Lightning Red and his series on the origins of the modern electric blues, and the techniques and hardware used by the legends to get their unique sounds.

I welcome any input, suggestions, comments, etc. If you note an inaccuracy in anything you read, please let me know. All of us are continually learning .

"...Jimmie Vaughan is a virtual deity - a living legend with a guitar style so deep that it defies description."
                                                            - Dallas Morning News (June 7, 1998)

In order to fully appreciate the genius of Jimmie Lee Vaughan, you have to listen to what he chooses not to play -- to the spaces between the riffs. Today, when the speed-metal note crunchers and maniacal guitar "monsters" of the last two decades have been largely forgotten, the senior Mr. Vaughan stands high atop the mound of fallen "Guitar Gods."

The promoter who brought me over to Denmark put it most succinctly. He said that we could keep all our flashy rock-driven ‘blues’ players safely tucked within the borders of the Unites States. For him, and for many others on the other side of the Atlantic, Jimmie Vaughan was "the man." The Europeans have long known what US blues fans are just beginning to realize. Although countless voices told him over the years that "you’ll never make it with what you’re doing," Jimmie stuck to his guns and proved them all wrong.

And this highly successful, widely acclaimed bluesman still remembers a night in Houston when an older guitarist in his early twenties showed him what NOT to play. Steve Miller was also from Dallas and the then fifteen year old Vaughan eagerly absorbed every word that the "mature" guitar wizard threw his way -- and has practiced the fine points of this lesson even to this day. And it is my firm belief that everyone who picks up a guitar with the intention of excelling on the instrument should follow suit.

Flash-in-the-pan guitarists come and go, but the test of time favors those who learn to speak through their instrument with clarity and heart-felt brevity. A further testament to Jimmie Vaughan’s adherence to this principal and to the wisdom of his vision, is the fact that when he left the Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1990 to follow his own path, it took two of the most respected blues guitarists from the Northeast to replace him. Both Kid Bingham and Duke Rubillard (who founded Roomful of Blues) are considered masters of their instrument. Guitarists please note: The apparent simplicity of Mr. Vaughan’s guitar work is deceiving. As with all great bluesmen, what sounds easy to copy -- in actually requires a lifetime of careful study and real world experience.

After a few years in the comfortable role of guitarist and side man for the legendary Chessmen in his home city of Dallas, Jimmie was drawn to the promised land of Austin, Texas in 1970. Within a short time he had formed the Fabulous Thunderbirds and booked them throughout the southern US, making most of their money playing the wild, party-like club circuit of Louisiana. Before long Clifford Antone was featuring the Fab T-Birds on nights when he wasn’t flying legendary Chicago bluesmen down to Austin and putting them up in his own home, or convincing Albert King to do a performance on his way out West.

I first saw Jimmie Lee Vaughan performing on the stage of the original Antone’s which had been carved out of a former furniture store on 6th Street one block east of Congress Avenue. Almost within earshot of the state capital building, The Fabulous Thunderbirds were blasting out Chicago blues favorites and a series of Little Walter tunes brought to life by the amazing harmonica and vocal work of Kim Wilson. Backed by the solid, basic Chicago -style bass runs of Keith Ferguson, Jimmie’s behind-the-beat Jimmie Reed-like chording style pushed the quartet (the drummer was a ‘brother’ who everyone called "Hub Cap"- and who was one of many occupying the drum throne in those early days) powerfully along. In the many performances to follow (mainly at the Rome Inn at 29th 1/2 Street, and later at the Antone’s location on Guadalupe, and then at a concert at Gruene Hall) I studied the way in which Jimmie held the ensemble together with that patented two-string phrasing. One way to look at it is -- If you’re in the key of E, pluck the open lower E string while nearly simultaneously hitting a B on the A string, then hit the open E while almost simultaneously hitting a C sharp note on the A string.

The accent falls strongly on the first note of each beat, with the second striking of that same pair of notes as a subtle afterthought toward the end of that same beat. And in the same manner, a strong accent on the first and a soft touch on the second pair of notes which fall into the space of the second beat. This pattern is altered during consecutive beats The complete pattern for an 24-bar (24-measure) blues in the key of E is E/B E/C# on each beat for eight beats, A/E A/F# on the 5th and 4th strings for four beats, back to E/B E/C# on the 6th and 5th strings for four beats, B/F# B/G# on the 5th and 4th strings for two beats, back to A/B A/C# on the 5th and 4th strings for two beats, and E/B E/C# for two beats with a "turnaround" up to the B note or chord (which is anticipated -- falling a full half note before the last beat) at the end of another two beats.

In this way, Jimmie Vaughan took the familiar two note guitar method so familiar in nearly every Jimmie Reed song and made it all his own. He created a rock solid, loping guitar method that pushed the Fabulous Thunderbirds to soaring heights during those early days. The Europeans I met while on tour there have a deep respect for Jimmie and cherish those early records the T-Birds made. My all time favorite guitar solo to come from Jimmie’s beat-up white ‘60s strat with the maple fret board is "Full-Time Love on The Fabulous THUNDERBIRDS made for Takoma Records in 1979. Listen to the way in which Mr. Vaughan coaxes B.B. King-like phrases over the rather thin-sounding backing of Keith Ferguson on bass and Mike Buck on drums. This is not an easy task. And then listen to the Hubert Sumlin (guitarist behind Howlin’ Wolf) Chicago style chording on the tune that follows -- Pocket Rocket. Cool indeed.

Having come from Chicago via Ann Arbor, Michigan (where I once performed with Fabulous Thunderbirds drummer Fran Cristina and Boogie Woogie Red at the old Blind Pig), it took me quite a while to fully appreciate Mr. Vaughan ’s unique guitar stylings. And, coincidentally, it took Jimmie and myself quite a long time to accept the "that ain’t blues" rockin’ style of his brother, "Little" Stevie Vaughan -- but more on that later.

The one thing that I did appreciate in those early days was Jimmie’s use of a well worn Fender Bassman amplifier. This was the standard for blues guitarist in the ‘50s - ‘60s and a cherished item by such Chicago greats as Buddy Guy (who was said to have one mounted in his wall at home).

In those early days Jimmie always used his cherished beat-up white mid `60s Strat with D’Adarrios strings utilizing a standard configuration having a ten thousandth gauge in the high E position. Rather than the fat mid-rangy tone that I was used to hearing in the Chicago area, Jimmie had a more twangy high-end tone that in retrospect I now see worked extremely well with the two-note Jimmie Reed-like style that he was in actuality inventing at the time. When guitarists speak about the "modern Texas" sound, they are really referring to this tone and style of playing -- later taken to another level by his more famous brother (but more on "Little" Stevie as the article progresses).

Today Mr. Vaughan uses either of two "Tex-Mex" Stratocasters designed by Fender to the specs of the `60s-bodied Strat that we just mentioned, or either of two guitars that Fender had made for him previously, which Vaughan has described as "basically ‘57 Strat reissues." These are pumped through two Kendrick (made to approximate the materials and schematics of the early Fender Amplifiers and assembled at their facility just north of Austin) and two Matchless amps.

The Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex guitar features a solid poplar body, a uniquely-shaped tinted maple neck with medium jumbo frets, Fender/Gotoh vintage tuning keys, two single-coil, high-output Tex-Mex pickups, and an ‘over-wound’ high intensity pickup in the bridge position. In a nutshell, over-winding a pickup means that the wire is wrapped around the magnetic, metal pole pieces a greater number of times than is the norm. This gives a "hotter", more high-intensity midrange sound.

In the down-to-earth, considerate manner that is uniquely his, Jimmie insisted that Fender price these guitars so that they can be purchased by the beginning player. In his own words, "I didn't want some $2,500 custom guitar. This way kids can buy a good piece of equipment."

Mr. Vaughan true humility and generous nature again shown through when he recently coordinated a "fiesta" at which he performed for nearly 800 workers of the Ensenada, Mexico Fender plant that since 1986 has built excellent quality signature guitars which include his Tex-Mex model. It was his way of saying "Thank you", a personal gift from a true Texas gentleman well known for giving advice and guitar instruction to players who’ve gone on to become successful sidemen (in this case musicians who are paid to perform in support of the featured entertainer) with those who record and tour out of Austin, Texas, his adopted and current home.

Discography: Out There/ Epic-Sony 1997, Strange Pleasure/ Epic-Sony 1994, Family Style/ Epic-Sony 1988, and all of the many Fabulous Thunderbirds albums.

Mountains of information and personal historical notes have been written about Texas’ most successful bluesman, and in this installment I will attempt to present fresh insights and new technical information about this great guitarist. During the late `70s when I first arrived, "Little" Stevie Vaughan (a reference to either his age or his height at the time -- certainly not his level of musicianship) was perceived by the Austin blues community as a fellow player -- another blues performer making his way through the handful of night spots that welcomed non-commercial, non-C&W, non-folk/singer-songwriter performers.

They included Antone’s (now the magaplex straddling the block on the southeast 6th and Congress, the Austex Lounge (now the Magnolia Cafe restaurant on South Congress), the Rome Inn (now Texas French Breads on 29 1/2 around the corner from Antone’s Records), the Victory Grill on the east side of IH-35 which now has jazz and private functions occasionally but had been a regular stop for Bobby Blue Bland, B.B.King and all who were on the "Chitlin’ Circuit" of the south, and Soap Creek Saloon which was on the edge of a hill west of town and is probably the site of a millionaire’s home now.

I met Stevie one afternoon in the Austex Lounge in 1978 or `79. We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries -- talked a bit about gigging around and such. I sensed him to be a kind soul. Time has proven me right. None of us had a clue that this rockin’ young blues guitarist would alter the course of musical history. I’ve met individuals who’ve gone into a rage at the mere mention of his name -- ranting that he’d destroyed the "integrity" of the genre; mutilated it to the point of unrecognition. But if you talk to legends like B.B. King or John Lee Hooker or Buddy Guy or Otis Rush or Eric Clapton or....you get the opposite response. They will tell you that Stevie "rescued" or "saved" the Blues from total annihilation. I prefer to say that Stevie revitalized and brought to the world’s attention a form of music that is the true voice of America -- it‘s only entirely original artform (from whence came Jazz?).

In the early `80s Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Albert King, Hubert Sumlin, among others were performing repeatedly at Antone’s Nightclub because they had no where else to go. Clifford Antone not only helped keep the blues alive in Austin, he nearly single-handedly kept these legends, and therefore "the Blues" alive. Before SRV took the world by storm, this form of music had all but been extinguished entirely. And the blues legends know it. And they love Stevie. They love him for what he accomplished, and for who he was. And, it was only after I saw him in concert at Willie Nelson’s Opryhouse complex that I saw him in a clear light.

After he’d kicked his demons, after he’d rid his body and soul of it’s poisons, his enormous talent exploded from the stage. I could hardly believe this was the same droopy-eyed, semi-coherent dude I’d seen on that stage just six months prior. Just as I’d almost written him off as someone in the decline -- someone who’d discarded a legacy presented to him by the one-and-only John Hammond, Sr., the younger Vaughan brother’s enormous talent burst forth and shown with a blinding brilliance.

At that moment I knew what the blues legends had known all along. It wasn’t just the career enhancement he’d brought to them that they admired; it was deeper than that. Just as every great blues performer has always done, Stevie studied at the foot of "the masters." None of us ‘live’ the blues for expedience -- for the profit motive. We don’t spend decades perfecting our craft because it’s a short road to riches. God Knows! Just like every dedicated bluesman and blueswomen on this planet, Stevie Vaughan lived this art form out of deep love and respect for the music and for all those who’d come before him.

And, I know that if he were alive today he’d say the same thing he’d always preached to young folks anxious to take up an electric guitar and follow his every move, "Don’t just study me. Don’t just learn every one of my riffs (musical notes put together in phrases) and think you have mastered the blues." No I don’t think so. I’m convinced that his message was clear. "Learn from the masters -- from the legends THAT I LEARNED FROM. Study B.B.King, Albert King, Freddie King, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, T-bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, et al. Listen to every nuance and every string bend and every turnaround until your brain is throbbing with runs and phrases. And play their licks over and over and over until your fingers are bleeding -- and play them again and again until its a part of your soul."

So, that’s my sermon. Jimmie did it. Stevie did it. All the great blues guitarists have done it. There are no shortcuts in this game. You have a lot of work to do. But, if you push forward, the rewards are enormous. You may not become famous or rich, but you will be enriched beyond your wildest dreams. The blues does have its rewards. And with a little luck you’ll even develop your own style, unique to you alone. It all will synthesize into a fresh perspective -- a mature voice. You will have arrived.

I first heard Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Rome Inn. He had his beloved `59 sunburst Stratocaster with the white single-pole (single-coil) pickups and black pickguard. This, of course, is the one from which Fender modeled their SRV series Stratocasters, the one he dubbed " Number One ." He also referred to it as his "First Wife" because he never let it out of his sight, and even slept with it -- probably falling asleep with it in his arms after late nights of practicing licks along with his small "record player" machine. That night he was playing through a ‘silver-face’ (pre-CBS) Fender Twin Reverb with all the settings at maximum. The volume and tone controls were on "10", at full-throttle. The Rome Inn was a tiny place, and it was ear-splitting. My wife and I had come to see the Thunderbirds and we suffered through the young ‘heavy-handed’ guitarist’s set waiting for Jimmie Vaughan to bring his band to the stage. Most people don’t believe me when I tell them we were the only folks in the Rome Inn for Stevie’s set -- and that only a handful of people trickled in later on to hear the Fab T-Birds.

Once the T-Birds pulled off a few well calculated promotional tricks, they began attracting a respectable following. But it wasn’t until the early `80s that anyone in Austin would bother to turn up at one of "Little" Stevie’s performances. Clifford was one of the few Austinites to recognize Stevie’s genius. He introduced him to Albert King and informed the revered bluesman that the younger Vaughan was a devoted student -- knew every one of Albert’s licks. Albert had a very negative attitude toward other guitar players, and always told any sideman string-bender, "Don’t play ANYTHING." Mr. King commanded the stage and didn’t care for young "upstarts" trying to show off.

But Clifford signed Albert’s checks. Remember, Antone’s was the "only" blues house in town at that time -- the only place that could, or would, accommodate touring Blues performers. So with a good bit of effort, Clifford finally convinced Albert to let Stevie accompany him on stage. Eventually, Albert grew to love the young guitarslinger and they became great friends. Albert used to say that Stevie Ray was like his "son." The gentle giant was the first great blues legend to appreciate Stevie’s talent and warmth.

Another late `70s later-to-be-cherished musical experience was seeing Stevie, Whipper and Jackie Newhouse (Double Trouble’s bassman until Tommy Shannon came along) performing in a huge Italian restaurant/nightclub in San Antonio. Lou Ann Barton was at the mike doing her standard repertoire. In those days Stevie never sang, and the first time I heard his vocals was in `79 or `80 when Chester Milliken put together a huge outdoor concert setting next to what is now the SRV Memorial Statue on the south shore of Town Lake.

I was performing across the river at the just-recently-closed Liberty Lunch and my band was taking a break behind the open air club when suddenly the sound of Jimi Hendrix filled the air. We’d never heard anything like that in Austin. "Who the hell is that?" someone asked.

On the next break a few of us crossed the First Street bridge only to find an empty stage. An inquiry to someone lounging there at Auditorium Shores produced the performer’s name. We were stunned to find out it had been "Little" Stevie Vaughan. No one had ever heard him do anything like that. We’d never heard anyone in town do Hendrix like that. And, it wasn’t too awfully long before the "Little" had been dropped from his name and a recording of his live radio performance at Steamboat Springs (6th Street) was blaring from homes and autos all over Austin. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Before we talk about his stage gear, I’d like to touch on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s playing technique. It was very cool to learn that just as I had always done out of necessity, Stevie preferred to use his medium gauge pick (plastic plectrum) backwards -- with the wider edge hitting the strings. I now use the thickest picks available and look for the new space-age synthetic ones because they last longer, although Ray Hennig provides me with a generous helping of plastic Fender heavies when I’m in a pinch. And, I was also pleased to learn that one of the reasons I was dubbed "Lightning Red" is due to the fact that I’ve always used what I believe Stevie called his "circular" style of picking which gives a blues guitarist great speed. I can’t really explain this technique here, but a number of excellent videos exist in which you can witness his right hand as little more than a blur on your screen.

There’s no way to teach Stevie’s left hand speed -- no advise I can give. It was a God given talent and something I’m occasionally able to pull off. Even though I don’t adhere to his early-days’ philosophy of faster is always better, I do concur with the idea of playing almost every solo or instrumental break (a combination of runs and musical phrases) with a fresh perspective. Double Trouble members Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton, and Reese Wynans (as well as older brother Jimmie Lee) speak about Stevie’s tendency for nearly every one of his lead guitar excursions to be completely original; to not follow a formula or set pattern.

Once again I have to plead guilty to this virtue (some would say vice) and tend to follow an original musical path whenever it’s guitar break time. Wrong or right, this is something else Stevie and I share -- for each of us, probably a tendency from day one. Although there were pieces which he performed nearly identically each time. ‘Slam’ [?] was one of them. One of the first tunes Stevie learned back in Oak Cliff, he was said to have been performing this number when the author, guitarist Lonnie Mack , strode into the Rome Inn back in the mid `70s. So, I urge the beginning players out there to learn some numbers by rote, study your sheet music and learn to be a proficient sight reader if possible (something I wish I were), but don’t be afraid to "step out" and experiment on the guitar. You just might create a masterpiece.

The Early Setup:

According to the November `83 issue of ‘Guitar For The Practicing Musician’, Stevie Ray’s arsenal of vintage Fender Stratocasters at that time included a) his favorite -- the sunburst `59 model with the black pickguard, white pickups, and a `62 rosewood neck from which Fender patterned their Signature SRV series guitars, a blond-colored 1957 model, "Scotch," a `63 with what Stevie called "an imitation Fender neck" and "Yellow," a `64 with only one pickup.

According to the article, all the pickups in these guitars were stock (the originals that were installed in the factory), although I’ve heard that those in his main axe, the `59 sunburst, were equipped with addition "winding". What this means is that they had been removed and sent somewhere (in those days usually Nashville, where my first Fender, a `64 sunburst Jazzmaster had gone to be ‘rewound’ ), the wires that wrap around the outside of the collection of six magnetic metal pole pieces (the round things you see sticking up out of either the single-coil or Humbucker-style pickups -- sometimes flush with the surface) were removed and new wires wrapped around the magnets.

By wrapping the pickups’ poles many more times using a greater length of wire than the original, the result is a "hotter" or "fatter" sound. These days one can purchase a wide array of replacement pickups that have additional windings and other tricks like heavier magnetic pole pieces or different structural configurations in order to achieve the same effect. I presently use two Rio Grande, extra-wound pickups and a "stacked" Humbucker-style for the bridge position in my Strat, although I’m toying with the idea of going to one of the newer, "meatier" commercial Texas-style single-coils for the neck position.

Stevie used GHS Customs with gauges .013 (13th thousands of an inch), .015, .019 (flat wound), .028, .038, and .056 in those early days. In the aforementioned article he talks about receiving strings from Howard Dumble which he preferred because of a "fatter" fuller sound and less breakage -- something that happens to all of us intense string-pullers. Due to the severe thickness of this setup (and perhaps because like Jimi Hendrix, E flat was a much more comfortable vocal key than E) Stevie loosened his strings somewhat. And like Hendrix, his lowest note now became E flat. When playing along with his recordings, you’ll often find yourself playing in A flat, G flat and E flat.

In the same article SRV spoke about using two Vox Wah Way (Tone Control) pedals during the taping of "Say What", one of which belonged to Hendrix -- which he always used on stage in those days. The interviewer asks, "Are you sitting down and using two feet?" "Sometimes..." Stevie answers, "and sometimes I ducktape them together."

He also used the ‘reverb’ function on his amplifier at all times and a tube screamer, eventually using two Roland overdrive (screamer) pedals linked together. The Fender amplifier’s tremolo effect was utilized as well, and studio sessions later found him playing through some sort of Leslie (rotating speaker) cabinet for a natural sounding Hammond organ-like sound.

The Guitars:

With the exception of "Charley" which sported Danelectro lipstick-type pickups and was assembled from kit parts at Charley’s Guitar Shop in 1984, all of Stevie’s performing guitars were pre-`63 Stratocasters with 5-way switches and extra shielding paint in the control cavities added.

"Number One" or "First Wife" which we spoke of has a `59 Strat body with a `62 neck. which was received from Ray Hennig (who also provided Eric Johnson, Omar, Charlie Sexton and myself with some great Fender axes) who took a `63 Strat in trade.

By 1990 the only "original" factory installed parts on this beat-up tobacco sunburst workhorse were the body and the pickups. The neck an unusual, oversized D-type neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Stevie had large hands, and like myself, needed a fatter neck than normally comes on most Fenders. The neck was labeled "1962" while the body bore an "LF-1959" marker.

When I first saw Stevie, the "fresh" iridescent SRV decals had just been added to the black pickguard . They would have to be replaced many times over the years, and truck-stop-style paste-ons were eventually replaced by the Letraset script lettering that appeared on Fenders’ SRV Signature models.

Around `77 Stevie installed a gold, left hand vibrator unit and used the full 5-string set of springs. Because the pivot plate was tight against the body, Stevie could only push down on the vibrator arm, which was just fine for the Hendrix tricks he began using around that time. Another innovation we can attribute to this guitar genius involves fret thickness. In order to keep the strings from rubbing against the wood surface of the fretboard when doing his signature string-pulls, he installed fret wire made for bass guitars, which was thicker and thus higher. Heavy gauge fret wire is now common-place and used by most blues guitarslingers.

During an early performance of "Third Stone From the Sun," the Jr. Vaughan threw "Number One" against the wall for effect.

Hitting at a bad angle, the headstock was split but was repaired and used until `89. Because of this, and because it was worn out from so many re-fretting jobs (replacing the fret wire), the neck from "Scotch," his `63 Strat, was installed. It was this neck that snapped (breaking the metal truss rod) in New Jersey in 1990 due to a stage scenery accident. A vintage `63 neck copy was then supplied by Fender and remains on "First Wife."

After Stevie’s death, Rene' Martinez (Stevie's Guitar Technician) reinstalled the original neck and it now rests in a bank vault as part of the Vaughan estate. From an article entitled "Stevie’s Estate" in the Austin Chronicle we learn that upon his death, the value of his 34 guitars was appraised at $28,450.00.

Also there are 31 Musical amplifiers in various stages of repair valued at $25,450.00, 12 Speakers "for amplified music reproduction in various stages of repair" listed at $4,500.00, and "miscellaneous guitar and amplifier repair parts, cassette deck, drum set, pre-amp, CD player, power amps, track recorder, guitar body, strobe tuner, and miscellaneous musical instrument accessories and equipment" that would supposedly fetch $1,600.00.

In"Supernova Strats" by Dan Erlewine, Guitar Player magazine, February 1990, we learn more details about "Number One" and the other road guitars. When he was still in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mr. Erlewine did a superb job of re-fretting my prized sunburst `59 Gibson ES345-TD. When that guitar got stolen in `79, a piece of my heart went with it.

In November 1989 Dan spent the day with Rene' and began by ‘sighting’ or looking with one eye down each guitars’neck. He says, "A fingerboard (fret board on the neck) should either be dead flat or have a slight up-bow, known as relief, in the direction of the strings’ pull. Stevie’s guitars had approximately .012" of relief around the 7th and 9th frets, and then leveled out for the remainder of the board."

Upon inspection of the fret wire (the metal frets cross the neck’s fretboard), he adds, "If you’re trying to evaluate action, it’s nice to know what size and shape of fretwire is used on any guitar. Number One’s frets measure .110 inch wide by .047 inch tall. These frets would have started out at .055 inch tall when they were new, and were probably either Dunlop 6100 or Stewart-MacDonald 150 wire."

Mr. Erlewine then measured the distance from the underside of the strings to the top of the fret at the 12th fret on both E strings. Rene Martinez informed Dan that all of the guitars had the identical height -- 5/64 of an inch on the treble E string and 7/64 of an inch at the bass E.

"Knowing the radius of the fingerboard can help in setting up a comfortable bridge saddle height and curve. Stevie’s Number One was somewhat flatter than the vintage 7-1/4" radius. Rene has refretted the neck at least twice, and in the process the fingerboard has evolved into a 9" or 10" radius in the upper register. This isn’t the result of a purposeful attempt to create a compound radius, which allows string-bending with less-noting out; it just happened."

The compound radius neck has become very popular with blues guitarists. With the `60s style curvature of the fretboard at the head end, chords can be played comfortably while, with an increasingly flattened radius going toward the guitar’s body, string-bending becomes easier because the strings do not "fret out" or become deadened when pulling or bending a string across a more vintage-style curvature.

Dan’s article continues, "Stevie’s Number One wants to break high E and B strings at the saddle every chance she gets. Rene showed me why the strings break, and how he takes care of the problem: As a string breaks out of the vintage Strat tremolo block/bridge top plate, it ‘breaks’ or contacts, the metal directly. This causes a slight kink that weakens the string. With the bridge saddles removed, Rene used a Dremel Moto-Tool to grind the holes edge until the lip is smooth and gradual, and any binding is eliminated."

Since "Number One’s" original bridge piece string saddles (the grooved metal pieces that hold the strings in place)wore out early in Stevie’s career, vintage style replacements were installed. Since the high E and B strings tend to contact, or touch, the front edge of the saddles (on any guitar of this type) and cause breakage, Rene had to lengthen the string slots and smooth off any rough edges. He then slid a 5/8 inch long piece of plastic tubing (insulation from an electrical wire)over each string to protect them from breaking at the point at which they made contact. Even with this setup and the thick gauge strings he used, Stevie still broke strings during his show.

Because of this, I and many blues guitarists prefer the newer style Fender saddles that are rectangular-shaped with the string coming up through the center hole. With this setup, there are no grooved metal surfaces to tear into the strings and cause excessive breakage, although the biting tone that is signature SRV is muted somewhat. For an example of this, check out Kenny Neal’s vintage Fender Telecaster -- the only Tele I’ve seen fitted with this type of bridge.

Dan Erlewine continued, "Stevie’s Number One, Lennie and Charley have standard Fender-style nuts, but Rene makes them from bone. Stevie prefers the sound of bone, although for studio work he had Rene make brass nuts for Scotch and Red."

"As a reference point I laid a precision steel straightedge along the frets for making the measurement (for pickup height). Stevie’s pickups were raised fairly high. I measured from the straightedge to the polepiece tops: On the treble side, the bridge pickup touched the straightedge, and the middle almost touched the straightedge, and the neck pickup was 1/16 inch away. The bass side measured 1/32 inch at the bridge pickup, 1/16 inch at the middle, and 1/32 inch at the neck."

Finally Dan added this comment, "We’ve covered about everything except tuners, and there’s nothing secret here. Stevie Ray’s tuners are all originals, and each has three full string winds to get the best angle at the nut."

Another of Stevie’s favorite touring guitars was "Lenny ", discovered in a pawn shop in Oak Cliff and given to him by then-wife Lenny Vaughan and Byron Barr, one of Stevie's roadies at the time. Used to record and perform the jazzy "Lenny" and "Riviera Paradise", this brownish-orange `63 (or `64) Strat had a non-Fender maple neck that replaced the original rosewood neck which was much too thin for his hand. The vibrato was original, allowing him to do the pulls that "Number One" would not, and had slightly thinner gauge strings. This in combination with four springs instead of the usual five allowed for his signature mellow, jazz-like stylings.

The stock pickups on "Lenny" were somewhat "microphonic" and produced sound through the amplifier when tapped with the fingers. This guitar was used for all his softer, finger-style (using the fingers instead of a pick) adventures. His SRV insignia eventually appeared on the pickguard.

"Charley" is the white Strat-style guitar assembled from spare parts by Charley Wirz in 1983. Charley Wirz was a close friend of Stevie's, and he regularly worked on Stevie's guitars in the early years. Charley owned Charley's Guitar Shop in northwest Dallas, until his death in 1984. This guitar was a gift to Stevie, from Charley. A girlie-pinup style caricature decal was placed on the back. On the neck's heel plate is engraved "To Stevie Ray Vaughan, more in 84".

Sporting a rosewood neck, and a white headstock imprinted with the "Charley's Guitar Shop" logo, Charley had installed three Danelectro "lipstick tube" pickups, and wired it using his own custom, non-Fender configuration. The guitar had a tone similar to Number One, with a little more top end, and a slightly more " bell-like" quality. Stevie liked to play it rather clean, sometimes with an Echoplex and the Vibratone unit. You can hear it on the album versions of "Tin Pan Alley," "Life Without You" (which was written as a tribute to Charley), and "Couldn't Stand The Weather."

"Scotch" was a semi-mongrel 1963 Strat, a sort of a dark cream-colored "butterscotch" body with a rosewood neck, and a "tiger-stripe" pickguard custom-made by Rene Martinez. Stevie favored this Fender once Number One began having serious neck problems. A notable change to this guitar was the installation of a brass nut, rather than the bone nuts that Stevie used on his other guitars. After, Stevie swapped the neck from Scotch onto "Number One" in late 1989, a left-handed neck replaced it. Stevie regularly played this guitar on "Leave My Girl Alone" in concert, and it could easily have become his main axe.

In an interview Stevie said he was having neck problems with Number One during the recording of In Step, and only used it for "The House is Rocking" and "Crossfire." Otherwise "Scotch" was used primarily, and "Red" also subbed for "Number One." " Main " is the Custom Hamiltone Lurktamer built by James Hamilton of Buffalo, New York that is shown in the "Can’t Stand The Weather" video. The guitar was given to Stevie as a gift from Billy Gibbons in 1984. It has a highly figured, book-matched reddish top, bound on all edges. The body is slightly thicker and slightly heavier than a Strat, with little contouring.

"Main" featured a neck-through-body design, unlike any other guitar Stevie owned. This resulted in the pickups actually being mounted on the neck, itself. The neck shape is similar to that of a Gibson Super 400, and was practically the same width as" Number One".

It has an ebony fretboard, with "Stevie Ray Vaughan" inlaid in pearl across it. Pickups are active EMG with an onboard preamp. The guitar has a jangly, jazzy tone that was beefed-up by the active onboard electronics. Stevie regularly used Main on stage for "Couldn't Stand the Weather" and "Cold Shot."

It is generally assumed that an additional, lower fret was added to the lengthened fretboard in order for Stevie to play without having to tune down (slacken the strings one step or pitch down).

"Red " is Stevie’s red-colored Stratocaster used on "Travis Walk" and somewhere on the ‘In Step’ album. Equipped with a left-handed rosewood neck in 1986, it was used regularly on "Love Struck Baby."

"Yellow" is a 1964 Strat with only one pickup which was originally owned by the Vanilla Fudge guitarist and given to Stevie by Charley Wirz in 1981

Stevie played through a number of differing amplification arrangements throughout his career, but the following seems to be his main setup. In the previously-mentioned ‘83 Guitar For The Practicing Musician article, Stevie said, "I’ve got a Howard Dumble, but my frontline is two Fender Vibroverbs (which he later said had serial number one and two), a Super Reverb, and an 8 by 10 (eight 10-inch speakers, I assume) Marshall Cabinet that’s hooked up to the Dumble. There’s also a Fender Vibrotone."

A torrent of information is available to guide the beginning or intermediate guitarist through this legend’s amplifier and effects fonfigurations, so I’d like to conclude this installment with one last piece of technical information. One of Stevie’s most prized possesions was the Vox wah-wah (tone control) special effects pedal that had belonged to Jimi Hendrix.

"It’s the one I’m using every night on stage," he told the interviewer. Sometimes only the real thing will do. And the Vaughan Brothers, Jimmie Lee and Stevie Ray, certainly are the real thing -- the most admired bluesmen to have ever come out of Central Texas. I want to wish Jimmie the very best of luck, and to say thank you Stevie -- for your music and for the life you helped breath into the world of contemporary blues. many thanks,
RED