Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

[DLT]

Is there a place on the web that tells about the how SRV set his action height and string gauge he used?

Also I am curious about Rory Gallagher's set up.

Any individual knowledge is also welcome.

 

[Diego]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

There you go.

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_action_and_setup/a-famoussetups.html

SRV's #1 setup is there.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

There you go.

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_action_and_setup/a-famoussetups.html

SRV's #1 setup is there.

Lots of relief, and heavy strings FTW.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

^ just amazing how monster strong his hands were to play riffs that clean and quick. Id be stumbling all over the place. I have to have my action as low as can be and use 9 gauge slinkys.I scarifice tone for speed, but SRV wasnt actually a shred master with blazeing fast runs, but he was totally amazing nonetheless . He was after tone first, with those big strings and high action, and since his riffs were blues based, he didnt need shredders action.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

It is worth mentioning (again) the SRV had switched to 11s for most of his popular career. Like everyone looking for "their" sound, Stevie experimented with string gauges, and went up to 13s and eventually back down to 11s.

 

[ZoSo0789]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

.012" relief at the 7th fret
action: 6/64" on treble and 7/64" on the bass taken at 12th fret
and set the pickups up high

and BTW, these are from memory (I KNOW the action, but the relief might be a hair off) based from Dan Erlewin's book where he actually sat down and measured it himself

 

[Wattage]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

There was also a GP article when Fender measured everything for the replica, I think it listed all the details of the setup.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

It should be said that when SRV swithced to .011's the rest of the strings stayed the SAME...only the high E changed...it went from a .013 to .011...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

It is amazing that SRV could bend those heavy strings the way he did.

But in truth, his strings were lighter than the acoustic guitar strings I, and most players who play acoustic, use every day. And we use a wound G!

SRV is my favorite guitarist since the greats of the 60's though: Beck, Hendrix, Clapton, etc.

And BB King has called SRV the greatest blues guitarist of them all. That's about the best compliment any bluesman could hope for: being called the greatest by the man who really is the greatest.

Lew

 

[DLT]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

There you go.

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/String_action_and_setup/a-famoussetups.html

SRV's #1 setup is there.

Thanks, bro!


Holy smokes did SRV have a huge concave curve in his neck set up! With the string weight and height and all...it is almost unbelievable how he done it.

 

[FenderFan79]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

I've seen articles that say in his earlier years, he would use as big as an .018 for his high E string! There's no way I could budge that, I even struggle with 12's...

 

[shawnr]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

I've gotten a look at a Rory strat and it's just your usual 7 1/2" radius-sorta-high-so-the-bends-don't-fret-out action with .010's, pretty much like I setup my old strats. Has the back-handed advantage of being usable for slide, also.

Those big strings on electric were never any big whoop to me, I was bending .012-.054 strings on my acoustic in standard tuning long before I heard of SRV.

 

[midnite_man]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

Strong hands, no doubt! But Stevie did have large gauge fret wires installed in the neck of his #1 guitar, which made it a little easier to bend those .13's he used to play.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

I play with 11's and high action as well and a lot of my friends don't like playing my guitars, but I never get any fret buzz and with higher action the strings can vibrate nice and clean. Great sustain and great clarity. Thats what its all about.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

It should be said that when SRV swithced to .011's the rest of the strings stayed the SAME...only the high E changed...it went from a .013 to .011...

His strings were an 11 set with either an 11, 12, or 13 high E and a 56 or 58 low E. That's according to his guitar tech, Dan Erlewine, and maybe even SRV from an old interview.

I'm pretty sure they went 11/12/13, 15, 19p, 28, 38, 56/58.

Edit - Ok, I busted out Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide, and found the section on SRV. Dan checked out his guitar in Columbus, Ohio on tour with Jeff Beck, and says that:

Stevie's guitar had approx .012" of relief around the 7th and 9th frets, then leveled out for the remainder of the board.

Stevie tuned his guitar to Eb, and used GHS Nickel Rockers measuring .013, .015, .019 (plain), .028, .038, .058. On this particular day, Rene [Martinez, tech] had substituted an .011 for the high E to keep down the sore fingers that blues bends can cause.

Rene Martinez describes, "I set up all of Stevie's the same: 5/64" on the treble E string and 7/64" on the bass E."

 

[ES350]

Re: Stevie Ray Vaughan axe set up

It might be worth mentioning that SRV probably picked up the heavy string thing from his brother Jimmy, who was doing that on Strats and Teles in the mid-late 70's.