Recently I’ve been listening to many surf instrumentals and trying to figure out what instruments the guitarist and bass players used. In my early years of playing guitar I’d often look at album covers with a magnifying glass hoping to see what position the switches were in or perhaps figure out if they were using round wound or flatwound strings. Looking at the photos close up only enlarged the dots on the paper from the printing process but I could almost make out what it was. I was still hopeful that maybe I could find other photos in magazines or in music history books to see what guitar settings the players used.

I would hear a tone on a recording that I liked and go into a frenzy trying to buy the guitar just like “the one” they were playing. I’ve gone out and bought every guitar I could find hoping to sound like my earliest influence and friend Duane Eddy. I’ll try to find a 1957 Gretsch 6120 with two single coil DeArmond pickups. Not a ’56 or a ’58 but a ’57! I’ve been looking for the Guild DE-500, Duane Eddy Model which is very rare settled for a DE-400 with white single coil DeArmond’s instead.

My other goal was to find similar instruments used by The Ventures. I have the early 60s Jazzmasters, maple neck Strats and a maple neck ’58 Precision Bass. One of my favorite covers by The Ventures is titled “The Ventures” (Dolton BLP-2004). On the cover Don Wilson is playing a A major chord on his maple neck Strat and Bob Bogle playing a A 7th chord on his Jazzmaster. Nokie Edwards is kneeling and playing a beautiful ’58 Precision Bass with the cleanest maple neck and chrome bridge and pickup cover in place. You can see Don’s lever switch in the bridge position and Bob’s Jazzmaster toggle switch in the neck position. You can see the wear marks on Don’s maple neck from hours and hours of playing and can almost read the time on his watch.

It’s great having similar instruments to those used by your guitar heroes and it’s important to let your guitar hero know how much you appreciate them. I’ve always wished I could have told Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Albert Collins, Roy Lanham, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Bryant and Jimi Hendrix how important their music was to me and all the hours I spent listening to their recordings over and over again. I’ve been lucky to grow up in an era when the electric guitar made heroes out of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and hundreds of other guitarist’s that have become your hero’s. I’d watch every TV show that had a guitarist playing such as Neil LeVang and Buddy Merrill playing on the Lawrence Welk show. I couldn’t wait to watch the Ozzie and Harriet show when little Ricky and his band featuring James Burton playing the scariest Telecaster solos I’ve ever heard. By watching James bend those strings, I figured out he was using a plain G string.

It’s a great feeling watching and learning licks from other guitar players to see how they play chords and solo’s. I wore out many records trying to learn songs by Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Duane Eddy and many other guitar instrumentals. I’d learn the bottom part, the high part and then tried to figure out how to play both parts…at the same time! I was lucky to have lived in Southern New Jersey where we could drive to the Atlantic City or Wildwood and watch groups like The Fenderman doing “Mule Skinner Blues” or watching Pete Carroll and the Carroll Brothers backing up Chubby Checker doing “The Twist” or watching Roy Buchanan playing at a club called Dick Lee’s. I would sneak into night clubs wearing sunglasses to look older or lying about my age to get an ABC Card, (Alcohol Beverage Control) so I could play in night clubs when you are under 18 years of age.

I respect the player who has a unique sound and playing style that you instantly recognize when you hear them play. I couldn’t wait to play to Cincinnati, Ohio to see Lonnie Mack playing somewhere around town or to see Cal Collins play chord inversions like I’ve never seen before. I hung out with many great players from the area such as Bill Bartlet who played a Mosrite in the group called “The Lemon Pipers”. Joe Walsh would visit Cincinnati and we’d jam on an old Yardbird favorite “Train Kept-a-Rollin”. One of my favorite players and long time friend is Adrian Belew who has done many great things for and with the guitar. We set fire to a Stratocaster in a tree outside Frank Zappa’s house because Adrian wanted one that looked like Jimi Hendrix set on fire.

Another musician I came in contact with in Cincinnati is Larry Goshorn a fine country and blues player who worked with the band Pure Prarie League that later included a great singer and guitarist Vince Gill. I love going to Nashville to see players like Brent Mason, Jimmy Olander and Steve Wariner play Tele’s that would make Roy and Danny proud. Albert Lee always loved Jimmy Bryant for his endless riffs and fancy picking. Other friends I deeply admire for their playing is Arlen Roth along with Jerry Donahue. Arlen, Jerry and I have spent many hours talking about guitars, guitar recordings, particular sounds and all the players that have influenced us. One of my favorite cities to play is in Dallas, Texas with famous bluesman Bugs Henderson. Bugs has worked with Freddy King and I had the honor of playing on his recording of “Honky Tonk”.

To this day I’ve been trying to find the player that performed on an early 60s TV show called “The Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour”. I remember a young group in western wear doing an instrumental version of “San Antonio Rose” and half way through the song the guitarist did a back flip and the crowd went crazy. At that point I said to myself “I want to play guitar”. Maybe someday old re-runs of the show might be aired and it would be great to find out who the guitar player was.