Hamiltone Guitars

[rocketman]

Anybody ever heard of them? For you SRV fans I know you've seen one. Here's an excerpt from http://www.stevieray.com/hamiltone.htm:

 

Stevie's Hamiltone guitar, a.k.a. "Main" or "the Couldn't Stand the Weather guitar," is easily the most recognizable of his guitars after Number One. Stevie appeared with "Main" on several magazine covers, and of course the CSTW video and countless stage appearances. From the day he received it from Jim Hamilton on April 29, 1984, it remained one of Stevie's primary stage guitars.

 

The Hamiltone was a gift from Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. It was first ordered in 1979, but Billy asked that the project be put on hold until some other guitars were made for him. It ended up being five years before Billy finally had Jim make Stevie's guitar. The original plan was for the neck inlay to read "Stevie Vaughan," but by 1984 Stevie had started using his full name.

 

Jim recalls that Stevie was so happy with the guitar that he took it straight from the case to the stage and played it that night at Springfest on the campus of the University of Buffalo, New York.

 

I was actually at Springfest that year and stood about 5 feet from SRV during the entire concert! Here is a picture of Jim Hamilton with SRV and his guitar back then:

 

 

Here are some guitars he created for Billy Gibbons:

 

 

I always thought it was a shame that he didn't market his guitar brand better. He still builds them (see here), but I think his guitars could have been a big hit.

[Riffster]

I would think that he would have gotten a lot of publicity out of SRV.

[deepblue]

Great story!

I miss Stevie....Id love to hear some long lost tunes that have been tucked away in the archives.