R.I.P. Glenn Snoddy, inventor of "fuzz" guitar tone

[Miles Archer]

Glenn Snoddy, longtime Nashville studio engineer and inventor of “fuzz” guitar distortion, died Monday at his home in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He was 96 years old.

Snoddy was engineering a recording session for country star Marty Robbins in 1960 when he noticed guitarist Grady Martin’s usually clean sound was coming through distorted.

“We thought there was something wrong, and something was wrong,” Snoddy told the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal (via Billboard). “The transformer in the amplifier blew up.”

It turned out to be a fortunate accident, as the distortion in the Martin’s guitar solo on Robbins’ “Don’t Worry” became a sought-after effect for guitarists across all genres. Snoddy recreated the sound in a pedal musicians could use with any guitar or amplifier combination — simply press a button and a clean tone became dirty. The Gibson Company eventually bought the rights to Snoddy’s invention and manufactured it as the “Maestro Fuzz-Tone.”

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/glenn-snoddy-dies/

[Glamrock]

1. Fuzziest tone evah!

At the chorus.... 0:45 mark

Flying Burrito Bros. - Wheels

[Miles Archer]

3. The fuzzy trio that was dropped from "Last Of The Red Hot Burritos"

It later surfaced on the vinyl 2-LP set "Close Up The Honky Tonks" (also now available on CD) as well as the 2-CD retrospective "Out Of The Blue" (just "Money Honey" and "Wake Up Little Suzie" made the cut on that one...no "Roll Over Beethoven&quot .

It's Al Perkins' solos on "Wake Up Little Suzie" that are worth the price of admission...very fuzzy and precise...but all three rock hard.

[Glamrock]

4. Thanks Miles!

That was sick! Love me some Burritos! Honestly, I don't think I've ever had as much fun singing harmonies as I do with these guys. And thanks for the info too. My Burrito collection is embarrassingly low. I've got like 12 or 13 tunes on the iPod of them. Keep meaning to get more, but there's always something coming out..

[Aristus]

2. The high-water mark of rock and roll:

[Doc_Technical]

5. First song to come to mind

[Miles Archer]

6. Link Wray and Dave Davies both poked holes in their amp speakers to get the sound

I really don't know who got the sound first. I'm not sure about the chronology as written in the article I posted. As far as I knew, without doing the research, Wray MIGHT have been the first.

[DFW]

7. I once accidentally rewired a Gibson Fuzz Tone

One of the wires inside came loose, and I had to guess where to re-solder it. I guessed wrong, and when I plugged a guitar or bass into it,the note fuzzed up nicely, but with a big electronic "woooooOOOOOP!" on the end of it. A staccatto note would produce a short "wooOOP!" and a long sustained note would produce the long "wooooooOOOOOPP!" My band used this wrongly re-wired fuzztone in a few gigs, and we could have made a fortune if we somehow could have mass-produced the mistake.

[Coventina]

8. Probably the ultimate tribute to him was this band:

Their full name was We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It.
Usually shortened to just Fuzzbox.

[retread]

9. "Who's gonna mow your grass?"

[jpak]

10. Ultravox fuzz bass pedal