Remembering Duane Eddy - King of Twang
The sad news of the passing of guitarist Duane Eddy a lifelong influence on my music came earlier this week. I was just one of countless players that were inspired by that great sound he created.
Duane Eddy - with his original Gretsch 6120
My introduction to Duane Eddy came from some Camden records cassette tapes my uncle brought probably back from the far East in around 1980. I thought they sounded great!
By 1983 I had gone 'electric' and was into instrumental guitar music in a big way, playing along to music by the Shadows, Cliff Richard's backing band, The Ventures and Duane Eddy. Hank Marvin of the Shadows would later record with Duane around 1995.
I marvelled at Duane's sound back in the 80's, a school friend of mine Dave who was studying electronics made me a super spring reverb unit in 1983. That thing sounded amazing and I could get a real Duane Eddy sound from that and my old Vox AC4 amplifier, played into by a 1974 Gretsch Viking or a Tokai TST50 Stratocaster.
Sadly the reverb failed and Dave has promised to build me a new one. I had 'Dance to the Guitar man' on a compilation album in 1984 and I could get quite close to Duane's guitar sound with that old reverb tank! Happy days.
Duane Eddy - with his Guild Duane Eddy Signature guitar
Duane Eddy went 'electric' in the mid 1950's with a Gibson Gold Top Les Paul guitar, before chopping that in for a 1957 Gretsch 6120 guitar. Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins were also 'Gold Top' players for a while. Duane saw that the Bigsby on the 6120 was something he could use and the Gold Top was traded in.
In the 60's, Duane had his own signature guitar made by Guild that was equipped with a Bigsby vibrato and Dearmond Dynasonic pickups, a format that was as on his Gretsch 6120 and vital to his sound and playing style. The Guild was in a natural wood finish rather than the 'Western Orange' found on the Gretsch.
Duane Eddy later had a signature guitar made by Gibson, likely after the endorsement deal with Guild had finished.
Duane's major chart successes came from around 1959-63, however the British invasion of the American charts in 1964 by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, the Who and others largely put paid to instrumental music in the US mainstream pop music charts, although groups such as the Surfaris, Ventures and Chantays found success in the far East, notably in Japan with their instrumentals.
Gretsch 6120 Signature model
Duane's next brush with success in the UK, was in 1976 with the tune 'Play me like you play your old guitar.' It was a song I immediately liked, aged 10 and at the time I was learning to play the guitar. Mine was a rather asthmatic Spanish guitar with creaky ribs and was just about fit for the fire. A long way removed from Duane's electric guitar!
In 1986 Duane made another surprising chart entry with a British avant garde music group called the art of noise, with a reworked version of Duane's 1960 classic the theme from Peter Gunn, a 1960's Detective show on American television.
I worked in a warehouse at the time this was in the charts and when this Peter Gunn record was played on the radio at the time, I marvelled at the sound of that guitar reverberating off the hard surface walls, it sounded bloody fantastic! I was rather spoilt musically at this time as the Shadows were back making records again.
Fast forward to the 1990s and Duane was given a third signature guitar, this time by Gretsch, along the lines of his original 6120, in fact a good representation of his original guitar. With a pair of Dearmond Dynasonic pickups, Bigsby vibrato and stunning orange finish, with Duane's signature on the pick guard and truss rod nut cover, it was a superb guitar.
Duane Eddy with Hank Marvin of the Shadows -
Duane and Hank recorded 'Pipeline' for one of Hank's solo albums
Brian Bennett (Shadows), Duane Eddy, Dick Plant (producer)
& Hank Marvin (Shadows) at the recording of 'Pipeline' at Brian's studio
Hank Marvin of the Shadows was making some solo albums in the 1990's and Duane was invited to duet with Hank on 'Pipeline' an old Chantays surf number. Hank had started out in 1959 at around the same time as Duane, playing instrumentals.
The recording was made at Shadows Drummer Brian Bennett's home studios in Hertfordshire, with Dick Plant producing, Dick had written a great instrumental named 'Hammerhead' which was the best track and also the opener on the 1984 Shadows album called Guardian Angel.
Duane Eddy was still touring and delighting
audiences with his 'Twang's the thang' sound
Duane Eddy maybe sadly no longer with us but his music will live on. I'll keep playing it, on a Gretsch 6120 with plenty of reverb!
