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Ivan sez -
> PS My opinion - there is NO surf sound if you don't have a Fender
guitar
> (or a copy). I have still to hear a good surf tone without a Fender
> guitar.
Now Ivan, them's fightin' words!!! LOL!!!
What is it that makes "Fender tone"? Is it the individual physical
components? Or the way it's all "put together"? Or is it some magic
pixie dust? Um, IMO, yes and no to all the preceding.
IMO, the essence of tone starts in yer brain, then to your fingers,
the overall guitar construction (essentially, hollow vs. plank), the
pups, the FX (if any), the amp(s). If you eliminate the human side
(brain and fingers) that leaves guitar construction and pups
(excluding the tone shaping and amplification, for the time being).
Vintage Fenders (and their vintage clones) are plank guitars, powered
by simple, true single coil pups. IMO, in essence, THAT's "Fender
tone" - it's in the pickups. There are many good, modern single coil
(and noiseless "single coil") pickups that'll do surf sounds very
nicely. The rest is up to you and your support gear. Okay, I'm down
offa my soapbox. ;=] YMMV. Rob.
> Rob said:
> (snip) "IMO, the essence of tone starts in yer brain, then to your
fingers, the overall guitar construction (essentially, hollow vs. >
plank), the pups, the FX (if any), the amp(s)." (end snip)
I agree with you here, Rob, but don't forget the strings! Zak taught
me about the virtues of flatwounds in getting that "vintage" surf
sound - the bigger the better (thanks, Zak!). The flats really bring
out the "twang" in my gear! Of course, this is all subject to
personal preference - I know some surf guitarists who prefer flats,
and can get the sound they want from them. When I try to duplicate
that "Lively Ones" sounds (without benefit of a Jag, though), I use
my Hodad with flats - sounds pretty close. However, for that Bill
Epps (Vara-Tones, Splashback) sound, it's a Strat (or Strat-copy, in
my case) with round wounds. Either way, it sounds good to me! I
think that some purists would argue exclusively for flatwounds, but
both sound good to me (depending upon my mood). Once again, it's
personal preference . . . oops! time for me to get off the soapbox -
next!
-Dick
I've also, in the last year, gone for flatwounds. I'm buyin' some kinda chrome
flatwound jazz set (I don't have the package handy) 13 through 59 or so. But ya
have to buy a seperate unwound G string (21 or 22). Does anyone know of a
flatwound set of 13's that includes a plain G?
Marty
>
> I agree with you here, Rob, but don't forget the strings! Zak taught
> me about the virtues of flatwounds in getting that "vintage" surf
> sound - the bigger the better (thanks, Zak!). The flats really bring
> out the "twang" in my gear! Of course, this is all subject to
> personal preference - I know some surf guitarists who prefer flats,
> and can get the sound they want from them. When I try to duplicate
> that "Lively Ones" sounds (without benefit of a Jag, though), I use
> my Hodad with flats - sounds pretty close. However, for that Bill
> Epps (Vara-Tones, Splashback) sound, it's a Strat (or Strat-copy, in
> my case) with round wounds. Either way, it sounds good to me! I
> think that some purists would argue exclusively for flatwounds, but
> both sound good to me (depending upon my mood). Once again, it's
> personal preference . . . oops! time for me to get off the soapbox -
> next!
>
> -Dick
>
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--- In SurfGuitar101@y..., "Dick Messick" <rmessick2@m...> wrote:
> > Rob said:
> > (snip) "IMO, the essence of tone starts in yer brain, then to
your
> fingers, the overall guitar construction (essentially, hollow vs. >
> plank), the pups, the FX (if any), the amp(s)." (end snip)
>
> I agree with you here, Rob, but don't forget the strings! Zak
taught
> me about the virtues of flatwounds in getting that "vintage" surf
> sound - the bigger the better (thanks, Zak!). The flats really
bring
> out the "twang" in my gear! Of course, this is all subject to
> personal preference - I know some surf guitarists who prefer flats,
> and can get the sound they want from them. When I try to duplicate
> that "Lively Ones" sounds (without benefit of a Jag, though), I use
> my Hodad with flats - sounds pretty close. However, for that Bill
> Epps (Vara-Tones, Splashback) sound, it's a Strat (or Strat-copy,
in
> my case) with round wounds. Either way, it sounds good to me! I
> think that some purists would argue exclusively for flatwounds, but
> both sound good to me (depending upon my mood). Once again, it's
> personal preference . . . oops! time for me to get off the
soapbox -
> next!
>
> -Dick
IMO, strings can be a kinda borderline thingy and I lump'em
into "guitar construction" and personal taste. Heavy gauge
flatwounds are a natural for a short scale Jag or Mustang but are a
chore for any 25-1/2" scale git. Yep, a good portion of that depends
on which surf music genre you're after: retro or new millennia or
whatever in between. Me? Gimme a Strat clone wrapped in roundwound
10's, lemme twang some new millennia surf tones and tunes and I'm a
happy camper. All this stuff is SO personal - and that's the way it
SHOULD be. Hmm, how 'bout a personal gear thread ... ! YMMV. Rob.
