John, when did Dick move from Rendezvous to Harmony Park?

Ivan
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I think he played Harmony Park on Fridays and Sundays. Sadly both places are gone. The Rendezvous is a condominium. Some think it was in the adjacent parking lot. They'd be wrong.

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The timeline:

From "The Fender Amps: First Fifty Years", p. 159: "The '61 catalog showed a brown Tolex model with a leather handle and a flat logo. Instead of grille cloth, the front panel was also covered in brown Tolex." (Presumably a prototype model used just for the catalog shoot.)

The reverb unit is developed during '61, possibly even a bit in '60, and is commercially available by early '62, if not even earlier.

Dick Dale releases: "Let's Go Trippin'" b/w "Del-Tone Rock" in September '61; and "Jungle Fever" b/w "Shake-N-Stomp" (studio version, not the version on the "Surfers' Choice" LP) in March '62. All four tracks clearly don't have reverb on the lead guitar.

Dick Dale releases "Miserlou" b/w "Eight Till Midnight" in September '62, and the "Surfers' Choice" LP in November '62. Both sides of the single as well as all the tracks on the album audibly sound as though the reverb unit is used on guitar. The LP was recorded throughout '62, being that it done at the Harmony Park ballroom, where Dick started playing in early '62. Remember, the reverb unit is commercially available by early '62.

The Chantays story from Bob Dalley's "Surfin' Guitars" book (p. 69, 2nd edition), guitarist Bob Spickard: "Knowing we were heading for the big time, we booked another dance in the same place in January of 1962 and cleared $260 profit. I can remember, at this time, the first reverb unit I ever played through. It was Dick Dale's and we used it without Dick ever knowing about it (until he reads this). [Pianist] Rob Marshall's father was in electronics and knew someone at Fender Musical Instruments. He was able to borrow Dick's reverb unit, which was in for service at the time. We were so impressed with this new gadget after playing around with it for a few hours that Brian [Carman, guitarist] and I took our share of the profits from the January dance and bought each of ourselves one."

So, DD was obviously using a reverb unit by the time he started playing at Harmony Park in '62, and almost certainly already earlier than that at the Rendezvous, as the Chantays, admittedly highly influenced by him, were inspired to buy their own reverb units (for use with guitar) after trying out his reverb unit. "Pipeline" was first released in December '62, just a month after the "Surfers' Choice" LP and three months after "Miserlou". Is Dick really saying that his releases were NOT the first surf releases to feature the reverb unit but that he was beaten to it by the Chantays? I suspect if somebody phrased it that way, he would quickly change his story.

Hope that clears everything up.

Ivan
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Aw man. Is the Jimi Hendrix thing really not true??

IvanP wrote:

Hope that clears everything up.

Clears it up for me, but then I'm easy.

I posted a reply to the poster claiming that 'Surfer's Choice' was made without reverb. The thread it was posted in has mostly been abandoned but a member in Philly posted a demo of his '60s Premier reverb tank. He said it was not as splashy as the Silvertone 1481 he once owned. I guess these early reverb tanks and perhaps the first analog delay units were a big deal in their day.

FWIW, I've seen a photo of Dick & The Del-Tones playing live on the Rendezvous Ballroom stage with the prototype reverb unit behind him. It was the early version without the grillcloth panel. So, he WAS using the Fender Reverb at the Rendezvous. Whether that photo was taken when he was trying the unit out on his vocal mike or was using it to embellish his guitar, I don't know. The photo in question was hanging above someone's workstation in the Fender Custom Shop back in the late 70s or early 80s.

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Shake and Stomp from Surfer's Choice

The Scimitars

With all due respect to Dick, none of the information in this thread negates anything he's said over the years. Dick and his storied career are bigger than life. There's an element of truth in everything he says. He was there, we were not. I think it's important to hear him in that light. An anonymous quote: "Some folks never exaggerate; they just remember big."

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Last edited: Feb 06, 2017 20:45:28

Breakaways wrote:

Ivan and John, great discussion. Interesting reading, thanks for your contributions.

Agreed!!! Thanks Ivan and John.

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Redfeather wrote:

Aw man. Is the Jimi Hendrix thing really not true??

Not sure where I read it but AIUI Jimi visited Dicks record store @Balboa after hearing about another left hander with wild technique and they became friendly ...I 'm not sure about Dicks claim of 'discovering' Jimi playing bass for Little Richard in Pasadena . Could be ..