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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Are reversed pickups the key to get that Dick Dale sound?

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stratdancer wrote:

This video is definitely from the era of fret wear. There is a certain dullness to the fretted notes. I love the tone!

Synchro, those little fret buzzes are annoying as hell! My luthier joked that I just need to raise my action. I told him to play two hours of high tempo surf at 180 BPM with 12's and see how well you do!

I took my WarJag’ up to Century Bob and we measured action height with his Nut Slotting Gauge, a StewMac product which is very useful, both for nut slotting checks, but also for checking the consistency of string action, on every string. Somehow, I had the action quite even, which is more a testament to happenstance than any reflection on me, because I just went with what felt best to me in the moment. Today is tax day, at Chez Synchro, and if I verify my refund amount, I’ll be sacrificing some $$$ to fund Medical and/or Law School for the offspring of StewMac’s workers.

But I like action fairly low. I used to play suspension bridge cables, but these days I’ve gone over to the light-gauge side of the force. On my Country Gent I use a hybrid 10-50 set, and I tend to run 10s or lighter on most of my guitars. I’ve been playing for over 57 years now, and amazingly have no wrist problems, but most of my guitars play very easily.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I heard the Stew Mac clan are all Harvard grads Laughing

I don't use gauges at all when setting up. I just adjust everything to find tone and action. Sometimes this can take a while and continue. I always keep the tools on top of an amp.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

stratdancer wrote:

I heard the Stew Mac clan are all Harvard grads Laughing
… they have me to think for it. There stiff is pricy, but it tends to be of excellent quality.

stratdancer wrote:

I don't use gauges at all when setting up. I just adjust everything to find tone and action. Sometimes this can take a while and continue. I always keep the tools on top of an amp.

I have always done it that way in the past, but I have to say that Nut Slotting Gauge makes for some fast info. It’s intended purpose is to test action at fret 1, to assist in setting the height of the nut slots, but it also can test action height at any fret, and be used to insure that the action is even, side to side.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

synchro wrote:

If anyone had a link to that older post of Ivan’s, I’d love to read it. I tried searching, but got buried in replies.

Here.

Ariel wrote:

synchro wrote:

If anyone had a link to that older post of Ivan’s, I’d love to read it. I tried searching, but got buried in replies.

Here.

Thank you sir.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I know Dick's guitar is modded so he can use the neck and bridge pups simultaneously. I dunno when this was done but I've always felt his sound was really wide and expansive. I used to have a strat when I was younger and always wished I could use both those pups together, I had no idea DD did this at the time, I didn't even know such a thing was possible.

So this sorta contradicts what I just said. I'm pretty sure my original statement came from a reliable source but I can't recall where now. Anyways
https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage-the-dick-dale-wiring

The easiest way to achieve this sound is to simply swap the middle and neck pickups in their holes in the pickguard. No wiring changes, just unscrew the pickups and swap places.

I did this with my strat for the primary purpose of being able to flick the switch up quickly and get the middle pickup rather than neck. The other effect is that the previous Bridge+Middle position is now Bridge+Neck.

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