I can describe them in three words.

strat trem bar.

Hanks the master of the Stratocaster vibrato.

Take a look at this and you can see his method of holding the trem arm and picking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x2SojQ1XNI

The Thunderchiefs

You need to play the "vibrato" bar with it in hand during your playing. Essentially it's always in the hand.

If the angle on the stock Fender bar is too great you can take it and bend it to make it more amenable to doing that sort of playing-so it just lays in your hand while you play.

The very first instro songs I ever learned on my new Strat (back years ago) were Shadows stuff. A vise and a hammer make the bar bend pretty well.

DGG
You need to play the "vibrato" bar with it in hand during your playing. Essentially it's always in the hand.

If the angle on the stock Fender bar is too great you can take it and bend it to make it more amenable to doing that sort of playing-so it just lays in your hand while you play.

The very first instro songs I ever learned on my new Strat (back years ago) were Shadows stuff. A vise and a hammer make the bar bend pretty well.

There is a guy in the U.K. who makes the trem bar that Hank likes and uses.. makes it in metric as well as SAE..

JM

Joelman
For an example in the song, <u> A Place in the Sun</u>. He does a C note bend on the trebel E string. It sounds almost like a pre-bended note, but I am sure it isn't. I thought someone here would be more familiar with his technique. Maybe he uses a pedal or something. I know he used a variety of equiptment. However I am not up to speed about all the effects he used.

Joel, on "A Place in the Sun" Hank used a DeArmond 610 Tone/Volume pedal. He used one from '65 until the early/mid seventies. It's relatively unique, as it moves in three dimensions: up/down for the regular volume effect, but it also swivels left/right for the 'Tone' effect. The Tone effect is basically somewhere between turning a tone knob on a guitar with your hand and a wah-wah. It is a passive effect, no batteries required, so it doesn't boost any frequencies like a wah does, but it does have a wider range and sounds a bit different than a tone knob. Hank would usually start a note with the tone pedal furthest to the left, where it strangles most treble, and then swivel it to the right, adding full treble as the note was played. It gave it that 'crying' sound.

I think the DeArmond 610 pedal was used by Chet Atkins a fair amount in the late fifties and the early sixties. Then in the UK it was used by two instrumental bands: the Krew Kats around '60, featuring future Shadows Brian Bennett and Licorice Locking, as well as Big Jim Sullivan on lead guitar; the Krew Kats only released a couple of (very cool) singles but Big Jim became a major studio guitarist and played on a ton of hits in the sixties, often sharing duties with Little Jim - AKA Jimmy Page (Big Jim was also the guitar teacher of young Ritchie Blackmore); the second band was the Hunters whose lead guitarist used a DeArmond pedal on a super classic single The Storm/ How's M'Chicks (from 1961, I think, maybe 1962). The Hunters actually replaced the Shadows as Cliff Richard's backing band on a few occasions. Hank probably was inspired to use the pedal by one of these two bands, both of which he would have clearly known about. Also, the song "The Crying Game" was a big hit in the UK in July of '64 and featured Big Jim Sullivan on a memorable lead using a DeArmond 610 to emulate a crying sound. That would have been right around the time that Hank acquired one. Anyway, he was a real master with that pedal.

Those pedals are rare and go for a lot of money today. You'll have to pay at least $200-250 for one, and you'll probably only be able to find it on eBay. I was able to buy one around '99, for less than a $100, and it's a really cool piece of gear. There was also a Fender version of this pedal, that also swiveled in 3-D. They are even rarer, and just as expensive. The DeArmond pedal tends to be snatched up by the Brits who are into Hank Marvin; the Fender version is beloved by steel guitarists.

(Incidentally, I saw Los Straitjackets with Big Sandy on Thursday, and I was chatting with the guys after the show. Pete Curry told me he has started recording some tracks which will either be the next Halibuts album or maybe a "Pete & the friends" type of a project. One of the tracks he's been working on is - A Place in the Sun! How's that for strange coincidences?? And he's got Dave Wronski playing the lead on that at this point, replicating the DeArmond with manual manipulation of the volume - or tone? - knob. I do love that song, it's beautiful. Check out Maroc 7 for another great Shadows track with some awesome tone pedal manipulation. Oh, and Hank's debut solo album from '70 is chock full of DeArmond pedal.)

Ivan

Ivan
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Ivan

Thank you Very much!!
I knew something was used, but I couldn't find the info in any place I looked. I have been studing the shadows music for a few weeks now, and I am finding some really cool stuff I never heard.
Thanks for the info again!

Joel