10 Iconic Rock Stars' Guitars

The late Stevie Ray Vaughan almost single-handedly revived blues for the mainstream rock crowd. He did as much for sales of the Fender Stratocaster as the likes of Clapton and Hendrix. The guitar most famously associated with SRV, and the one upon signature models were based upon, was his so-called 'number one' Strat. Ironically this guitar was actually somewhat of a mongrel with a neck and body from different years and even then the guitar's neck was smashed by collapsing stage lighting late in his career and had to be replaced.

Unique to Stevie's guitar was the idea of having the tremolo arm on the bass side of the bridge, an idea suggested to him by the fact that his idol, Jimi Hendrix, as a left-hander used to play a regular Strat upside down. He didn't change the bridge or in fact any of the hardware and Stevie felt that having the bar at the top imparted some unique benefits.

For anyone who really wants to cop the unique SRV vibe, a few significant adjustments are required. Firstly restringing with insanely heavy strings, and then tuning down a semitone or half-step. Add to that Stevie's unique wall of amps combo and, of course, a uniquely gifted ability to channel the universe into six strings and away you go.