book review :The Birth of Loud

[The Growler]

Highly recommended. There is another thread here on it too. Several of us were unanimous.

Here it is: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=535186

[Glennwillow]

My wife also bought me the book "The Birth of Loud." I also was a little irritated with the slowness at the beginning of the book, but it seems that is the nature of this kind of book. It didn't take long before I was totally immersed and fascinated by the stories. I thought the writing was quite good overall. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the guitar.

- Glenn

[Lkristians]

Originally Posted by fazool

I love histories that weave the chronological story of products and technologies.

For example, the best one I ever read was called "Engines of the Mind" which is a phenomenal story of the history of computing. It tells a story that really no one understands or thinks about and illustrates how it's not one instant invention but a glacially-slow evolution (in that case over, yes, hundreds of years). Ask someone who invented computers or even "software" and there is a 99% chance you will get famous popular names but the wrong answers. And in these stories are deception, competition and human drama making the myths even more misleading.

As the saying goes "History is written by the winners" and that is so true when it comes to electric guitars.

My wife bought me this book for Christmas:



The opening pages were a bit sluggish and I was afraid I didn't like the writing style. Part of that was because of the immediate discomfort I felt that the history I thought was deliberately wrong. So I was defensive, at first, thinking "this can't be!"

But then, after about half of a chapter, I got hooked on the real story.

I took the book on vacation and picked it up every chance I could. That's not my reading style - even my wife and kids commented about how voraciously I was reading this book.

I won't give out any spoilers .

I will say that the writing is excellent - it's like a good historical fiction story, except it's not fiction. It's even a bit of a dramatic page-turner.

I found that I actually didn't even like the main characters - they were flawed humans, whose behaviors were mostly selfish and/or awkward.......in other words "human".

That was a powerful part of this story: to see the flaws and inadequacies of the iconic people and their products.

Again, I am avoiding details because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

If you like the type of history I described above and you like guitars (not just acoustics), then I strongly encourage you to read this book.

I didn't like the story and the behaviors and the way credit was doled out. But I loved the book, and the way it told that story - truthfully and without the mythology we inaccurately apply.

Great, great, great book!

Also along these lines, but not in the musical sense is a great book I just finished called "The Last Days of Night" about the (electrical) current war... Edison vs Westinghouse/Tesla. A great and interesting read by Graham Moore.
LarryK.

[Silverstring]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

From an amp standpoint, it would be remiss to neglect the contributions of Nat Daniel (Epiphone/Danelectro) and Everett Hull (Ampeg) - contemporaries of Leo Fender who, while not as well-known to the average player, were also highly influential in the postwar development of the American electric guitar amplifier - as well as the team of Tom Jennings/Dick Denney (Vox) and Jim Marshall, who would pioneer a distinctly "British" school of amplification in the early-60's which, by decade's end, forever redefined the sound of rock music.

Like so many other books, it is unfortunately incomplete, but who knows, maybe the author is already working on volume 2.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Lkristians

Also along these lines, but not in the musical sense is a great book I just finished called "The Last Days of Night" about the (electrical) current war... Edison vs Westinghouse/Tesla. A great and interesting read by Graham Moore.
LarryK.

Thanks Larry - I just ordered this! I love these kind of books.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Otterhound

I understand this very clearly .
Irony , which I do love , shows us that neither Leo or Les were on the quest for loud . They were playing , at least Les was , in the early electric Jazz era . Clarity and purity were the goals at the onset of their presence .
Loud morphed from their outside of their initiative . They , at least Leo did , simply followed suit once the race began .

I was pretty young back then, but my understanding of Les Paul's history/achievements here varies from yours. Les Paul sometimes liked to emphasize with pride his impact on the emergence of the solid body electric guitar, but he was probably even more significant in his discovery/demonstration/popularization of modern recording--and modern recording isn't exactly about clarity and purity: it's often about what kind of new sounds, otherwise unavailable, that one can obtain with recording technology and techniques. Les' recordings were full of that kind of thing. He wasn't all about Segovia or even Joe Pass in a fine old concert hall.

Your implied greater point is something else though, something we agree on: neither of them probably understood exactly how their innovations would be used, though in Fender's case he seemed to have a remarkably effective feedback loop from SoCal players in his region as he and his company made his most significant models.

[KevWind]

Just to add to Franks post Les Paul is considered the Father of multi- track recording. Which IMO certainly equals his developing the solid body humbucker guitar which is now a hallmark icon in rock

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Lkristians

Also along these lines, but not in the musical sense is a great book I just finished called "The Last Days of Night" about the (electrical) current war... Edison vs Westinghouse/Tesla. A great and interesting read by Graham Moore.
LarryK.

Was excited by the recommendation but disappointed after buying the book. Historical fiction like those are fine (and I like them) but it has nothing to do with actually telling the history of Edison and Tesla - it's just a setting for a purely fictional story. Totally different type of book.

[Howard Emerson]

Fazool,
I'm dyslexic, so reading has always been a chore, but I got this book last February and read it in 3 days. I could not put it down.

Amazing details about Paul Bigsby!

Of course one of my favorite sections had to do with the 'real birth of loud' which was The Showman amplifier, and the reason that Leo got James Lansing involved in electric guitar speakers: Dick Dale, whom Leo saw as the personification of The Showman.

Highly recommended! *****

Howard Emerson

[Mr. Paul]

Halfway through, fantastic book, thanks to everyone who suggested this one!

[lowrider]

I started it a couple of days ago and I'm at the part where the Les Paul has been introduced and the Strat is on the horizon.

Great story, great writing and I now have some serious GAS for a Fender!

I'm loving it and can't put it down. And this is after just reading a book that I thought was one of the best ever; ''The Boys in the Boat''. It's about the 1936 Olympic rowing team. Usually, after I read a great book, I'm kind of lax about reading the next one, but The Birth of Loud has me hooked

And, I'm going out to play some Fenders this afternoon!

[rockabilly69]

just finished the audiobook of this and it was fantastic!

[RogerPease]

I liked it. Well worth it. Recommended.

I agree the sections about Merle Travis & Paul Bigsby as well as Dick Dale were great.

Cheers.