Surfin' Guitars: Instrumental Surf Bands of the Sixties

The book was originally published in 1988.^[1] It consists of 421 pages and is divided into 41 chapters and each chapter chronicles a music group.^[2] It also gives a discographical study on the bands in the chapters.^[3]

Author Dalley, himself a musician started out interviewing two former members of the group, The Surfaris. His reason for seeking them out originally was to find out how to re-create the surf sound from the 1960s. The taped interview developed info the basis of an article. This was submitted to the record collector magazine Goldmine. He became a regular contributor the magazine and was interviewing bands. Later he decided to compile a book with a thorough history on surf music. In hunting down info, he had to enlist the help of a private detective to track down a band that was hard to find.^[4]

Artists in the book include Larry Samson of Jerry & The Diamonds,^[5] Dick Dale,^[6] The Challengers^[7] and the Invaders.^[8] The book also looks at "reverb" use in surf music.^[9]