The Story of Dick Dale — King of Surf Guitar & Heavy Metal

The Story of Dick Dale — King of Surf Guitar and Heavy Metal — is best told by Dick Dale himself, in some of the most riveting interviews available on video channels.

Dick Dale is a Lebanese American guitarist from Quincy, Massachusetts. One day when he was a teenager, he and his buddy were in the woods picking blueberries, and heard guitar strumming coming from an old building, “like something out of deliverance”. They went inside and found 5 old guys playing guitar. One of the guys sold him his guitar for $8.

Dick was a lefty who learned to play the right-handed guitar — unknowingly turning the guitar upside down to play it from the right side.

Dick’s family moved to California in 1954 when he graduated 11th grade. He drove his Flat-head Harley motorcycle down to Balboa, California, met a guy named Nick O’Malley, and they formed a band — although Nick’s first comment on Dick’s playing was “How come you’re playing the guitar like that; it’s upside down backwards.”

Soon afterwards he met Leo Fender. Leo had just made the Stratocaster. Leo gave Dick the stratocaster, and history was born. But not before Leo — who was always series like Einstein, according to Dick — saw him play and laughed, “How come you’re playing the guitar like that; it’s upside down backwards.”

Dick Dale would then start blowing up Leo Fender’s amplifiers because he used thick, 60 gauge strings — the 16, 18, 20, 39 49, 60 gauge strings that Fender made at the time.

Leo Fender would continue to improve his amplifiers to meet Dick Dale’s consumption.

Here is the most popular interview with Dale — where all of the above and more is told by him:

Here is another interview where a little more is revealed by Dick himself:

PS in both stories, Dick Dale tells the tale of how Leo Fender’s original amps had Jensen speakers in them, before Leo made a larger 100W amp with JBL speakers.

Jenson stopped making speakers in the late 1960’s, but in the late 1990s — under a licensing agreement — SICA Altoparlanti, an Italian speaker manufacturer, began production of the legendary Jensen speakers to the same specifications as the original ones used by Leo Fender. For example the current Fender Blues Junior Lacquered Tweed 15W amplifier uses Jensen speakers.

The history of Jenson Speakers is here: https://www.jensentone.com/history-jensen-loudspeakers

JBL continues to make speakers. Here is the JBL Story: https://www.jbl.com/our-story.html