Getting That Hawaiian Sound

Jeffrey Wewers · From: New Jersey, USA

Does anyone have any suggestions on amp & guitar settings to get that lush old 1940's-50's Hawaiian sound. I've got a Bronson Melody King (aka Rick BD-6) with horsehoe pickup, and a recent Traynor tube amp. Guitar of course has tone & volume controls. Amp has bass, midrange, and treble knobs, as well as gain.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

You've got a guitar from the right era........

I'm unfamiliar with the amp you've described.........

Old photo's clearly show SMALL amps, probably with 8 inch or 10 inch Rola or Jensen speakers, amps with 3 to 5 tubes.

If you can match-up an amp with your guitar you're likely to get a close 'match'. From there, you're just going to have to manipulate your controls until you find the exact sound your after. MAKE SMALL adjustments.....or have someone else do them for you while your playing. Move your picking hand up and down the neck also........until you find that 'sweet spot'. Good Luck to you.

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Roll off the highs substantially on your amp, and maybe some mids too, while keeping the volume and tone maxed on your guitar. That's how Jerry Byrd suggested it, and he always got an old timey sound on anything he played.
That said, every guitar and amp are different, so it's correct to experiment to the extreme. My Magnatone Troubadour is excessive on the highs, so I 0 the tone and work the amp to get the old sweet spot.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

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SORRY, this was meant to be a new post. Didn't mean to hijack your post.

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George Keoki Lake · From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

Hey Skip...I'm thinking I'll throw all my guitars into the river after seeing that young Korean girl playing so effortlessly ! Wow !

On the topic of "Hawaiian tone", I do feel minimum or preferably no reverb combined with the tone control backed off from 'bright' will go a long way towards achieving a very nice sound, and of course, tasty vibrato.

Paul Scargill · From: United Kingdom

Hi,

Is this for recording or live playing?

When listening to old recordings you should factor in the microphones and placement, the technology of the era, pressing to vinyl records, etc. This has a tendancy to cut the highs quite a bit.

The small speakers in the amps of the period would give more emphasis to the mid-range (so you might want to pull back the bass a bit if you've got 12" or 15" speakers and/or push the mids up as well as cut the treble).

Personally I like a little bit of spring reverb [sorry George] (or even digitally emulated spring reverb), might not be 100% periodically accurate, as I think the first ones small enough to fit into an amp were around the 1960s but it's a personal preference.

As also mentioned, a lot of it is in the fingers, the following is my personal take on this, I don't profess to be an expert, so please don't rip me a new one:

Think smooth fluid movements in all directions e.g. more like circles and figure of eights than just back and forth.
I like to imagine waves lapping on a beach when playing. Sometimes prempt a slide by going very slightly the opposite way or when sliding on two strings allow one to slightly lead the other (e.g. use a very tiny slant, think loose wrist and your arm dragging your hand).

As a final remark, I'd say that a lot of 'what's wrong' with your tone maybe just your own over analysis too, we are after all our own worst critics. I always though my tone was terrible until I jammed with some other musicians and the 'steel vibe' really cut through to the point at which I suprised myself with how good it sounded (as well as how bad I was at jamming!)

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

I think that the technique you use when playing Hawaiian music has a lot to do with "the sound".

The same is true when using a dobro simulator.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

I'd say about 75% of it is in your hands. Hawaiian steel playing comes out of traditional Hawaiian singing and imitates the natural vibrato and falsetto techniques of vocalists. In Hawaiian-style singing and steel playing, the singer emphasizing the break between registers. A lot of the blocking in Hawaiian steel playing is done by lifting the bar which gives a different sound from that of palm blocking or pick blocking.

Hawaiians will often stay along a single string or play vertically along the neck as opposed to horizontally, like a WEstern swing player might. Jerry Byrd used to call it Pah-tah ... blocking in the middle of a slide to a different string. This is really subtle stuff and takes a long time to master. If you can get the right sound BEFORE you ever plug in and THEN look for the right amp and setting you'll be far ahead in the game IMHO.

After that .... guitar controls wide open, less bass & treble, more mids, a tube amp, reverb is ok if not overdone,and maybe mic the amp in a resonant room. These are my off the top of my head suggestions.

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

IMHO to be a good Hawaiian player you have to first thouroghly enjoy Hawaiian music and have a feel for the whole song including the vocal. You have to get into the whole thing and then play your parts. If Western Swing had never evolved I would have been quite happy to pursue a career in Hawaiian Music.

Bill Creller · From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)

The tone from pickups changes a bit from low settings to high settings on volume and tone. Running wide open on the volume on the guitar all the time will give the same sound each time without fooling with it. (mostly)
Horseshoes (to me) sound best with the volume all the way up, leaving less resistance from the pot across the pickup.

I could be wrong of course, I was once before, in 1947.... Cool

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