Stevie Ray Vaughan
fretboard was a “veneer” board (curved on the underside), though all of Stevie’s other rosewood-board guitars were slab-boards (flat on the underside).
Number One was 100% stock, except for the five-way toggle switch and the lefty vibrato arm. Around 1980, Stevie needed to have his vibrato arm repaired, and a lefty vibrato was the only one in stock. Number One was the only guitar with a lefty vibrato arm. All of his other guitars had righty vibrato arms. In the last tone position, a push-push pot with a dummy coil was installed in order to cut down on the hum from the single-coil pickups. Different value capacitors were also added so the tone would stay close to the original sound.
Number One had a very big neck and it may have been the biggest neck of any Strat ever made. Fender rated the necks in terms of size either A, B, C or D, D being the largest. The body was made of alder. Stevie preferred his fretwire to be as tall as it possibly could.
All of his other main guitars were vintage Strats or Strat-style guitars.
“Yellow” a single-pickup yellow Strat that had belonged to Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge.
“Lenny” a brown-stain finish on natural wood and a 1910 mandolin pickguard behind the bridge with a maple neck.
“Butter” a 1961 Stratocaster with a slab-board
“Main” a custom-made Hamiltone guitar, which had his name inlayed on the fretboard
“Charley” a white Strat with “lipstick” pickups made for Stevie by Charley Wirz, for whom Stevie wrote “Life Without You”
Strings and picks
His string gauges, high to low, were usually .013, .015, .019, .028, .038, .058. Sometimes he’d use a slightly lighter high E string, like a .012 or .011. He always tuned down one half step.
Picks were always Fender Mediums, played on the side, round edge.
Amplifiers
Stevie used a combination of amps, all running at the same time.
Two “Blackface” Fender Super Reverbs
150-watt Dumble Steel String Singer with a 4×12 Dumble bottom
200-watt Marshall Major head with a 4×12 Dumble bottom
Two “Blackface” Fender Vibroverb amplifiers (numbers five and six off production line), with one 15″ speaker, used to power a Leslie-type Fender Vibratone cabinet with a rotating speaker inside.
His amps were all upgraded to Electro-Voice speakers.
Pedals
He always used an Ibanez Tube Screamer, starting with the original first-issue 808, followed by the TS-9 and then the TS-10 Classic.
Vintage ’60s Vox wah-wahs
Vintage Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face
’60’s Tycobrahe Octavia
Grammy Awards and nominations
1984: Best Traditional Blues Album for Blues Explosion (various artists)
1986: “Say What!”, from Soul to Soul, nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
1987: “Pipeline”, with Dick Dale, nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
1989: Best Contemporary Blues Album for In Step (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
1990: Best Contemporary Blues Album for Family Style (The Vaughan Brothers)
1990: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “D/FW” (The Vaughan Brothers)
1992: Best Contemporary Blues Album for The Sky Is Crying (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
1992: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for his cover of Hendrix’s “Little Wing” (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)
Discography
Main article: Stevie Ray Vaughan Discography
See also
Texas portal
List of guitars used by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Music of Austin
Chicago Blues Festival
Notes
^ Bluepower.com, Retrieved February 1, 2008.
^ “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Rolling Stone Issue 931. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time.
^ Hopkins, Craig. “Stevie Ray Vaughan: A Brief Chronology”. http://www.stevieray.com/bio.htm.
^ “Stevie Ray Vaughan Chronology”. http://www26.brinkster.com/jakapa/srv/chronology.htm.
^ Moser, Margaret, “Paul Ray & the Cobras”, Austin Chronicle, http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/AMDB/Profile?oid=oid:115106
^ Moser, Margaret, “Triple Threat Revue”, Austin Chronicle, http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/AMDB/Profile?oid=oid:501355
^ “Ely Band Gigs From 19771982”. http://www.ely.com/ElyBandGigs1977-1982.htm.
^ “Stevie Ray Vaughan”. VH1. 2007. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/vaughan_stevie_ray/bio.jhtml.
^ “Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan Rhapsody Music”. All Media Guide. 2008. http://www.rhapsody.com/stevie-ray-vaughan/texas-flood–epic-legacy.
^ Holden, Stephen (October 8), “POP: STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN, GUITARIST, AT CARNEGIE HALL”, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/08/arts/pop-stevie-ray-vaughan-guitarist-at-carnegie-hall.html
^ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=11034
^