Nowadays, guitar distortion is so ubiquitous within rock music that it's hard to think that there was a time when it didn't exist or that it might even have been an unwelcome phenomenon. In searching for early recordings of distorted guitar, we see that these sounds were sometimes the result of defects or malfunctions.
The earliest example of distortion dates back to 1951, when Willie Kizart played guitar on Rocket 88 for Jackie Brenston & his Delta Cats (although the song was actually by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner). However, this sound wasn’t intentional. In fact, the distorted sound was created by stuffing wadded newspaper into the speaker after it was damaged upon falling out of the car on Highway 61 - although some say that it had been damaged by being left in the rain.
In 1958, in order to achieve the same raspy sound of Rocket 88, Link Wray pierced holes in the speaker cone to record Rumble. This is perhaps the only instrumental track that was censored in the United States for its ‘unpleasant’ sound. Dave Davies, of the Kinks, also deliberately punctured his speaker in 1964 to record You Really Got Me.
Other historic tracks were those recorded by Howlin' Wolf in Memphis in 1951 and Train Kept A-Rollin by Johnny Burnette in 1956. Here though, the guitar sound was mainly an overdrive caused by the saturation of the tube amplifiers. But fuzz is different. It's a sharper, more buzzy sound, almost ‘pernicious’.
The earliest example of distortion dates back to 1951, when Willie Kizart played guitar on Rocket 88 for Jackie Brenston & his Delta Cats (although the song was actually by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner). However, this sound wasn’t intentional. In fact, the distorted sound was created by stuffing wadded newspaper into the speaker after it was damaged upon falling out of the car on Highway 61 - although some say that it had been damaged by being left in the rain.
In 1958, in order to achieve the same raspy sound of Rocket 88, Link Wray pierced holes in the speaker cone to record Rumble. This is perhaps the only instrumental track that was censored in the United States for its ‘unpleasant’ sound. Dave Davies, of the Kinks, also deliberately punctured his speaker in 1964 to record You Really Got Me.
Other historic tracks were those recorded by Howlin' Wolf in Memphis in 1951 and Train Kept A-Rollin by Johnny Burnette in 1956. Here though, the guitar sound was mainly an overdrive caused by the saturation of the tube amplifiers. But fuzz is different. It's a sharper, more buzzy sound, almost ‘pernicious’.
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The first example of fuzz, which gave birth to the first ‘Fuzz box’, can be heard in the song Don't Worry by country singer Marty Robbins. And it was all the result of a technical problem. The Quonset Hut at Bradley Film & Recording Studios in Nashville had recently debuted a new console equipped with Langevin 116 tube amplifiers. However, no one could have predicted that the output transformers, manufactured by another company, wouldn’t have been suitable. Whilst recording, a transformer on guitarist Grady Martin's bass channel broke, distorting the track for a little over twenty seconds at about the 1.20 minute mark and towards the end of the song. The band and the producers debated what to do, whether to keep the recording or to re-record, but the result was impressive and they decided to leave the song as it was. The song entered the Top 40 in February 1961 and remained in the charts for twelve weeks.
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This peculiar sound gained popularity amongst many Nashville guitarists, to the point that it stimulated the imagination of Glenn T. Snoddy, sound engineer of the Quonset Hub during the recording of Marty Robbins’ song.
Glenn, along with Revis V. Hobbs, began working on an instrument that could replicate the ‘awful sound’ of Don't Worry. The result was the first ever fuzz box, a pedal that allowed you to go from a clean to a distorted sound simply by pressing a button with your foot. But if the console with the Langevins was a tube console, the fuzz box was based on three germanium transistors RCA 2N270 and was powered by two 1.5 volt batteries. Gibson introduced the pedal in 1962 as the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone and Snoddy and Hobbs were granted patent number 3,213,181 on 19th October, 1965.
Glenn, along with Revis V. Hobbs, began working on an instrument that could replicate the ‘awful sound’ of Don't Worry. The result was the first ever fuzz box, a pedal that allowed you to go from a clean to a distorted sound simply by pressing a button with your foot. But if the console with the Langevins was a tube console, the fuzz box was based on three germanium transistors RCA 2N270 and was powered by two 1.5 volt batteries. Gibson introduced the pedal in 1962 as the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone and Snoddy and Hobbs were granted patent number 3,213,181 on 19th October, 1965.
However, the Maestro FZ-1 was not particularly successful. Although dealers bought all 5,000 fuzz boxes produced in 1962, only three were sold in 1963 and none in 1964, according to Gibson's own reports. Some are convinced that sales were low due to advertising that claimed the pedal would make guitars sound like saxophones or strings.
However, when in 1965 the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards used the Maestro FZ-1 for the riff of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, every guitarist wished they had that pedal. However, contrary to popular belief, Keith's was not the first recording with the FZ-1: the pedal can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 1965 American sitcom Green Acres.
However, when in 1965 the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards used the Maestro FZ-1 for the riff of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, every guitarist wished they had that pedal. However, contrary to popular belief, Keith's was not the first recording with the FZ-1: the pedal can also be heard on the soundtrack of the 1965 American sitcom Green Acres.
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Fuzz had already made an appearance, and many other companies began to produce pedals similar to the Maestro FZ-1, such as the Tone Bender, invented in 1965 by Gary Hurst and popularised by Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Mick Ronson and Pete Townshend in 1966, and Fuzz Face by Ivor Arbiter in 1966, which, along with Jimi Hendrix's Stratocaster, revolutionized rock history.
Antonio Calvosa