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--- In , Leslie Fradkin <lfradkin@e...>
wrote:
> "I'm reading here that they're the only string that has enough tone
> to play through a reverb tank? "
>
> No, just if you want Dick Dale's tone...
Well, I really don't think so. I know of no evidence that Dick Dale
EVER used flatwounds. In general, I don't think flatwounds work very
well on a Strat. Just my opinion. I do know for a fact that Hank
Marvin of the Shadows used roundwounds from the very beginning (i.e.
Apache in 1960) and ever since. (He used Gibson Sonomatics back
then, strings that are again available.) I also know that the
Atlantics used roundwounds back in the day, since you can hear them
scratching the picks against the strings on several songs. To my
ears, Dick's tone is closer to the roundwounds than flatwounds.
However, flatwounds work really well with Jags and Jazzmaster,
especially when you start doing a lot of palm-muting with a lot of
reverb from a Fender reverb unit. Think Astronauts on Baja, Surf
Party, etc. Less agressive surf music, with that 'waterwell-ping',
wet reverb sound. Flatwounds sound much better for that kind of
stuff. So, it depends on what you want.
Incidentally, Les, why is that is people who are after the more
traditional reverbed tone are told that this is Dick Dale's sound,
while the more distorted, 'modern' tone is not referred to as Hendrix
tone or Clapton's tone or Beck's tone or Angus Young tone or
whatever? I think that just as you can use all those same overdriven
tones to find your own sound, one can also use the same setup as Dick
Dale or Eddie Bertrand circa '63 to come up with one's own sound, as
well. We've seen many modern surf guitarists prove that: Frankie
Blandino of the Fathoms, Dave Wronski of Slacktone, Evan Foster of
the Boss Martians, Rip Thrillby, John Blair of Jon & the Nightriders,
Shigeo Naki of the Surf Coasters, and many others all use basically
the same ingredients and equipment as Dick Dale and traditional surf
guitarists but all have their own distinctive style that at least I
find recognizable. I'm personally tired of the late sixties,
seventies and eighties guitar tones, since they have been way
overused, and they're not terribly modern to my ears, nor are they
terribly distinctive. I think they you can create a much more
personal tone by using the same equipment that DD and other surf
pioneers used for the simple fact that it hasn't been used by
thousands of other guitarists. There's a lot more to be done with
it. That's the philosophy to which I adhere, anyway. If you really
want a new, modern, different tone, do something like Reeves Gabrels
or Sonic Youth or whatever other experiment guitarists: use different
equipment than anybody else or in completely different ways than
others.
Just a few thoughts for further discussion...
Ivan
