We spoke with Fran Blanche (@contourcorsets) of Frantone about guitar tone.
Fran has several articles and posts about space, electronics, and assorted whatnot at her design writings page. Her video blog is on YouTube.
There are many different guitar pedals you can build for yourself as a way to get a better handle on analog electronics. Elecia found these at Mammoth Electronics.
The song that was the first to have flanging was "The Big Hurt" by Toni Fisher in 1959.