sound out of the amp as opposed to many built in reverbs that pull the sound back. I would suggest concentrating on the amp to achieve the surf sound. You need an amp with a clean, bright channel. Digital reverbs have come a long way. If you use a pedal reverb, make sure it has a control for the "wet" mix. This allows you to control the reverb with more precision. Built in reverbs in amps have a single control. I usually add reverb when recording within the software program in my studio. Find a guitar with a clean sound and a bright lead position pickup.








_________________
I've been playing 26 years. I live to play guitar and will die a guitarist.

fender though a fender!...the last two guys know what their talking about!
i got a great tone with a thin line tele and a fender ultra verb...but that style is new to me.

Looking for something which stands out from the crowd and looks DIFFERENT?
Our website has a unique shape and style which does stand out.
NOT antother Les Paul knock off...looks more like a Gibson Blues Hawk!!
And you don't have to sell your house and car to own it like you would with a "Paul" !!
Beautiful Les Paul type Electric guitar made with quality parts:
Double binding on the body and headstock
Awesome dark red flame maple top / solid mahagany body pearl inlay neck
very cool looking bronze hardware (tuning pegs,bridge volume tone nobs)
Seymour Duncan pickups
Grover tuners
Gotoh bridge
NO Dings / scratches /dents All Brand New!!
Awesome sounding guitar!!
Price: Less than $400.00 in my online shop...no international scammers needed thanks!
email for pictures and or more info...ready to play it / buy it!! Thanks


All these above you can find on my online shop and the link is: www.fritra.com

We use paypal to complete the transaction to prevent any scammers.

Any questions, please either send email to my e- mail: fritra_inc@yahoo.com.cn or fritra@hotmail.com or talk to our customer

represenative on line