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Okay, so I'm a guy who does not know how to play guitar, and knows
only that I want to play surf. I've been looking at equipment and
there is a lot of stuff out there. What should I look for? A
metalhead friend of mine suggested a Steinberger as a good quality
guitar which won't set me back tons of money. However, I'm not sure
what kind of differences there are or preferences for surf music. It
looks like the amp is important. Anyway if you guys have any input
on a good starting setup, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance,
pat.
Hi,
Well just like any new hobby or interest you are getting into you don't have
to start big. You don't have to go crazy on the guitar, just get something
that is functional and will stay in tune, etc. Tube amps are great for surf,
but can be expensive for a beginner. Maybe you could start on something like
this:
Functional guitar - tremolo bar and single coil pickups preferred if
possible
small solid state practice amp
stomp box reverb pedal
electronic tuner
If you decide you like the guitar, and still like surf music, you can
gradually work into the following:
Guitar with single coil pickups & whammy bar (lots of obvious choices here:
Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mosrite, etc :) )
Heavy strings, flatwounds a plus
Real Fender tube amp
Fender Reverb Unit
Surf guitar is kind of like soccer compared to other sports. You don't need
a lot of equipment...the basic ingredients are: single coil pickups, tremolo
bar for dipping, lots of reverb, loud and clean tube amp, and some more
reverb. And don't forget the reverb. Did I mention the reverb?
Let us know what you get! Good luck.
BN
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peristalsis_98 [mailto:]
> Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 3:43 PM
> To:
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Guitar n amp question.....
>
>
> Okay, so I'm a guy who does not know how to play guitar, and knows
> only that I want to play surf. I've been looking at equipment and
> there is a lot of stuff out there. What should I look for? A
> metalhead friend of mine suggested a Steinberger as a good quality
> guitar which won't set me back tons of money. However, I'm not sure
> what kind of differences there are or preferences for surf music. It
> looks like the amp is important. Anyway if you guys have any input
> on a good starting setup, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance,
> pat.
Hello Pat,
One word "FENDER"
Other brand might work as well, but nothing beats FENDER, when it comes
to Surf music.
A Twin reverb, or a dual Showman (if you can afford it ;-)
And a Jaguar or Jazzmaster or a plain Stratocaster will do the job.
Bring on the big bucks, and don't forget the "reverb tank".
Well, any nice clean sounding amp might do the job as well. You will
need reverb, lots of it. Spring reverb is the key and of course a
tremolo bridge on your guitar.
I wish you the best of luck on your gear quest.
Happy shopping,
Jerry S. from Belgium "the Ohmmen"
-----Original Message-----
From: Peristalsis_98 [mailto:]
Sent: zondag 20 oktober 2002 22:43
To:
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Guitar n amp question.....
Okay, so I'm a guy who does not know how to play guitar, and knows
only that I want to play surf. I've been looking at equipment and
there is a lot of stuff out there. What should I look for? A
metalhead friend of mine suggested a Steinberger as a good quality
guitar which won't set me back tons of money. However, I'm not sure
what kind of differences there are or preferences for surf music. It
looks like the amp is important. Anyway if you guys have any input
on a good starting setup, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance,
pat.
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:.
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This is absolutely not a plug for MusicYo.com, but I don't think you could
find a less expensive way to start out than the Kramer Focus or Striker line.
They offer very playable inexpensive guitars and some reverb amps. Just a
suggestion. www.musicyo.com. Best of luck to you.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
hi pat,
welcome, i'm not the first to answer your mail, but since no-one has
mentioned this....
don't know where you are, but in europe it goes like this: a) there are
squier package deals for starters, including a squier strat guitar, a small
practice amp and some extra's. b) there's loads of people who want to start
playing, buy such a set and then do nothing with it and sell it un-used
after a year or so. In short, you can buy such a set very cheap second-hand,
and for surf all you would need more is a reverbpedal. obviously not top of
the line, but hey, if you want to start and don't want to spend tons, it's
worth considering.
two more tips
- when buying a guitar, if you have any, bring a friend who's been playing
for some time; he should be able to point out the goods and the bads on a
guitar. as far as sound is concerned, it's a matter of tatste but as stated,
a strat a good place to start for urf, and is suitable for a lot of other
styles too. As far as quality goes, the prices means uhhh....nothing? there
are very expensive crap-guitars and cheapo top-axes!
Squier (a sub brand of fender) makes guitars in all categories, so be sure
to take that friend....
- a small practice amp is absolutely unsuitable for playing in a band,
home-use only! on the other hand, even for long time players such a small
amp is always handy to have, so it wont be a bad investment even if you want
to upgrade after a couple of months. shouldn't cost more than $50 or so
second hand. If you want to rehearse with a band, you would need at least,
say, a 60 W solid state or 40W tube amp, something in that range.
good luck and happy surfing!
wannes
>From: "Peristalsis_98" <>
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Guitar n amp question.....
>Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 20:42:45 -0000
>
>Okay, so I'm a guy who does not know how to play guitar, and knows
>only that I want to play surf. I've been looking at equipment and
>there is a lot of stuff out there. What should I look for? A
>metalhead friend of mine suggested a Steinberger as a good quality
>guitar which won't set me back tons of money. However, I'm not sure
>what kind of differences there are or preferences for surf music. It
>looks like the amp is important. Anyway if you guys have any input
>on a good starting setup, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance,
>pat.
>
_________________________________________________________________
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Hey man,
I got started in this just a little while ago and've
picked up a lot of information from this group. There
are several cool and cheap guitars you can start with,
and guitar is like any other hobby...people are always
selling to buy more and upgrade, so there's no
shortage of second hand stuff. You could take your
chances with eBay (I've always had good luck with it,
but it is a risk), or do what someone else said and
take a more experienced buddy to the store with you.
My only advice after spending money on a new practice
amp is don't go for the smallest thing there if you
can help it. I spent about $130 on a new Fender
Frontman Reverb practice amp at the shop...it was loud
enough, but when it came to the reverb it just wasn't
doing it. It was barely noticeable and not real
surfy. (This brings us to our next lesson - don't buy
something before you've tried it. Duh.) One of the
guys there tried to warn me about that while I was
walking to the register with it, but I didn't wanna
spend the bucks and now I wish I had. Not to mention
that those little practice amps don't have a lot of
resale value. I'm looking forward to a new guitar amp
as soon as I can muster the funds, but if you can
swing it, shop around for something a little bigger in
the used market.
For reverb, you can't beat the Electroharmonix Holy
Grail pedal. At about $85 new they're great and will
run you a fraction of an outboard Fender reverb unit.
May not be "quite" the same, but for the money it's a
marvelous facsimile. I run that through my Ampeg 100
watt bass amp now and it sounds really nice.
Good luck dude.
~R
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Hi....
I can definitely say after playing a Steinberger guitar for many
years, that it's not the guitar you would ever want for surf, unless
it's maybe for the overdriven-type sound you were after (like maybe
the Bomboras) Steinbergers are very flat sounding, with very little
"twang". They're not cheap guitars to buy, either, even on the used
market.
Ditto on the Fender guitars and Fender amps for a good "traditional"
surf sound. The "splashy" reverb, I think, is the key, rather than
the specific amp.
Bro,
I've been playing for going on 14 years now, and have focused on surf
for the last two years. From my experience, the best advice you'll
get from any of us would be to take a friend along with you when you
go to pick stuff out, especially if they are familiar with surf.
Most anyone who's played surf for a while can point out good stuff,
no matter the cost. Some of the best deals on surf stuff out there
can come from your local shop selling some older, beat up equipment.
For instance, I was just able to scroe a vintage '65 magnatone for
under $300, and right now it's impressing me more than the Jaguar I
got new for $600.
As far as amps and tone go, I agree that most of your "surfiness"
will come from the amp and reverb you get. I've heard great things
about both the Electroharmonix Holy Grail and Danelectro "Spring
King". Naturally, a Fender outboard Reverb is the preferred model,
but I doubt you'd want to drop $300-500 on reverb right out of the
gate. For an amp itself, Fender is the best bet, but they're also
the costliest bet. I play a Twin Reverb, which I can't possibly say
enough about, but they run close to a thousand new. In my opinion
it's the best, most versatile amp on the market, but if you're just
getting into playing it's probably a bit costly.
Also, I'd generally say that 10-gauge strings and medium picks get
the best twang when paired with single-coil pickups, but that's just
being nitpicky.
Hope I have been of some assistance,
Surfband Bill
wwww.thelavarats.com
Hello,
I was in the same predicament as you are. It's hard to
know where to start. Many people will tell you you
NEED to own a twin, tube reverb unit, and a vintage
start and/or jag, or you might as well give up you
aspirations. For those of us who want to play surf and
eat/pay rent, this is not an option.
You can buy a mex strat for relatively cheap. I most
admit to being a Fender snob, like most on this list.
From my experience, the mex strats feel just as nice
as the american. Danelectros are ok, but I would
advice you to buy a low-end Fender for roughly the
same price. (I won't recount the story of my buying a
70s twin for $300, or explain how I lost it. It still
hurts. F**king UPS.)
As for an amp, I am still undecided on what advice to
give. I bought a Danelectro Nifty-50 and I still use
it. It's small, affordable, and has a great, clean
tone. I use it on my synths now; for some reason its
seems better suited than my Roland Synth amp.
Reverb is the key to the surf sound. You can buy a
stomp box, but I've never played through the new Holy
Grail or Danelectro units. I would suggest that you
look around for a late-60s Fender solid state unit.
There are currently two on ebay. I got mine for $100
from a friend and I've never had any complaints. To my
ear, the reverb is as wet as you can get, without,
perhaps buying a tube reissue.
Final advice: use ebay. With some caution though. I am
an addict of auctions, and I've noticed that prices
fluctuate drastically. Today an nice mex strat might
go for $200, the next week $400. MIJ Jags seem to be
consistently stable at $500-600.
I currently play an MIJ Jag that cost me $250, through
a huge, old Rickenbacker amp ($100) and a Fender,
solid-state reverb unit ($100). That's $450 for a
nice, vintage tone. If I would have taken the advice
of many Cowabungans when I began playing, it would
have cost me $2500, and I still wouldn't have been
able to get my mom's wooden leg out of hock.
You don't need the greatest equipment to have fun.
That, of course is not to say I still don't dream of
owning a vintage jag, dual showman and blonde reverb
unit.
Philippe
--- Peristalsis_98 <> wrote:
> Okay, so I'm a guy who does not know how to play
> guitar, and knows
> only that I want to play surf. I've been looking at
> equipment and
> there is a lot of stuff out there. What should I
> look for? A
> metalhead friend of mine suggested a Steinberger as
> a good quality
> guitar which won't set me back tons of money.
> However, I'm not sure
> what kind of differences there are or preferences
> for surf music. It
> looks like the amp is important. Anyway if you guys
> have any input
> on a good starting setup, I would appreciate it.
> Thanks in advance,
> pat.
>
>
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I was in the same spot as you 7-8 months ago, and have gone thru quite
a bit of equipment to get the sound I wanted. Here's what worked best
for me (it was a bit pricey - shopping EBay helped).
'50s Stratocaster, $550 new.
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe tube amp, $350 used.
That's it! I have changed the speaker on the HRD and added a outboard
Fender Reverb unit ($350 new), but the stock three-spring reverb on
the HRD is plenty to begin. The 50's Strat is real twangy, and makes
for a nice vintage surf sound, at much less than a Jaguar or other
reissue guitar. And the Mex-made Strats are just as good as the
American ones, in my opinion. You could spend less, but then you might
end up trading up anyway when you don't get an authentic surf sound.
As any pro will tell you, tho, most of the tone comes from your
fingers and not the equipment anyway.
Good luck!
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