Dick Dale Observations

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

I didn't realize he strung his guitar reversed, but am also curious about the writing on the pick guard. I quickly assumed it was tuning of the strings, assuming he used an odd tuning, but there are only five notes written out. A - B - A - E - G (in order as one would read them looking from above).

 

[kookaburra]

I never noticed the stringing! That would cut down on people asking to play his guitar.

 

[Manual Slim]

No idea what it's for, but look again!

 

[willietheweirdo]

Gedba is actually an Arabic word for "angry;" abdeg means "noisy." Dick was Lebanese. Totally not a coincidence.

I never noticed the stringing! That would cut down on people asking to play his guitar.

Guess again: all the righties could play it just fine that way!

 

[Beebe]

Maybe a chord progression, or keys ...are my guesses.

 

[Resojazznblues]

He used heavy cables for strings also. .014-.054 or something bigger. He would burn through his pick fast with that rapid fire staccato on those cables. His tone defines and built a whole genre. Dick Dale was a great musician.

 

[Linds]

It's an e minor pentatonic.

Gedba = egabd.

 

[Peegoo]

Dale had a built-in tuner in his Strat. There are five LEDs are along the edge of the pickguard. You need only a single E...hence the five LEDs.

The two switches are a standard three-way pickup switch and a 2nd toggle switch to bypass the three-way and activate the neck and middle pickups.

 

[kookaburra]

.

 

[kookaburra]

Gedba is actually an Arabic word for "angry;" abdeg means "noisy." Dick was Lebanese. Totally not a coincidence.



Guess again: all the righties could play it just fine that way!

Ah, I missed the obvious: He's a lefty! Appreciate the correction.

 

[Red Ryder]

A lesbanese I thought that was some kind of girl thing.

 

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

Dale had a built-in tuner in his Strat. There are five LEDs are along the edge of the pickguard. You need only a single E...hence the five LEDs.

The two switches are a standard three-way pickup switch and a 2nd toggle switch to bypass the three-way and activate the neck and middle pickups.

Well I'll be... thanks!

 

[Blazer]

Dick Dale said that Leo Fender was his father figure but also that Fender at first laughed at his playing "You play upside down and backwards"

Here's a very cool clip from the early days.


Apparently he also had a white strat with a Tortoise shell pickguard at some time, I wonder what happened to that one.

 

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

So what's this black rectangle mounted on his Strat in 1995 right above the pick-guard?

Did he mount an actual tuner before moving on to something more lowkey like the built-in tuner described above? Or is it something as simple as a pick holder, or something he might have been paid to endorse that didn't stick around long?

 

[Fenderdad1950]

I saw him in California is in the 60s, my first concert.

 

[Digital Larry]

I finally saw DD a few months before he passed away. I'm glad I did but much of it was lost on me as he spent a fair amount of time talking and telling stories, which if you were close enough to hear you would be deafened the moment he started playing again.

 

[The Angle]

I had a brief email correspondence with Dick Dale in the early 2000s. He had no particular reason to respond to fanboy email, but he wrote back anyway, several times. It was quite a thrill for me. He's a class act, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Resojazznblues]

Dick Dale said that Leo Fender was his father figure but also that Fender at first laughed at his playing "You play upside down and backwards"

Here's a very cool clip from the early days.


Apparently he also had a white strat with a Tortoise shell pickguard at some time, I wonder what happened to that one.

The white Stratocaster remained his #1 throughout his career. He had a custom auto shop paint it the metallic chartreuse color that became his trademark. Other mods were performed on guitar also. It went on to become the one that the Fender Custom Shop based the Dick Dale model on.

 

[Brad Pittiful]

The white Stratocaster remained his #1 throughout his career. He had a custom auto shop paint it the metallic chartreuse color that became his trademark. Other mods were performed on guitar also. It went on to become the one that the Fender Custom Shop based the Dick Dale model on.

i only have a memory of him playing the sparkley one

 

[Blazer]

The white Stratocaster remained his #1 throughout his career. He had a custom auto shop paint it the metallic chartreuse color that became his trademark. Other mods were performed on guitar also. It went on to become the one that the Fender Custom Shop based the Dick Dale model on.

Thank you, it makes sense though, he got that one from Leo Fender himself, he cherished that one.