The Steel Guitar Forum

B. Greg Jones wrote:Joe, #1043 was invoiced on August 24th, 1966 to Johnny Williams. It was the last guitar built in Phoenix Arizona before Zane moved to Scranton Arkansas.

Greg

Hello, thanks for that. Does that mention anything about it being made with the necks in reverse of normal....
Joe

Hello everyone, I had emailed David Hartley to ask if he is still selling his tabs, and he replied he is only selling them as complete now, which includes 58 tabs and 300 backing tracks for 100 UK Pounds. If you do the math, that is a great deal even if you did not want every song. I am just passing...

Eric, The serial number is 1043. Once upon a time I had a Williams SD10 and always thought that was a neat guitar that was wide enough to lean on and had a nice pad, so now I will make one, kinda...........

Here is my next project. This is a ZB guitar that needs  lot of work. The C6 neck is the upper one, and it appears  that is the way it came originally because I do not see the myriad of holes you would find when someone starts changing things around.  There are only three pedals on the pedal bar and...

I finally got it all set up and stable tuning. I still did not string the C6 neck, no hurry as I don't play that either. Anyway it sounds pretty nice and just have to try and learn something. Next it is on to restoring a ZB custom that is waiting for me, but I will start another post for that one. O...

Someone asked me if this steel was mine and I replied no. Then checked it out and it is ripped off from an ebay sale going on now............https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/ ... 08405.html

Ken Pippus wrote:Looks way better than new. Very pretty, and probably my favorite two-tone.

Shouldn’t that have teardrop knee levers?

You are correct. I could not find 4 levers that it would need, so I did the next best thing and found 2 that would at least match what was there so it looked uniform.

Justin Shaw wrote:Man this looks great! The only steel left I really want is a nice Sho-Bud. Someday.

Thanks. There is just something about an old Sho-Bud....

I would love to play it Joe, but I live in Texas, that's a long ways away from you.....lol Looks wonderful bro, great work. Ricky I knew you were not close, just thought I would throw that in. When I had the other steels I was trying to learn some songs and I will just start again. It is easier to ...

Jim Fogarty wrote:Joe.....that's beautiful. I was a little dubious about the two-tone, but it's sweet.

BTW, where in PA are you? I'm in Philly.

I am in Berrysburg, about 3 hours east I guess...
Joe

Well, it is done,sort of. I did not string the C6 neck yet because I need to order some more barrels, I thought I had enough but some of the changes I made used up more than I figured. It still needs to be regulated and then I will see if anything else needs changing. It is not perfect, but I think ...

Bob Muller,
That is gorgeous. Sho-Bud did have some great looking steel guitars. How long ago did you have it.
Joe

Looking at the picture, the knee lever on the far right (LKL)was there, I just repositioned it and the one next to it (LKR) was made up from some parts. I was a machinist once. Welding and silver soldering are no problem. I did want them closer to the rear apron, and have some thoughts about the oth...

I have been making progress and I got the changers, and necks mounted as well as the new fretboards. The pickups are mounted with new wiring. Starting to look like steel guitar..... On the underside I mounted most of the parts and added a fourth knee lever. The rods are put in just to make sure ever...

Ricky Davis, I have been thinking about your suggestion about leaving the green paint underneath, and you are right that it shows what this steel actually is. I spent some time trying to clean it up so it looks better, and it caame out pretty good. Seeing that I did make changes on this thing, there...

I started working on the changers. I really can't see any appreciable wear on anything so far. It must have sat under a bed for a long time. Anyway, I have degreased it and will be shiningthe parts up a bit before I assemble them. What I did find is some of the springs are not too my liking, so I am...

Thanks for all the comments, they are appreciated. I have been making, building, restoring and fabricating things my whole life, so things like this are easy for me. I just wish I had the ambition I had when I was younger..............

Kenny,
I guess on and off a little over a week.

John, I used Mohawk Classic Instrument lacquer clear gloss. It is pretty good stuff and it sprays nice. No thinning. After you get a few good coats on, then wet sand and some more spraying until it seems satisfactory to you. Final is light sand with Ultra Fine color sandpaper. Then I hand rubbed it ...

I finished the clear lacquer and polished it out. I tried to show in the pictures that it has really nice grain but no matter how I photograhed it, it would not show. So here are a couple more npictured with a shine on it now, and I placed a few of the metal parts on it to get an idea of how it will...

I use a buffer and sandpaper if necessary for deep scratches, and then red rouge. My buffer is an old Craftsman 2 wheel grinder with cloth wheel. For polishing the lacquer a slow polisher or just wet sanding and hand polish with DuPont compound. I had a body shop about 100 years ago. There is no roc...

I got the decals on and they were a challenge. I purchased them about 10 years ago and trying to install them now was difficult at best. They were cracking under the slightest pressure. I had 2 sets and used them both trying to get them right. I had to touch up with white paint in spots because of c...

I did hear it and that is why I want to put some time into it and it is very nice. What it needs is some love. What I meant when I said I was concerned about the sound and playability is I am not only going to make it look good, but it will also play good.   I did a little more on it and was able to...

I also like the two tone ones, with the natural wood with contrasting color but the wood on this one is not that nice. So it will get all red which is a whole lot better than it was. I also am concerned with the sound and playability and will deal with that. The changer was pretty cruddy as would be...

I will say for historical purpose. That "Green Tint" that was added to the normally white spray texture to the underneath; was ONLY on all models Shobud made during the first year inception of the "LDG" from May 1973 to May 1974. So just cleaning that underneath and not strippin...