Stevie Ray got it in his head early that bigger strings gave him more tone, which ain't true on a solid body electric. For all his playing years, he used 13s! With his playing style, by the time he died, his hands were a wreck, and his playing years were numbered. By contrast, Billy Gibbons knows a little about tone himself, and he uses 7s.:)

JLF

Hollow-Body Blues x 2 (Playlist, 9:11 Total)
• Blues For Marili (4:49)
• Heartache (4:21)

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I had seen some of the Joe Satriani stuff before, but I didn't realize that he was sharing the stage with Stevie Ray.

I am reminded of a time when I lived back in Austin -- this would have been about 1980 or so -- and Stevie Ray got together to do a one-off acoustic duet with his brother Jimmy Vaughn. As soon as I heard about it, I hopped on my bicycle and rode over to the restaurant they were doing it in. Unfortunately, it was already filled to capacity and the waiting line to get in stretched around the block. It was rumored that both of them were doing "non-typical" things for them, like playing 12-string, playing slide, Dobro, etc., and that they played for several hours, doing old traditonal country blues, early rock-a-billy, spontaneous jams, etc. But sadly, all I can do is report on the rumors I heard because I never got inside to hear what they actually played....