An excellent musician throughout his career!
Treat a stranger right!
so what is the deal with the two strings in the middle?
I think that’s a 9 - string guitar, so it can be strung 6 7 8 or 9 strings.
He needed more punch out of that G string either because of his slide technique or because his pup needed to be driven a bit more. Probably. I want to make one of those some of these days.
so were those two strings tuned the same?
Yep.