Biography

Del Casher was born on December 28, 1937 in Hammond, Indiana, USA. He is a producer and composer, known for Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity (1987), Mysteries of Route 66 and Tropical Heat (1993).

"Over the last 50 years, only a handful of innovations have truly revolutionized the sound of the electric guitar. The wah-wah is one of them. It radically transformed the instrument's voice in a slew of genres, and Del Casher stood at the pedal's ground zero. Combine that claim to fame with the astonishing fact that Del held the guitar chair for both Lawrence Welk's and Frank Zappa's bands, and we find in his work a fascinating contribution to the pantheon of American music." (John W. Troutman, Curator of American Music, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) (L.A. Weekly, January 13, 2017, p. 34).

"He was a member of the pop group Three Suns, a featured soloist on 'The Lawrence Welk Show' and lead guitarist for singing cowboy Gene Autry's 'Melody Ranch' TV show," the L.A. Weekly explained.

I had a nice garage studio at my place in the Hollywood Hills. One day, Frank Zappa knocks on my door and says, 'I hear you have a good studio.' I'm looking at him, with the beard and the hair, wondering who he was.

[On the wah-wah pedal invention] Dick Denney at Vox U.K. invented the original prototype, the midrange boost switch. When it was converted to transistors, they put a variable switch on it. I thought, 'Let's put it on a pedal.' We got one from a Vox organ, and it fit very nicely. After I demonstrated it to all these engineers and music producers, everyone said, 'This will be the greatest thing - the trumpet players are going to love it!'

[On the wah-wah pedal invention] It took five years. It was slow getting off the ground, but that's the problem with being ahead of your time. I still have that original prototype that Vox gave me, and I'd like to see it go into the Smithsonian or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's that significant.

I played it for James Brown and he really liked my playing, but he didn't understand the wah-wah at all. 'Why the fuck would anyone want a guitar to do that?' I tried to explain that it was a way to allow the guitar to really be expressive and reach people, like a voice, or a harmonica, to reach the soul. He didn't see it.