surf guitar

[hockey guy]

How can you get a surf guitar sound from your tele ?

[Picton]

I tried; you can do it with the neck pup, rolled off a bit, and as much reverb as you think you can handle. Then, work on bending the neck for a trem effect.

OR... do what I'm doing right now and build your own. A Dano lipstick in the bridge and a Bigsby ought to cover it, or at least I hope so.

[Manolete]

I'm sure the idea of a catch-all 'surf guitar' is a sort of retroactive idea. The Ventures sound nothing like Dick Dale who sounds nothing like the Atlantics etc... I guess generally you want to combine a low-sustaining guitar with a hot pickup so you get a quacking sort of sound that is strong enough to make reverb springs go 'boing boing' when you palm mute.

[musicmatty]

It's called effects people...Studio recordings used Studio effects ..such as Reverb ..delay..some tremolo..etc...

Tommy Tedesco was probably the real king of Surf and everything else guitar that was such a hit in the 60s...yes..he used a Tele


Me and my Tele for a Surf Classic



With me Jazzmaster

[waparker4]

Originally Posted by Picton

I tried; you can do it with the neck pup, rolled off a bit, and as much reverb as you think you can handle. Then, work on bending the neck for a trem effect.

Yes, and get a drri, put a 12au7 in the reverb send and then turn it up to 10. Imo, this style is more in the amp and the fingers. Any fender single coil (strat, tele, jazzmaster, jag) can do it. What amp are you using, what strings do you have on your guitar?

[musicmatty]

Originally Posted by waparker4

Yes, and get a drri, put a 12au7 in the reverb send and then turn it up to 10. Imo, this style is more in the amp and the fingers. Any fender single coil (strat, tele, jazzmaster, jag) can do it. What amp are you using, what strings do you have on your guitar?

...Yeah..thats the ticket..secret recipe' :

[Manolete]

How did they mic up the amps of surf bands in the old days?

[Kennedycaster]

Showman + outboard reverb unit + tele in the middle p/u position = surf city!


Bob

[chippertheripper]

I wouldn't just use the middle pos. why limit yourself?
I play in a surfy sounding band with a tele. Game on.

[Kennedycaster]

Originally Posted by chippertheripper

I wouldn't just use the middle pos. why limit yourself?
I play in a surfy sounding band with a tele. Game on.

Nah, I'm not limiting myself. I use the bridge p/u for Dick Dale stuff & the neck p/u when I want to smooth things out a little. Basically, what I'm getting at is teles can be great surf guitars.

[Davo17]

Originally Posted by Kennedycaster

Nah, I'm not limiting myself. I use the bridge p/u for Dick Dale stuff & the neck p/u when I want to smooth things out a little. Basically, what I'm getting at is teles can be great surf guitars.

So true, they have the mids to help them cut also. Im amazed they arent used more around here-when I see surf bands its all strats, jags, and the occasional jazzmaster. Yes they have trems-but so can teles, and many songs dont need a trem.

[IPLAYLOUD]

Ditch the front pickup, use a solid state Peavey amp and a Line 6 Verbzilla...set for "OCTO" and Echo! HA!!
(These poor guys had no idea what I was going to do at the beginning...neither did I.)

[DoubleStop66]

Using your mid position (bridge and neck pups) can give you a fairly close Fender Jaguar-ish sound. Of course, everybody is right on with their advice...experiment, don't limit yourself. The Ventures' Nokie Edwards and Gerry McGee have been playing surfy tunes using Tele's and Strats for decades, and Setzer can get some great surf tones with a big 'ol 6120!

[unccivil]

How did they mic up the amps of surf bands in the old days?

I think a lot of the old surf stuff was recorded by splitting the signal to two amps...one mostly clean and dry, probably mic'd close....and another reverb-loaded, a little dirty and probably mic'd further away.

The trick is big amp, big speakers, big reverb box, big room...like the Showman setup above

[Davo17]

Originally Posted by IPLAYLOUD

Ditch the front pickup, use a solid state Peavey amp and a Line 6 Verbzilla...set for "OCTO" and Echo! HA!!
(These poor guys had no idea what I was going to do at the beginning...neither did I.)

That sounded great!

[esetter]

Originally Posted by Davo17

That sounded great!

+1

[tele salivas]

Originally Posted by Davo17

That sounded great!

+2!
That drummer's snare sound, very nice. A tele, a Jag, and a bassist who looks like he likes his instrument....priceless

[chippertheripper]

+3 on the sound.
That's a jazzmaster. The jags sexier sister.

[ifallalot]

Everything that has been mentioned already works, but after reading over at www.surfguitar101.com I think that another tip to the sound is to use thick strings, like .11s at an absolute minimum. Some of those guys over there are using .13s or .14s!

[ifallalot]

And on a Vox VT30 to get a surf sound with a Squier Tele I do the following

Guitar: Volume on 10, Tone on 5, middle position (no mods to this guitar yet, these settings will change when I add Fezz Parka mod and Tex Mex bridge)

Amp: Tweed 4x10, Reverb on stun, Gain @ 1 o'clock, Volume at 10, Treble at 12 o'clock, Middle cranked, Bass cranked. Master volume doesn't matter but it sounds better as you get louder