The Unanswered Question

[ernie1958]

The Unanswered Question
by guitarplayer in Guitar Tips


If you take the time to trawl through various websites and guitar forum websites, it might come as a bit of a surprise to find that the most frequently asked question put forward by guitarists on the net is nothing to do with the more technical playing habits of artists like Edward Van Halen or Eric Clapton. It actually goes something like this:

‘How do I get Hank Marvin’s guitar sound?’

If, by some quirk of fate, you’ve not heard of Hank, I’ll fill in a few details: Hank B Marvin was lead guitarist with The Shadows, who leapt to fame as Cliff Richard’s backing group on many hits in the early 1960s. They then went on to even more success by recording chart-topping instrumentals like ‘Kon Tiki’, ‘Apache’ or ‘FBI’. Hank’s guitar sound was unique; melodic and spacey – there was even a space-age look to the instrument he was playing, too.

If you want back-up for this seemingly outrageous claim regarding Hank’s guitar sound being one of the most often debated topics on guitar forums, I can speak from personal experience; when I worked on Guitarist magazine, we used to get around one phone call a week from readers asking the same question. So I thought I’d answer it for good – although I have to admit that it might not be the answer that many are seeking… Let’s look at some details.

When Hank started out he was playing an Antoria guitar with a Selmer Truvoice Stadium Combo. Pretty soon, possibly fuelled by seeing pictures of the guitar Buddy Holly was using, Hank’s ‘boss’ Cliff ordered him a Fender Stratocaster with a maple neck which he then proceeded to use through a Vox AC15 (with a Goodmans speaker) through a Meazzi Echomatic multi-tap echo unit. It’s this combination that prevails on tunes like the aforementioned ‘Apache’, for instance.

A little later on Hank changed to another Strat with a rosewood fingerboard through a Vox AC30 with a top boost; later still he changed his echo unit to a Binson Echorec. Even later you’d find him playing a Gretsch Country Gentleman and a 1964 Burns Marvin guitar…
Now, can you see a pattern emerging here? Hank’s sound was produced by using various guitars through various amps and various echo units – but that’s a fairly unstable set of common denominators. In fact, the only really consistent factor here is the fact that all the guitars, echo units and amps were operated by Hank himself.

So are we learning something here? Change the guitar, the amp, the echo unit, give them to Hank and you’ll get his sound; his unique sonic fingerprint – which has very little to do with the gear he’s using.

My final piece of evidence comes from a story related to me a long time ago. There was once a guitarist who adored Hank’s sound and he was determined to nail it. So he studied at length what gear his hero used and set out to buy an exact match – which meant ordering a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster with the same set of pick-ups, matching strings and general set-up etc. And he still didn’t sound like Hank when he played. He tried refining his gear by matching echo units, amps, even leads: no good, he still didn’t achieve an exact match.

So our friend decided on a somewhat desperate course of action; he went along to where Hank was playing and asked if he brought all his gear to the theatre, would Hank actually play through it and tell him which piece of kit still wasn’t delivering the goods. Hank agreed and the guitarist went off to collect his rig.

When it was all assembled, Hank picked up the guitar, played a few notes and, magically, sounded exactly like himself. The guitarist was dumfounded, but he’d answered his question at last – the piece of gear he was missing was not for sale because there was only one of them in the whole world and it couldn’t be recreated for any money you’d like to name…

It was Hank himself.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the answer to the question, ‘How do I get Hank Marvin’s sound?’ is simply, ‘You can’t. You might get close, but you’ll never get it spot on. You’re not Hank, you’re you – deal with it!’

Now here's some food for thought...found this on the web

[Twangaway]

What a sensible explanation and I sentiment that. There are not many examples of individual guitarists when listened to " blindfolded " that you can say with any certainty who the guitarist is. It's not just the echo, the amp and those qualities but the sound of the man himself when he engages with any guitar. I dare say he would even make the old Hofner galaxy and VOX Ace, sound a 1000 times better than the lifeless bits of wood and metal that they are. I can only think of Hank, Hendrix, and Beck as the guitarist's who have made their signature mark sonicly speaking, maybe Gilmour and Gary Moore, but not even Clapton comes close to this bunch.

But let's not forget Bruce, I truly believe his style and rhythm signature is also something that has never been equalled in tone or style. Of course Brian and Tony Meehan rank alongside the great drummers of the early years too, but with not being a drummer would not be able to suss out via listening as to who is who. But I bet other drummers could.. That leaves Jet the fore runner of electric bass playing, and by nature of the role we cannot expect to pour similar praise on a sound that is meant to be felt but not heard. His instrumental hits, well they are another story and have that " Jet " signature for sure whatever guitar was used. Even heard an internet rumour last year that he never even played on Diamonds and that it was a session player.

Perhaps we should be content in enjoying what Hank played and stop trying to impress friends and wives that we are as good we never will be

David

[Didier]

When Hank started out he was playing an Antoria guitar with a Selmer Truvoice Stadium Combo. Pretty soon, possibly fuelled by seeing pictures of the guitar Buddy Holly was using, Hank’s ‘boss’ Cliff ordered him a Fender Stratocaster with a maple neck which he then proceeded to use through a Vox AC15 (with a Goodmans speaker) through a Meazzi Echomatic multi-tap echo unit. It’s this combination that prevails on tunes like the aforementioned ‘Apache’, for instance.

A little later on Hank changed to another Strat with a rosewood fingerboard through a Vox AC30 with a top boost; later still he changed his echo unit to a Binson Echorec. Even later you’d find him playing a Gretsch Country Gentleman and a 1964 Burns Marvin guitar…
Now, can you see a pattern emerging here? Hank’s sound was produced by using various guitars through various amps and various echo units – but that’s a fairly unstable set of common denominators. In fact, the only really consistent factor here is the fact that all the guitars, echo units and amps were operated by Hank himself.

Obviously, the one who wrote that knows very little on this subject, particularly that Hank's sound changed a lot over the years !

Didier

[Twangaway]

Unless I am mistaken, you have missed the point and theme of the article. It was merely stating that come what gear Hank uses, we always recognize the Hank Sound. Not in the sound of the Holy grail that gets people here sexed up. He is talking about the Hank ID Sonic signature of Hank himself by which we recognize his playing am surprised you confuse that Didier. It was very simply explained for all to understand. So he doesn't deserve the remark you made.

[tolo]

I can only think of Hank, Hendrix, and Beck as the guitarist's who have made their signature mark sonicly speaking, maybe Gilmour and Gary Moore, but not even Clapton comes close to this bunch.

Wow - a big statement......wiping out all of those great players.....those that inspired Hank himself, through the great groundbreaking Blues and Jazz guitarists of the 50's, are you saying that Jimmy Page? Chet Atkins? Django? Robert Johnson (without whom you wouldn't have had Hendrix)? Richie Blackmore? Joe Pass? Carlos Santana? SRV? Mark Knopfler? Slash? Steve Vai? - all of these (and we could go on and on) do not have their own unique 'sonic dna'...?? All of these wonderful musicians have taken the instrument onto another level - pushed the boundaries and despite having many imitators and devotees the (valid) point of this article could just as equally refer to those artists too. You can get close, sure, but you are not the real deal.....to say it is a bit obvious would be an understatement.

I am a huge HBM fan and I totally get his importance - but he is not the worlds first great guitarist, something inspired him which still lives in his playing today. And if you listen to his playing - he is still listening to others and evolving as a musician.

You have an opinion (which is your right) which virtually erases several generations of revolutionary musicians and many many years of important pieces of work. I don't know why you would say that only 5 guitarists are possibly unique in this way.....Maybe you have a small record collection, maybe you are not a guitarist and don't understand - I don't know. If either apply, check out some of the people listed, and give the respect that these incredible musical luminaries deserve. I am absolutely sure that HBM himself would agree with me.

Anyway...

Off to listen to Peter Green....(and there's another one.....)

Best,

Tony.

[Bojan]

James Burton was definitely an influence on the early Hank, as was Buddy Holly, as was Duane Eddy, and all of these great players had their own specific sound and style . . . the initial influence of the inimitable Carl Perkins, the "King of Rockabilly," on George Harrison is evident . . . Then there is Chuck Berry, not to mention Les Paul . . . and the list goes on. Sometimes the influence of a guitar player on future generations surpasses his own personal fame as a guitarist. Such an example was Link Wray, the pioneer of the overdriven distorted electric guitar sound and the "father" of the power chord . . . Then fast forward a few generations and you have guitarists such as Johnny Marr of the Smiths, The Edge of U2 . . . and many, many more, who all have their unique and recognizable sound. Just as Hank achieved a unique sound on the Stratocaster, Roger McGuinn had one of the most signature sounds, which he achieved on his 370/12 Rickenbacker with built-in compressor.

So, I agree, Hank is a great guitar player, but he is just one of many, many greats!! It just depends what kind of music you listen too.

[Bojan]

Oops, I forgot Duane Allman . . . and Ry Cooder . . . and BB King . . . and . . .

[Didier]

Unless I am mistaken, you have missed the point and theme of the article. It was merely stating that come what gear Hank uses, we always recognize the Hank Sound. Not in the sound of the Holy grail that gets people here sexed up. He is talking about the Hank ID Sonic signature of Hank himself by which we recognize his playing am surprised you confuse that Didier. It was very simply explained for all to understand. So he doesn't deserve the remark you made.

I am not confusing anything, the article was about : ‘How do I get Hank Marvin’s guitar sound ?’

I rather think that it's the author of this article who confused "sound" and "playing style". And when he sates that Hank used a Gretsch, this is rather laughable, as he used it for two recordings only : "Nivram" and "A girl like you" (with Cliff), and probably never used it on stage although he sometime took it as a spare.

Hank's sound changed a lot over the years mainly because of different echo units (or the lack of it). You can't get the Meazzi sound with a Roland RE-301.

Didier

[dave robinson]

Firstly may I say that I agree with Bojan.
Out of all that has been written here on this thread, there appears to be quite a bit of mis-understanding beween Hank's sound and his playing style. Hank was clearly influenced by those American guitarists before him and - as I was a good few years behind, I became influenced by Hank, only to go on to find the 'real deal' (Scotty Moore, James Burton, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Cliff Gallup, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly etc etc) much later on in my career, after I had gone through my Jeff Beck phase when he was in The Yardbirds.
My interest in Hank's sound was totally focused on the 1958/61 period which for me personally was the 'magic' sound. It has now been cleared up for me having had invaluable discussion with some knowledgable people and many pieces of vintage kit to try, test and compare. The sounds after 1962 were much easier to recreate, probably because the amplifiers were readily available for all to buy.

The final ingredient once the gear has been scourced is of course an understanding of the way Hank plays and even at my age I continue to learn more and more every day just by listening to the old recordings, which is the only way to nail it. I am guilty of developing (as we all are) my own slant on the way I play the old hits, but by listening to the fine detail, it is possible to achieve a satisfactory likeness to the original Hank style. It's a personal challenge for most of us and some will go at it until they believe that they have achieved perfection, only to find that Hank has changed it the next time they see him play. Because of all the afore mentioned discussions and experiments with gear, I've got to a stage that if I choose, I'm happy to be able to recreate THAT sound (1958/61) with the gear I now use and just enjoy playing in my own sweet way - albeit not as a perfect Hank clone. The sad part of that is that before I got involved with the internet and all the experts just over ten years ago, on the evidence of my recordings back then, my sound was probably only about 2% inferior to what it is today , hardly noticable to a normal listener - and I was quite a few grand better off . . . . . .

[Twangaway]

My age doesn't allow me to know of past great guitarists from the 50's and earlier. Yes I have heard of Django and some of those names. But with Buddy Holly, I simply love his sound, but am confused as to whether that is Buddy playing all those Strat sounding rhythms and licks, or whether it is the Cricket's guy. Yes Chet Atkins has a style but not as distinctively his own as millions of other Nashville guitarists played like him, where Hank was a one off.

Besides my comment was not at all about great guitars but to the point that article made about a personal ID. I thinks many posters like Dave Robinson said are confusing the two different comments. How can anyone not understand the DNA qualities of Hank's playing that makes us know it's him when we hear him. Best analogy is when Frankie Howard used to say " ooooh " or Dick Emery " Oooh you are awful, but I like you " and Tommy Coopers laugh and quip " Just like that " So that was what the whole point of that article was and nothing to do with accuracy as to whether he played a Gretsch on a regular basis. The point is he DID, so that was an undeniable fact and not something to open another debate going nowhere. Too many serious readers being too serious a critic and missing the point like " wood for the trees " syndrome. Give this guy a break, it was a very valid observation and flattering article about our hero. Not a phesis for Wikipedia fans.

David