Shobud Permanents history info--Show us Yours!!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

1) THE PERMANENT
These were the first pedal steels built by Sho-Bud. Starting out in 1957, Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons began building cabinets and assembling the pedal mechanism in Madison, Tennessee, just north of Nashville. The cabinets of the first several Permanents were all wood with no metal end plates. Soon after though metal end plates were added to the production. The undercarriage parts were welded together and the pedal setups, unlike today, could not be changed. Eight string, and later nine string cabinets were made with pedals, and by late 1958, the three pedals that we know today on the E9, became standard. Shortly after, the permanent model evolved to the standard ten string. The early permanents had no knee levers and basically consisted of raises only on the pedals(which is still the standard E9 three pedal setup today). During the late 1950's and early 1960's, the C6 neck was also evolving, with the Nashville players adding pedals and strings to eventually becoming standard with 10 strings and 5 pedals. As a result, the double neck soon became the norm and many permanent double necks with pedals were produced through these years. It was not uncommon to see a single neck permanent as well. These pedal steels were very well received by the steel players and became very popular. The permanent, sometimes called the Custom, continued to be produced well into the 1960's. Although Shot Jackson and others were adding knee levers to existing steels since the early 1950's, knee levers were pretty much standard on the Sho-Buds by 1964. Even earlier than this, around 1962 or '63, knee levers were starting to gain in popularity.

Up to this time, steel players sat on a regular chair, piano stool, or bench. With the addition of the knee levers, players found it sometimes difficult to set at the pedal steel and reach the knee levers and pedals all at the same time. Long time Sho-Bud employee, Duane Marrs came up with the idea of a seat specially designed for the pedal steel guitarist. Some what higher than the average chair or stool, this seat was the perfect height for playing the pedal steel. Duane Marrs built a prototype seat that included a storage compartment and called it the pack-a-seat. When Duane approached Shot Jackson about the idea of manufacturing the pack-a-seat that he had invented, they figured out that they would have to charge no less than $35 to cover the expenses to build it. No one thought that the steel players would be interested in such a seat, nor would be willing to pay money for it. But to their surprise, the seat was well received and as knee levers were added to the pedal steels, sales of the pack-a-seat increased and soon became, and still is today, a much needed accessory for the pedal steel guitar.

In Shot's old catalog, the number of necks, strings and pedals affected the price of the Permanent model, because these pedal steels were for the most part, custom built. For a double neck 10 string the price was $480, with extra pedals, $50 each.
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"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Here's some pics of mine, considered to be about 1959. Some where along the early life of this guitar, the undercarriage was "upgraded". Seems like this undercarriage was where Marvericks morphed from.

_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

Dennis Wireman · From: North West Indiana 47978

Man look at that wood and like those white boards nice score there James

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Dennis, This is the only reason I loosened up and sold my '63 Fingertip. Ah-ha!!
_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

Frank Freniere · From: The First Coast

Gret information - thanks.

That guitar is a work of art, James! Could look at it all day.

Bob Muller · From: Oregon, USA

James, great-looking guitar I have never seen one with that style of undercarriage. It's always interesting to see all of the different variations that were tried back then. Here are a couple photos of one that I have, which is quite different from yours.

On this guitar the C6 side is the welded style undercarriage, the E9 side has been fitted with the fingertip style undercarriage.

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

I've posted these before. This is a '64 that I rebuilt and it required a lot more work than I thought it would.

Douglas Schuch · From: Valencia, Philippines

Wow! Some amazing steel guitar eye-candy there, guys! That triple neck, Chas, with the rosewood and the "nuclear hazard warning" inlay is both stunning and unique - both because of the inlay (never saw that style before) and the unique setup. Thanks for sharing, guys!

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Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Bob, That's an awesome perm you have there. Smile

_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Chas Smith, I do not believe anyone will ever top your guitar for uniqueness--you OWN that spot!!
_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Chas, I sent you a PM. Smile

_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

Dave Zirbel · From: Sebastopol, CA USA

A 1959 project came my way. I haven't started it yet but can't wait the hear it through my Christmas Tree amp! The story is that it started as a D-8 and was converted in 1964 by ShoBud to a 24" D-10 with Fingertip parts underneath. The cabinet was already refinished when I got it.

Hoping I can contact for tips/advise/parts!
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Beautiful!

Todd Clinesmith · From: Lone Rock Free State Oregon

Heres mine:

I bought this from Chris Lucker 4 or so years ago. He bought it from the original owner ( and forum member) Al Udeen. I pulled these photos off the forum, from when Chris still owned the guitar. I will try and get some more details of this great instrument. It is supposedly the 3rd or 5th Sho Bud built. Originally a D-8 long scale and was converted to a D-9 with a shorter scale . Stratosphere pickups. The guitar sounds wonderful and plays OK.

A good thing to note on early Sho Bud history is the E9 neck on this instrument is the inside neck and the C6 is outside. James do you know what year the E9 on the outside neck became the norm?

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

"Ducktail" changers, and "Super-Gumby" keyheads! I love it!

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

James - this is fascinating. I have what appears to be one of many contemporary guitars copied from the Sho-Bud. The precise maker is unknown.

When I acquired it the undercarriage resembled yours, with wires bent through fishplates to pull the pairs of strings. I decided these could not be accurate or serviceable and replaced them with rods and pivots more like the pictures in the other posts. After all, the A & B crossrods had two cranks even though only one was in use. I am surprised that Sho-Bud ever did it with bent wires, and I take back everything I may have said about the guy who built mine, because he really was following best practice, such as it was at the time!

How beautiful yours is on top - mine will never look anything like that!
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Ian
I wonder if yours could be of German manufacture? I forgot the companies name.

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

Todd, I would say that the E9 could have moved to the audience side neck as when they stopped putting the neck selector switches between the necks. Your guitar, with its eight cross shafts, had to have the seventh and eighth pedals on the outside neck to avoid the switched. The pretty sunburst shown above yours had only six pedals and so avoided the switches.

Todd, you described that guitar very well -- sounds great, plays okay. Great bright piercing sound, much more like an early Emmons than a Sho-Bud.
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Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Todd,Chris pretty well nailed it.
Ian, very interesting guitar you have there. Early Marlen's also mimicked the early Shobuds.
_________________
"Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"~old cowboy proverb.
shobud@windstream.net

Todd Clinesmith · From: Lone Rock Free State Oregon

Thanks for the info Chris.
What year did they stop putting the selector switches between the necks ? 1958 -1959 ??

Also do you remember when the D-9 conversion was made and who did the work? I seem to recall Buddy helped out with the conversion, but i could have somehow just convinced myself of this. I should probably get a hold of Al, but I know you know the history of this instrument very well.
Todd

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

Todd, from Al Udeen to me on November 3, 2007:

"Chris: I ordered & got the guitar in 57 & played it locally in 57 at a bar I owned here &, I played a show here in 58 w/George Jones, Wanda Jackson,Norma Jean, Bobby Lord etc, I sent guitar to Shot in 59 & he converted it to a D9 & I played it in 59-60 in Tucson w/ Buck Owens & Wynn Stewart! No Question about those dates! Al"

From Al to me on September 14, 2007:

"Chris: I think your guess is as good as mine as to the writing that Shot engraved on the mounting plate, I just sanded out enough to find the 003 as it was not visible when I first looked at it when I dug the guitar out to maybe do some restoring as I mentioned earlier, I remember having the A&B split when I got the guitar, but they were on the 2nd & 3rd pedal & I had a 3rd string lower [presently the 6th string] on the first pedal, I learned "Half a Mind in 58" & had to have the split to play that, I'm sure you recall the original Buddy Emmons lick that Jimmy day used several times on Charlie Walkers,"Pick me up on Your way down, I was able to get that lick both with the A & B pedals, & also a different version by lowering the 3rd string with the 1st pedal, This may be a little confusing today & I just recalled that I had the high G# from day one, so move everything down one string from what I explained above, I know that my son in Nashville has a least one old black&white pic of me & the guitar with Buck Owens, & I also think I have a pic with me practicing "Half a Mind?' in 58 when the guitar was an 8 string & had no inlay & no green pickups or green necks Al"

From Al to me on August 27, 2007:

"When I ordered the Sho-Bud in 57 I asked Shot to put a high G# on top to which Buddy replied What the *^$ would you want that for, I took some theory lessons from a local guitar player before I bought the Sho-Bud & he said, If you had a string above the E on top, you would not have to slant the bar to got some chords, He was not even a steel player, but that made sense to me, If you have a complete E9 tuning on an 8 string with an E on top you would need to add a 9th string to have a G# on top, look at it this way, When Buddy Emmons cut "Half a Mind" with Ernest Tubb in 58 he did not have a G# on top, so he was playin a 8 string E9 tuning, Therefore the need for the 9th string. Ralph Mooney gets credit for having the first G# on top But I think I had it before he did, You might like to find an old album called " The Ernest Tubb Story" its a 2 record album cut in 58 There's some classic Emmons on it & Buddy uses several slants on some of the songs, One is "Slippin Around" Billy Byrd on guitar. I learned Half a Mind in 58 & was able to play it like the record, You can hear Buddy playing it on Youtube with Johnny Bush a few years ago, I could go on for days, & it would be fun to sit down & rattle off some real war stories, from that era, I got your check today{Thanks} & will check out the shipping & packing & let you know the cost, au P.S. there was A guy{Benny Heilman} building amps here & I had one of the first ones, but earlier I had a Fender{not sure the model} that I put the Danelectro reverb box into . "

Also from August 27, 2007:
"Chris! I just returned from South Dakota & got your message, As far as # 3 is concerned, there will always be controversy, I have an excellent memory & distinctly remember Shot introducing me to Buddy Emmons, who had been practicing in Shots garage for the Opry that nite as he had gone to work recently with Ernest Tubb, Shot called Buddy over to introduce me to him & thats when he said to him, Pick out a nice piece of wood for Al, as he's getting #3 I also remember Shot showing me his new 57 Ford Fairlane 2door that was a 2-tone Biege & Yellow, I asked Buddy how he got a certain lick on a Jimmy Dickens record, and he showed me the pedal down 2&3str then 1&2str then up 2frets with no pedals then up 3frets, with todays 10 string tuning this would be played on the 5&6str then 4&5str, Same lick is played by Jimmy Day on Charlie Walkers Pick me Up on Your way down, {first 3 notes of the steel ride} Later that night I was back stage at the Opry as Buddys guest, {Ryman of course} & Lloyd Green was playing a Dbl-Neck Rickenbacker with a Shot added pedal. & Buddy was showing him an intro that Lloyd was not getting right, Al Udeen"
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Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

John - interesting suggestion, but I know it came from the States as part of a consignment of used instruments, and the threads on it are all American. What's frustrating is you can see a rectangular mark where the badge has fallen off!

It plays well now I've re-rodded it, and it's rock solid with no detectable cabinet drop.

James mentions Marlen, and I saw some Marlen parts on Ebay one time with some pedals that looked very similar.
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs

Douglas Schuch · From: Valencia, Philippines

Todd - purdy guitar! I love the aqua (teal?) necks - but then, I'm kinda partial to blue/green shades. James - perhaps someday I will stumble across a vintage permanent cheap that needs a good cleaning and tweaking - but not real likely since I live outside the US. But my free time is just about to disappear. So, when I finish the two '70's vintage Sho-Buds I'm currently working on with parts from you, I will have to forgo this hobby and get back to making money to pay for them!
_________________
Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental!

Todd Clinesmith · From: Lone Rock Free State Oregon

Thanks Chris. I'll have to print off that info and keep it with the instrument.

Yes, the green necks and pickups are pretty. I thought about getting a Emerald Tribo-Tone bar to go with the instrument. Tho I never play the guitar out side of my home.

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