A Masterpiece by John R. Coop

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 25 Jun 2008 1:26 pm

It is breathtaking, indeed, and--dare I ask?--what's the lube program for this beautiful rig??

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 25 Jun 2008 1:26 pm

Oops!

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Jun 2008 1:39 pm

Here are some more parts from Coop, masterfully installed on my guitar by a Ricky somebody. Hmmm! Some of you guys must know who he is!

Ron Meecey · Post by **Ron Meecey** » 25 Jun 2008 4:32 pm

Tony, I bought that guitar from the original owners son. He is a friend of mine and a pretty good singer. His dad bought the guitar new, never played it much at all, and died about 6 years ago. My friend kept it set up at his place, but didn't play it either. I had it for about 4 months and then sold it. I loved the way the E-9th neck sounded! Wow! Tone to die for. Congrats on a now gem of a guitar!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 25 Jun 2008 5:23 pm

Reminds me of a Swiss watch.

Eugene Cole · Post by **Eugene Cole** » 25 Jun 2008 6:16 pm

John Billings wrote:The odd angle cross shafts for the knee levers are more ergonomically correct than those on today's "modern" guitars. Your legs movement is transferred to the knee lever mechanism in a more fundamentally correct manner.
And, well,,, they feel good!

Thanks John this makes perfect sense to me.

Tony Glassman wrote:Most guitars (modern or older) have different pedal and KL rod lengths. Otherwise there would be a bunch of excess metal rod ends to add weight, clutter and binding.

The individual pillow blocks, while more tedious to install, allow for greater flexibility with knee lever installation and placement than do pre-drilled aprons.

True; and the flexibility of individual pillow blocks is NOT lost on me.

Regardless of the design; this implementation is stunning to behold!

Regards
-- Eugene

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 25 Jun 2008 7:47 pm

For those of us with less mechanical knowledge, what are pillow blocks?

Tony Glassman · Post by **Tony Glassman** » 25 Jun 2008 8:26 pm

Brint Hannay wrote:For those of us with less mechanical knowledge, what are pillow blocks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow_block

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 26 Jun 2008 2:17 am

Nylon bushes everywhere. I bet you won't hear many rattles from this guitar. I bought some Coop parts earlier this year. OK it was a long wait, but you cannot but admire the quality of the engineering.

The guitar in this post will last many many years if it is maintained.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 Jun 2008 5:22 am

Tony, Your guitar is STUNNING!! Congrats!! As you know, you don't get on John's agenda because he's "faster" than anyone else. He is a one man show. You get hooked up with John Coop because of the QUALITY and CRAFTSMANSHIP and TALENT that this gentleman has to offer to those who are patient. If you want it fast, use someone else. As John says, "Patience has it's own rewards."

Here's a few pics of my "70 blonde Professional that John did for me a couple years ago. The first pic is when I disassembled it for a good cleanup and to install a couple of new up-grades John came up with since he built this guitar. I anticipate another upgrade in about another year, as John is inventing more and more up-grades as we speak, and yes, I will have to have them all!! HA!!

Tony Glassman · Post by **Tony Glassman** » 26 Jun 2008 6:50 am

James.......your guitar is flat-out beautiful!

That classic blonde Sho-Bud look is part of the reason I fell in love w/ steel guitar 30+ years ago.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 26 Jun 2008 7:00 am

While those old Sho-Bud parts did polish-up well

Those are NOT old sho-bud parts polished up. Those are newly machined parts made to precision fit.
Pillow blocks allow space; as when you want a bazillon knees in there; you need that space.
If you sit at a pedal steel guitar properly; you will need the knee lever to be there in the direction of how your knee is moving; otherwise it is very uncomfortable and will not be enjoyable and therefore will not be used.
There are many more factors devised in on this set up that the NON-mechanical side of a steel player will never understand. What I steel player CAN understand is walking up and sitting down behind the steel and it play and sound perfect and feel perfect and then you can enjoy playing....and this is one of them.....
Ricky

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 Jun 2008 7:35 am

Thanx for the kind words, Tony. Your guitar is equally awesome!!

What many do not realise about the "Cooped up" shobuds---and I mean those that go all the way--even the super fingers, is that you find your guitar is in a whole new higher dimension, not experienced by anyone with a regular shobud. Welcome to that dimension, Tony. And thankyou again, Mr. John Coop, for you contribution to the steel guitar world, particularly the Shobud world!!

Eugene Cole · Post by **Eugene Cole** » 26 Jun 2008 7:51 am

Ricky Davis wrote:Those are NOT old sho-bud parts polished up. Those are newly machined parts made to precision fit.
Ricky

If John made all of those parts I am even more impressed.

-- Eugene

Eric Philippsen · Post by **Eric Philippsen** » 26 Jun 2008 8:16 am

John is working on my LDG now. Complete rebuild with his parts. Since he lives about an hour away I initially took the guitar to him so that he could just give me his thoughts on what was needed to bring it's performance up. I had no intention other than to get his advice. Well, that was before I saw the work he was doing on another steel. It took my breath away. Wow. If you think the pictures that are posted here are nice, they pale in comparison to seeing his work in person. Well, once I saw that I told him to rebuild the LDG. Should be done soon. Can't wait. Now, if anyone can tell me where I can get a loafer pad with Sho-Bud embroidered on it (I saw one posted somewhere on another LDG) I'll be grateful in a big way! Thanks.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 26 Jun 2008 9:45 am

ok...now don't get mad cause i'm just curious...i can appreciate high quality workmanship and parts as much as any hot rod/steel player/biker/gearhead...these pictures and others of cooped/mooreheaded/rickydavised sho-buds are beautiful.

now i had a 'professional' sho-bud d10 6 knees 8 pedals for which i made parts to add knees, etc. the mechanical plan on these is very simple and occassionally crude, but designed for functionality.

i suppose i had 1200 bucks into this steel that i played professionally for over 10 years...minimum of 5 nites a week...probably 5 people looked underneath in that time.
so my question is..though i appreciate this quality...my old steel played fine and was user friendly. how much does someone invest to get a full on, overall cooped out steel rejuvenation done on one of these.
i really can understand this kind of workmanship....for some people it's euphoria...like turning a 60 el camino that starts out as a 2000 dollar cool car that runs fine/looks good to a show car that runs perfect and doesn't leak oil and shines everywhere for 25,000 bucks.

just curious about the overall cost, and i won't put anyone down for going that route.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 26 Jun 2008 10:18 am

I mod all my steels to make them mechanically super-efficient.

Making the underside shiny is a skill that I don't possess

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 26 Jun 2008 10:27 am

nice richard...i try to do the same...always wanted a beautiful zb like that...maybe some day.

Brian Henry · Post by **Brian Henry** » 26 Jun 2008 10:36 am

I once had a 1982 Shobud LDg. It was a great looker, but O what an undercarriage noise. The pedals when mashed wold make a dreadful clattering noise that was distracting to say the least. During one of his classes at the Hermitage, Jeff Newman noticed it and suggested that I get rid of it. I did. I wish I had known about Coop back in those days. I believe that he could have made its undercarriage as quiet as my Carter custom SD10.

Steven Black · Post by **Steven Black** » 26 Jun 2008 2:54 pm

John Coop did a super Job on my Sho-Bud Pro III undercarriage, he installed his new super fingers to both changers, I could not believe my eye's when he started sending me photo's of the work, the original changers were 2 raise 2 lower changers, they are now 3 raise 2 lower, John if you still have photo's of my guitar you can post them if you want. Steveb.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 Jun 2008 5:01 pm

chris ivey wrote:ok...now don't get mad cause i'm just curious...i can appreciate high quality workmanship and parts as much as any hot rod/steel player/biker/gearhead...these pictures and others of cooped/mooreheaded/rickydavised sho-buds are beautiful.

just curious about the overall cost, and i won't put anyone down for going that route.

Hey Chris, it's a fair question.

Those pics are sure showing off the goods, huh?? According to the pics, those parts should be very premium priced, but they are reasonable. I can't quote you any prices, that's not my place. But I can assure you this, that some of us common working guys like me think it's a phenominal value, and very affordable, and very well worth the cost and wait. As I said in an above post, it's hard to see what the deal is all about, until you play one, spend a little time on it to ABSORB what these parts will do for a shobud, taking it and you into that "next dimension".

Alan Miller · Post by **Alan Miller** » 27 Jun 2008 2:01 pm

A guitar like that should never go back into its case, when not being played it should be put in a wall mounted glass display, undercarriage outward, just above the TV , or better still get rid of the TV altogether and lower the guitar to eye level.

Josh Engle · Post by **Josh Engle** » 28 Jun 2008 6:54 pm

how much does someone invest to get a full on, overall cooped out steel rejuvenation done on one of these.
just curious about the overall cost, and i won't put anyone down for going that route.[/quote]

I have had a couple long conversations with Coop, myself. I was amazed at how reasonable his prices were.I gotta believe, after we talked about prices, that this man must be in it for the LOVE of Sho-Buds, and the NEED for precision parts.
At his prices, I doubt he makes any money polishing these parts so beautifully. He seems like a guy who has high ethical standards, and won't put his name on something unless it's the best it can be.

We are lucky to have a man like this available.

Steven Black · Post by **Steven Black** » 30 Jun 2008 2:24 am

Does anyone have John Coop's phone number?, or cell phone number I've seem to have lost his number, I have an e-mail address but no phone number.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 30 Jun 2008 5:56 am

John R. Coop Sr.
2022 Jefferson St.
Anderson, IN
46016
765-649-2824
765-639-3568

The Steel Guitar Forum

A Masterpiece by John R. Coop

My Sho-Bud Pro III

John Coop's phone number.