Stevie Ray Vaughan Discussion

[Euthanasiast]

In the epic quest to find the perfect tone match for Stevie Ray Vaughan's recordings, I have searched everywhere for information looking for every tidbit of data I could gather in accurately replicating his tone. After careful study of all the dynamics that make up his impressive sound (from the way he plays to the equipment he uses), I am coming to the conclusion that there needs to be a concerted effort to nail down certain basic fundamentals of his sound before the details can be discovered. In this instance, I think pickup selection at a given point in a song might make or break the tone seeker's ability to duplicate the master's tone. I'd like to establish a reference for one particular (and immeasurably important) factor in his sound, and that is at what position is the pickup selector switch in at a given moment for a given song as recorded on his album (I figure it best to refer to an album as canon simply because when he played live he played all over the place in it would be virtually impossible to document it all with any degree of success).

For my own part, I can only say for a reasonable certainty where the selector switch position was located throughout one of his songs, because it are the only one that I have been able to master. Lenny. And as best I can tell, the setting is as follows:

Lenny: This song is almost entirely played from the neck/middle combined position from beginning to end. He does switch to the bridge position briefly for the twangy solo part at about 03:10 and then to the neck position right after for the short, heavily overdriven piece at location 03:30, but then he moves back to the neck/middle combined at 04:05 and continues for the remainder of the song. I may put up my cover version of this song for all to compare, if they wish, and any comments or criticisms regarding my findings are welcomed absolutely, for if I am making a mistake I certainly want to be corrected, as the goal is to nail his tone absolutely (or about as good as a human being who is not SRV can anyway).

I am reasonably certain that Pride and Joy is played in the middle position for the intro, then switched to the neck/middle for much of the song until the solo where he moves back to the middle and then back to the neck/middle for nearly the remainder of the song, where the end run has him switching to the neck position (possibly--I'm still trying to iron this out).

If anyone has any information beyond that, please (PLEASE) include it here so that I and others may benefit from the information. Part of the confusion, for me at least, is that sometimes I cannot tell if he is switching to the neck pickup or stomping his tube screamer, and this causes a lot of confusion for me, and if anyone has that information, I'd love to have it.

Thanks,
Chris