Whence the Twang?

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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Didier » Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:07 pm

Martyn wrote:Is there any information confirming which make/gauge strings Hank used during the various stages of the Shads' development, including the more recent years?

I think that Hank said in a recent interview that nowadays he mostly uses 11-50 strings, and heavier ones for old Shads' tunes.

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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby donna plasky » Wed Apr 11, 2012 3:36 am

ernie1958 wrote:Hey Martyn...I think you could get a satisfying answer from the "Man" himself(Hank Marvin).. :lol:
Check out the Final Tour dvd of the Shads...somewhere along the line Hank explains to the audience why they change guitars so much
when playing their sets...Hank says:"it's because we can!" :lol: Then he explains the fact that he uses different gauges of strings for some of
the older stuff and others for some of the newer tunes...all in the effort to get the best sound!
Hope this helps out,
Cheers,
Ernie



Hi, Ernie. I was desperate to take a break from my guitar practise session (because I am so terrible at playing it) and this post gave me the perfect excuse. I went onto YouTube and found the clip where Hank explains about "...it's because we can." It is at 03:10 in this video. I shall now like to blow up my guitar, as string gauge would only be important if I knew how to play the guitar in the first place. :)

Regards,
Donna

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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Detailed Infinity » Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:59 pm

That's why I have two Strats Donna. One heavy gauge and one with 9's

Bri
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Snewzer » Sat Dec 26, 2015 10:14 pm

Hi folks,
Hope this is the best place for this query. I just can't get anywhere near the sound of the strat twang as you guys do in all your video clips. I have no idea why. I have a Vox AC4HW1 amp, the stanley eTAP echo pedal, and a MIM strat. My only thought is, could it be that the strat isn't good enough? How big a difference does this really make?
Hope someone can answer this, I know the playing makes a difference but even when I hit a single open string it still doesn't sound right. I am a bit of an amateur when it comes to all this so its probably a daft question but I'm pulling my hair out trying to find an answer.

Thanks in advance

Pete
Last edited by Snewzer on Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Uncle Fiesta » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:51 pm

The setup of your guitar is critical Peter. You need a fairly high action - forget the heavy metal speed kings with their strings almost touching the frets. You need a lot of space for a vibrating string, particularly with heavy gauge strings . And I'm using 12-52 on mine.

(It's like those young boy racers with their cars lowered almost to the ground. It actually makes the handling worse, well you don't want to do that to your guitar do you?)

Also a vibrating string needs more space in the middle than at the ends, so it's no use having your neck straight. Make sure the truss rod is adjusted to give the correct amount of neck relief, and remember it might need a tweak when the weather gets hotter (or more likely in this country, colder) because changes in temperature can make the truss rod expand and contract.

Finally, if your guitar is getting old it may need the frets levelled and profiled, as a fret that is wearing down will lower the action further up the neck.
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Snewzer » Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:36 am

Thanks Steve, I will try that tonight. I am using 11's gauge strings and the guitar is only 4 yrs old so no problems there.
Pete
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby JJMMWG DuPree » Sat Mar 18, 2023 3:13 pm

A slight tangent here, but it seems like someone in this chat may have answers.

I have a Friend Who Knows Everything, and annoyingly he does know quite a lot, but he also has the answer as to why owning one Vox AC30 and loving it doesn't mean you can buy an apparently identical one and love that one too. I know that back in those days there was a lot more hand building going into amps (And guitars!), but he says that Vox didn't even have a factory, their amps were built in various workshops and that they had a contract with Radio Shack. I find myself doubting that last bit. Radio Shack was an American company known as Tandy over here and I'm not certain that they even existed back then, let alone having a UK presence. Maybe what he was told was that 'radio shacks', as in small businesses that made radios, were used.

Is there anyone on here who can make me feel smug for a little while?
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby Uncle Fiesta » Sat Mar 18, 2023 5:38 pm

You could get your mate to read this!

https://www.sweetwater.com/feature/tech ... sue31_vox/
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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby MikeAB » Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:51 pm

Am I alone in being annoyed at Hank choosing to comment about string selection when his Strat sound on that tour was so poor and nothing like what he implies he was trying to do. Tin hat on.

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Re: Whence the Twang?

Postby dave robinson » Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:05 pm

Uncle Fiesta wrote:You could get your mate to read this!

https://www.sweetwater.com/feature/tech ... sue31_vox/



There are too many errors in that article to take it seriously. :|
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