When Stevie Ray Vaughan was looking for a guitar tech, he knew just the man: Rene Martinez. He was an old acquaintance, a well-known luthier and repairman at Charley's Guitar Shop in Dallas. Stevie's brother Jimmie was a customer, and eventually Stevie started dropping by the store.
Martinez, a classical and flamenco guitarist who got his start in the repair business painting cars and refinishing violins, was initially hesitant about going on the road with Vaughan. And the way that the guitarist treated some of his instruments on stage - slamming them against walls, dragging them across the floor by the tremolo arm, standing on top of them - might have played into his reticence.
