Number One
Number One (also known as Vaughan's 'First Wife') was a 1962/63 Fender Stratocaster used by Vaughan for most of his career; it was "rebuilt more times than a custom Chevy." Vaughan always claimed it was a 1959 model, since that date was written on the back of the pick-ups; Rene Martinez, who maintained the guitar since 1980, saw the year 1963 stamped in the body and 1962 on the neck. After purchasing the instrument in 1973 from Ray Henning's Heart of Texas music shop in Austin, Texas, it was his main performing instrument and companion. Vaughan used the guitar on all five of his studio albums and on Family Style.
"Number One" had a neck relief of .012" at the 7th and 9th frets, and leveled out through the remainder of the fingerboard. The fingerboard radius when new would have been 7.25 inches as were all pre CBS curved fingerboard Fenders but SRV's guitar ended up after many refrets and sanding of the fingerboard as 10" and used Dunlop 6100 fretwire. String height was measured to be 5/64" on the high E string and 7/64" on the low E string. Each string had 3 full winds for the best angle at the bone nut.
"Number One" had a neck relief of .012" at the 7th and 9th frets, and leveled out through the remainder of the fingerboard. The fingerboard radius when new would have been 7.25 inches as were all pre CBS curved fingerboard Fenders but SRV's guitar ended up after many refrets and sanding of the fingerboard as 10" and used Dunlop 6100 fretwire. String height was measured to be 5/64" on the high E string and 7/64" on the low E string. Each string had 3 full winds for the best angle at the bone nut.
Yellow
Yellow was a 1959 Stratocaster formerly owned by Vanilla Fudge's lead guitarist, Vince Martell, who sold it to Charley Wirz. The body was hollowed out to make room for "a shitload of humbuckers," but Wirz fashioned a new pickguard in which he placed a single Fender Strat pickup in the neck position and painted the body yellow. Wirz gave the guitar to Vaughan in 1983 or 1984; it is the guitar with the letters "SRV" on the pickguard under the string.
This was supposedly the guitar played on the album versions of "Honey Bee" and "Tell Me". Yellow was stolen in 1985 at the Albany International Airport in New York, but was later recovered and is now on display in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe.
This was supposedly the guitar played on the album versions of "Honey Bee" and "Tell Me". Yellow was stolen in 1985 at the Albany International Airport in New York, but was later recovered and is now on display in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe.
Red
In late 1983, Vaughan purchased a 1962 sunburst Fender Stratocaster from Charley's Guitar Shop, though he had it repainted by Fender in fiesta red as a custom color option, and simply named the guitar "Red." The guitar remained stock until 1986, when a left-handed neck was installed and "SRV" stickers were applied to the pickguard. In 1989, the neck on "Number One" was unable to withstand more re-fret jobs, replacing it with the original neck from "Red." The next year, following a concert at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, a stanchion fell onto Vaughan's rack of guitars, splitting the neck from "Red" that was installed on "Number One." The neck was replaced the next night.
Main
Main (also known as Hamiltone or the "Couldn't Stand the Weather" guitar) was a custom Fender Stratocaster-style guitar made for Vaughan by James Hamilton in Buffalo, NY. It was presented to Vaughan by James as a gift from Billy Gibbons on April 29, 1984.
This guitar features a two-piece maple body and a "neck-through body" design. It also originally had EMG preamped pickups, but Vaughan didn't like the pickups in it. His next music video was about to be made, which was "Couldn't Stand the Weather", and didn't want to get Number One wet during filming, so he used the Hamiltone for filming. The EMG pickups and Gibson style amber top hat knobs were changed in June 1984.
Its fingerboard is ebony with a mother-of-pearl inlay that read "Stevie Ray Vaughan". The guitar was originally set to be made for Stevie in 1979, but the plan was dropped when Vaughan started using his middle name "Ray", as he was known as "Stevie Vaughan" at the time.
This guitar features a two-piece maple body and a "neck-through body" design. It also originally had EMG preamped pickups, but Vaughan didn't like the pickups in it. His next music video was about to be made, which was "Couldn't Stand the Weather", and didn't want to get Number One wet during filming, so he used the Hamiltone for filming. The EMG pickups and Gibson style amber top hat knobs were changed in June 1984.
Its fingerboard is ebony with a mother-of-pearl inlay that read "Stevie Ray Vaughan". The guitar was originally set to be made for Stevie in 1979, but the plan was dropped when Vaughan started using his middle name "Ray", as he was known as "Stevie Vaughan" at the time.
