SRV’s Number One Guitar
Number One —
— quite possibly the most iconic guitar in the blues, belonging to the most iconic blues player, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Stevie played many guitars over the years, but there was just something special about the Fender Stratocaster that he played in every show and on every album from the moment he acquired it. His relationship with Number One was almost romantic in nature — he even called the guitar his “first wife.”
He received the guitar in 1973 from Ray Henning, the owner of the Heart of Texas music shop in Austin. The story goes that SRV saw the sunburst Fender in Ray’s shop and immediately knew it was special, without even playing it. He arranged a trade with the owner, switching it out for a 1963 Stratocaster. Henning happily traded guitars, since the ’63 was in much better condition than the soon-to-be Number One.
In an interesting twist, the previous owner of SRV’s new Strat was a big name in music at the time, Christopher Cross. He supposedly traded the instrument for a Les Paul because he was looking for a thicker sound. (Stevie, by contrast, had no problem finding a thick sound with it!)
The guitar itself was a mix-and-match affair. It comprised a 1962 body, a 1963 neck, and pickups from 1959. The instrument was also well used by the time Stevie put his hands on it in ’73…
