HISTORY OF SURF MUSIC

kenposurf · Post by **kenposurf** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:44 am

In response to Peters question re: the origins of the reverb unit. My understanding is the first reverb units were part of the old Hammond organs. Leo Fender at the request of Dick Dale came up with a prototype outboard unit. Dick wanted this for his voice, not his guitar at this point. Dick felt his singing voice was too thin and wanted something to give it more fullness. Later he ran his axe through the unit as as they say the rest is (surf) history. Interesting note..Surfer's Choice Dicks first Lp and considered to be the first true surf music record..had no reverb on any track..this was prior to Dicks experiments.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:55 am

Dale, I have no idea of that woman's name. I was in my last year of school, interning at an ad agency in Orange County. I don't even remember in that woman worked there, or if she was just a friend of someone that did and just came along to play ball. I don't think I played more than a game or two with them. But I do remember them telling me about that.

The fireballs, eh? Weren't they sort of infamous for playing on a posthumous Buddy Holly release?

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:13 am

An interesting story about the early days of reverb. I did not know that reverb, associated with the classic surf sound, came after the surf music wave. May I guess that none of his subsequent recordings beyond Surfers' Choice were without reverb?

Excepting Buddy Guy's Fender ads, I seldom see mention the original or reissue oFender stand alone Reverb Unit. Many players using the Reverb in the amplifier or other reverb effect pedals. Can you hear the difference?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:21 am

George B. and I each use one (reissues) in our band.

There is NOTHING like the sound of a Fender Jag on both pickups through a Bandmaster or Showman, with a Fender reverb as intermediary. This, of course, captures the Carl Wilson/Ventures "clean" tone.

Another school of surf guitar sound is the Dick Dale sound...a Strat with a lot more bridge pickup dialed in, which is harsher than the Jag sound but also stereotypical.

George uses the Strat sound in his solos--which are 90% of the solo sound of North of Malibu. The one song on which I solo nails the early Carl Wilson tone. Once for kicks I tried playing it through another single coil guitar--my Gretsch Tennessee Rose--and the treble blew out George's eardrums for a few days...George has tried his gorgeous Mosrite reissue on leads, but it is too hot and piercing, too.

We're about to begin working on some songs which use one of my Rick 12 strings, but these will be Brit invasion stuff...

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:37 am

Los Straitjackets!

kenposurf · Post by **kenposurf** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:44 am

Actually Paul, my main outboard reverb is an original '64..my backup unit is a reissue that has been modified. I use the neck pup 90% of the time and switch to the 2nd out of phase spot for Ventures type stuff. Maybe a little EQ and we can use the Gretsch and Mosrite..hah! There are some classic surf tunes that beg for a 12 string treatment...Apache comes to mind at the top of the list. All of Dick Dale's Lp's after Surfer's Choice feature the wet reverb sound. Neil Young uses an outboard reverb but runs it dry so that it's serves as a signal boost before feeding the signal into his tweed Deluxe then into his gazillion watt power amps. This boosting of the signal is part of the magic...single coil pup-reverb unit-tube amp= the classic sound. Pre reverb recordings by Duane Eddy and Link Wray featured loads of Tremolo which sounds great also. Many current surf bands will now add some delay and or distortion effects.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:09 am

It's been awhile, George, hey? Thanks for the setup stuff...you can tell I pay more attention to my Jag than to your Strat!

kenposurf · Post by **kenposurf** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:14 am

You have to..I still have NO idea what all those switches and knobs are for on that thing! Back in the groove soon..

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:50 am

Interesting to see this thread. I'm reading Marshall Crenshaw's book about rock films and there are countless entries where filmmakers were hoping to cash in on the surf rock craze. Some pretty interesting stuff it looks like, too.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:03 am

So where do the Beach Boys fit into surf music? Are they considered a true surf band, or a more mainstream approximation?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:27 am

For those of us in the hinterlands of the Midwest, the Beach Boys represented each new craze as it hit. I'm sure that So Cal was much hipper and faster moving; hence there were some good local surf bands in LA/OC who never got national airplay.

The Beach Boys' first charted hit, "Surfin", released on Candix and later X, hit no farther east than Phoenix. But their "Surfin' Safari" album, with its cover shot on the same Malibu beach that the "Rockford Files'" Jim Rockford supposedly parked his trailer, made surfing a mainstream teen thing in '63.

No short answer to this one, in other words. They did Catch the Wave and ride it for all it was worth, though...

Let's not talk about what the group deteriorated into, shall we? It's too depressing...

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:13 pm

Yeah Paul Thanks For Introducing This....

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:16 pm

The Beach Boys weren't considered a real Surf Band by those who played the instrumental music. Dennis was the only one who really surfed. Mike Love and Brian were into the teenage craze of fads(Surfing and Hot Rods) they did write lots of songs that we all bobed our heads too.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:28 pm

Paradise Cove. Jim Rockford didn't surf, either.

Not sure what Paul's referring to as per the deterioration. I groove on Sunflower, and Holland, and some of the other latter stuff, not just the surf/car stuff.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 12:32 pm

Well, i'd say post-Holland they really started to fall off, creatively.

For me personally, it stops at Smiley Smile.