Following Jimmy Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn took the Hendrix/strat/blues sound to a new level, with texas attitude! The pickups are over wound to give hotter output (boosted mids) and most notably 13-gauge string! (Ouch!) The use of heavier gauge strings means there is a lower fundamental frequency of the string which in turn means more modes (harmonics) this gives a smoother and more musical sound (in many peoples opinions) but the trade of is its much harder to play and can sound very muddy on higher distortion settings. Steves command of tone and feel puts Steve in the history books!