Ah, the sound of surf guitar: a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster through the metallic sproing of a spring reverb unit set to full depth. For many years this has defined the tone of surf and ’60s-era instrumental guitar music, but it was not always thus. As a matter of fact, the most notable name in all of surf guitar, Dick Dale, founded the sound using entirely different components, and he will tell you that the classic surf tone is something very different.