After reading this, I recall that Roberto also met Bruce Welch (Shadows rhythm guitarist) in more than one of his frequent tours and fan conventions and as soon as he had the opportunity, exposed his theory to the latter who, not knowing who he had in front of him, improperly addressed him in public, with an angry "you are wrong", I'm here"

He should never had done that ... Roberto said to himself, "Oh yes! I'll let you see who's crazy ...".

This gave way to a colossal commitment by Roberto, condensed in the book "That Sound", an enormous amount of painstaking research work, the result of hundreds of hours of testing and recordings, which I have no difficulty in defining maniacal, released in a limited edition and now out of print for a long time, published by Vanni Lisanti and written by Roberto with co-authors Malcom Addey and the remarkable technical contribution of Maurizio Mazzini, the publication of which gave way to a planetary pandemonium in the field of the Shadows devotees, triggering off an enormous controversy and dividing the opinions and reflections of the fans, contributing decisively in shooting up the prices of the Gretsch® mod. 6122 Country Gentlemen® guitars, produced between 1959 and late 1961, well beyond those of the better known and more favoured Fender® Stratocaster® Fiesta Red maple neck of the late 1950s.

Naturally, all of this came to the ears of “The Shadows”, seeing the clamour of the discovery, they previewed the book and informed themselves about Roberto, taking refuge from that moment behind a typical British "no comment".

And up to now you'll probably say, what's so strange?

Nothing; if not for the fact that at the end of the last Shadows concert in the European Tour in May 2005 at the NIA in Birmingham, thanks to the interest of British friends and acquaintances of the Shadows Entourage, Roberto finally got to meet Hank Marvin who lives in Australia, privately, after the concert, in the lounge of the hotel, to expose his theory, which Marvin listened to carefully, judging it very interesting, trying later to reply to the precise questions posed by Roberto.

I will not tell you more, as following, further down on this page, you will find the manuscript report by Roberto "My encounter with Hank Marvin" that reminds me of the final duel, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" style of great Sergio Leone (Gretsch® of course ...).

Read it and you will enjoy yourself; so you can make your own personal opinion.

If things had gone differently, Roberto would have fired a second shot, as his doubts were very strong on what Marvin's and the others' Vox® AC30 Top Boost® JMI® cabinets he actually contained, another result which stemmed from hundreds of hours of testing in his studio (the Nivram Room), needed to locate "that" sound, of which you'll find some clues that were under preparation, ready for a second clamorous release.

Probably a half-admittance from his beloved Shadows would have satisfied and calmed Roberto down and the book would probably never have seen the light, but "when you poke the fire, you get burnt ..." but in this case, it's better as it is!

Due to different views with the co-authors, with whom at times it was not easy to discuss, the book subsequently also gave Roberto some grief and unfortunately in this period, we are in the second half of 2005, the signs of his illness began to show itself more seriously.

I would like to conclude by recalling that terrible night of  26.05.2006, when I arrived in Pisa from Switzerland, after driving all night, just like his friend Jim Nugent who came behind the wheel from England, then on to Livorno and while awaiting the opening of the chapel of rest, I walked in the “Field of Miracles”, with a thousand thoughts and just feeling completely empty.

A few hours later, in the churchyard of the crematorium of Livorno, at the moment of extreme farewell, there were various floral compositions, but one of them stood out above all, sent from afar, and printed on the ribbon there was written:

"Bruce Welch and the Shadows".

All trademarks and musical instruments mentioned above are registered.

Sergio Guerra 6-2016

That Sound Flyer

La Gretsch Country Gentleman of Hank Marvin (and more...)

Memories...

The sound of the Shadows

Hank Marvin meeting

Malcom Addey reply

Addendum to "That Sound" - The Amps

Guyatone

That Sound

Sound (from the Latin sonus) is the auditory sensation given by the vibration of an oscillating body.

This is the definition (from Wikipedia), "that sound" pursued by Roberto Pistolesi for years, after hundreds of hours of research, attempts and years of investigation, had finally been found.

But let's start from further back, more or less 27 years ago.

I will tell the story as a simple reporter, who, despite having been present on several occasions at Roberto's home, lived the event in a detached way, also because until then, I had never been that interested in the Shadows, knew very little about them and I only played the Apache and Sleepwalk tunes ...

To explain everything would take weeks, but, supported by the original documentation obtained by courtesy of the family, I will integrate what Roberto wrote himself, in a way that will be understandably by most, even for those of you who are not fully informed or technically specialized in the specific issues discussed.

Roberto had always been a great fan of one of the groups of his youth, the British group "The Shadows" who had been active on the music scene since the end of the 1950s for about three decades, a group that played mostly instrumental tunes with a solo and rhythm guitar that had an huge influence on all six string guitar fans, even more so for me, since Roberto left us prmaturely.

And it was on these tunes that he formed his musical experience, giving birth to his first group, the Condors with his childhood friend Roberto Boldrini, in a period, the economic boom of the early '60s, where bands based on the Shadows flourished everywhere.

I invite you at this point to read the following text, handwritten directly by Roberto: