SRV's Lenny

Fender SRV's Lenny Signature series with his name written on the guitar case


The late Stevie Ray Vaughan's with his second favorite guitar - Lenny

Brand/Model and Name : 1965 Fender Stratocaster (Lenny after Stevie's wife Lenora "Lenny" Vaughan)
Neck : Charvel maple guitar neck (a gift from "ZZ Top" guitarist Billy F Gibbons).
Fingerboard : Originally a Rosewood fretboard but change it to Maple
Body : 1965 Solid Alder wood
Color : Originally 3-color sunburst but it was refinished
Pickups : Fender 3-single coil

Extra notes:

The “Lenny” story is a love story. Love for a woman and love for a guitar.

- His wife, Lenora "Lenny" Vaughan, gave him a used Stratocaster guitar on his 26th birthday that had recently caught his eye in an Austin, Texas, pawnshop.

"... there was something about it (Lenny) that clearly and immediately resonated deeply with Vaughan. That guitar really grabbed him" - Lenora "Lenny" Vaughan

- After receiving the guitar that night, as Lenora slept, Stevie wrote a new song on it. In the morning, Lenora remembers, "He was sitting on the edge of the bed with the guitar and said, 'Listen to this.'" He played her the song he had written that night, "Lenny," and she cried.

- Stievie received a new Charvel guitar neck as a gift from his friend and "ZZ Top" guitarist Billy F Gibbons. Vaughan installed the neck (with a maple fingerboard) on "Lenny", at which time he also etched his name into the guitar's neck plate as a point of pride.

- In 1983 breakthrough album, Texas Flood, The song "Lenny" appeared on Texas Flood and was featured regularly in Stevie’s live set. Whenever he played it in concert, he would set aside his beloved "Number 1" Stratocaster and pick up "Lenny" (the guitar).

- In 1985, Stevie was invited to play the national anthem at the Houston Astros season opener. Stevie confessed to his wife that he didn’t know how to play the Star Spangled Banner. Watching her husband play the national anthem there to a packed house in the cavernous Astrodome, Lenora turned to the guy standing next to her and said, "You know, he didn’t know how that went (song), I had to hum it to him on the way here." Turns out the guy next to Lenora was Mickey Mantle (the greatest baseball players in history), this is where Mantle autographed "Lenny" the guitar rather then a baseball bat.

- Stevie slept at night with one arm around Lenora and another around "Lenny" the guitar.

- Lenny’s most notable feature is a batwing shaped inlay behind the bridge, believed to be from a 1910 Italian mandolin pickguard.

- The original 1965 sunburst finish was removed by heavy sanding, giving Lenny a much more rounded, smoother and softer contoured body than any Strat guitar before or since.

Link(s):

http://www.fender.com/features/lenny/