WORDS BY BILL DAHL
The left-handed Dale’s trademark sound stemmed from playing a right-handed Strat upside down
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
“It was the kids who called me ‘King Of The Surf Guitar,’” said Dick Dale, whose regal reign of more than half a century came to a close with his 16 March death at the age of 81.The last few years were often excruciating for the pulverizing southpaw axeman. He was forced to tour relentlessly to earn enough money to finance health insurance, medical bills, and the colostomy bags that he wore as a result of a gruelling bout with rectal cancer that first struck in 1966 and recurred a couple of decades later.