Hey Everyone- I've been lurking here since 2019 and just posted yesterday. When I did I realized that I never introduced myself. So here goes.
I'm Pat. I've been playing guitar since I was in high school, mostly fooling around, but was in a band for a few years in college. "Wipe Out" was our one surf tune.
I live in S. Florida between the Palm Beach County madness and the St. Lucie county sprawl. I ran my family's 86 yr old transportation company up until last Sept. when I got out. The last 2 years made me realize I didn't want to start all over again. So now I just restore cars in our 100 year old gas station.
I've loved surf for years but really started getting into it when I started attending The Hukilau in Ft Lauderdale. Lots of great bands. I attended the Southern Surf Stompfest in 2019. Great event with really nice people.
I've been on The Gretsch Discussion pages for a bunch of years and posted a bit, but it seems like The GDP has gone the way of Tiki Central. Thanks for having me!

Pat Martin
1954 Gretsch Duo Jet
2000 Rickenbacker 360 w/ Accent Vibrato
2010 Fender Strat partscaster
2019 Gretsch 5422/12
2021 Hallmark Custom 65

Early 70's Fender Princeton Reverb

Welcome to SG101, Pat. Glad you're here.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Hello Pat, welcome to the family!

Patrick

Welcome, Comrade_Dubcek! Tell us a bit about yourself.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.

Comrade, there's a lot of good people here with a lot of talent and knowledge who love to share. You should be able to find anything you want that's surf related. Welcome! Check out the online surf music shows available.

Patrick

Many pardons ... it looks like I broke protocol and neglected to post here before jumping into a few other threads!

I've enjoyed surf music for decades, but pretty casually. In the last three years it's become more of an obsession and I'm working on my first solo album, which will be a collection of instrumental surf rock classics

I started playing guitar seriously at 15, nearly 40 years ago. My bands have always been rock to hard-rock to metal acts, and we always wrote and recorded our own music. I've got probably 10 albums under my belt, some of which I even produced and recorded myself. Right now I'm playing in an indie rock band out of Charlottesville, VA called 7th Grade Girl Fight.

My surf rig is pretty simple. I splurged and got myself a Fender Custom Shop Ltd 59 Jazzmaster Closet Classic at the beginning of the summer, adding that to a reissue Bassman 4x10 combo and a reissue Fender Tube Reverb unit. My other surf-forward guitar is an all-Fender partscaster, a mix of American Pro II and American Player parts plus a Mann-Made bridge and FCS pickups. I've owned a lot of guitars over the years, they come and they go, but Fender (mostly Strats) and PRS have been mainstays for me and form the bulk of my collection right now. I have a couple of Rickenbackers as well, including a 12 string I really dig. My profile photo shows off my heavily modded Hello Kitty Strat - an impulse buy that took a lot of work to turn into a good-playing guitar, but now it's an absolute screamer.

My main rock amps are an old Peavey Classic 50 and a Koch Twintone (great high-gain sounds), and I run them through a pair of 1980s Marshall 1965 cabs - the A/slant is all stock with its original 4x10 complement; the B/straight I modded with a 2x12 baffle and a pair of Scumbacks. I've never really been a pedal guy, but I use a few here and there as needed - my pedalboard power supply failed about a year ago so since then, I've really only been using a tuner on stage as my only pedal, but I'll get that fixed up sooner or later.

I was glad to find the forum here, and it's helped me find some new bands to enjoy and last night, I went to see my first surf show, Surfer Joe played in Nashville, where I had to go for work for a few days. I'll be up in Pittsburgh in November, and I'll catch The Surfrajettes there.

My favorite bands in the last few years have been Los Straitjackets, The Surfrajettes, The Del-Vipers, The Irradiates, Blue Stingrays, and now I have to add Surfer Joe to that list as well! (I got 2 of his CDs at the show.) Of course I'll always have a soft spot for The Ventures and Dick Dale, but there's a lot of good new bands & music out there too.

Glad to be a part of the community here, and I look forward to chatting with everybody and even getting to see some of your bands perform!

--
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

Last edited: Oct 07, 2022 21:50:06

Glad to have you here Chiba. It sounds like you are off to a great start!

Patrick

I just now saw this for new members to say hello. I did look for one but never saw till now! I've been on the forum and only posted a few times and here's my official hello!
For surf music, I have been into it my entire life. Something about the purity of the instrumentals and tones the bands get and the fun they all seem to have as opposed to other rock bands out there just hits me right. And I've always been in search of the perfect tone myself. But I haven't played in a surf band or any band for several years. I'm 56. Would really to. I've had at leaste one of everything for gear. Im now on my third reverb tank. I also love and play rockabilly. Surf and rockabilly just go together. My main electric is a '53 RI Gretsch Scripty. I also have a Jaguar and Jazzmaster modified. Seriously hot pups on the Jazzmaster. My current amp is a '66 Gretsch 6162. Sweet snappy amp.
And I have to say I've discovered some new bands and found some great new internet stations and pod casts in my short time on here.

I'm on Long Island. No shortage of surf!

Ah! NESMA, thanks for the reminder.