Famous Steel Guitars; Where Are They? Jack Smith's ShoBud?

[Don Mogle]

Hey Lynn,

Give me an update on the Bill Keith guitar. Are you restoring it like some of you other masterpieces? If so, please post some pics. I know there are probably more people who'd like to get an update. Thanks. Don

[Don Mogle]

Does anyone know where Jack Smith's purple Sho-Bud is now? Jack played steel for the Happy Goodmans. You can see this steel on a YouTube video of a concert in Arlington, TX back in the 70s.

Jack is a member of the Forum. On a previous post, he stated he gave the guitar back to Shot Jackson out of respect. I recently contacted the Jackson family and they don't have it anymore. It's out there somewhere.

If you have this guitar, please contact me using email or PM. I'd like to talk to you about it. I would also appreciated it if you could download some pictures of it here on this post.

JACK: If you are reading this, it would be great if you could come to the Steel Guitar Jamboree in Dallas in March 2014. It would be an honor to meet you and hear you play...you're gospel steel guitar ROYALTY! You have been an inspiration to many steel players...I'm one of them. It's amazing to think you played all great steel parts at such a young age. God has blessed you with an amazing talent. You've been gifted beyond belief. Wish I had some of that "Samson" in me too!

Thanks,

Don

[George Seymour]

I have the late Pee Wee Roger's Emmons D-10 PP 1973, great honor to have it, played many an hour on the Opry.
Fine tuned to playing perfection by Mr.Billy Knowles!



Here it is playing on the Opry behind Tater..
Any yes the tone of this guitar is that good!!
Remarkable really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgrC8OGBKWU

[Don Mogle]

George,

That's a great looking Emmons PP! Glad you have it. Love those push-pulls.

Don

[Clyde Mattocks]

What about the cool steels Buddy Charleton played on TV? Or was it just HIM that made them so cool?

[Danny Letz]

I have a friend who owns a white Emmons push pull D-10 that was built for Barbra Mandrell and has a plaque saying so on the front. She had the car wreck and did not take it. I think he bought it from the Emmons Guitar Co.

[chris ivey]

i'd just like to see the push/pulls played by hal, weldon and john all lined up. i've seen so many different ones.
did they wear them out or just get them provided by the emmons co. regularly? ...or did their bosses keep getting them new ones to match their band uniforms?

would be cool to have a list of all the songs they recorded and which steel was used on each.

[Darvin Willhoite]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but I own Maurice Anderson's Universal that he used on the "Universal Direction" album, as well as the "Dallas" TV show, and a couple of movies. I'm restoring it, and it may be a couple of years before I get it finished.

[Don Mogle]

Darvin,

Please keep us posted on your restoration project. Thanks.

Don

[Henry Matthews]

i'd just like to see the push/pulls played by hal, weldon and john all lined up. i've seen so many different ones.
did they wear them out or just get them provided by the emmons co. regularly? ...or did their bosses keep getting them new ones to match their band uniforms?

would be cool to have a list of all the songs they recorded and which steel was used on each.

That would be really cool Chris. Most of the top name players at one time played push pulls except Tom and Lloyd. I've never seen a picture of either sitting behind an Emmons. Wonder why?

[Don Mogle]

Anyone out there know where Jack Smith's purple Sho Bud is now? Who owns it?

Don

[Darvin Willhoite]

Here's what Maurice's "Universal Direction" guitar looks like so far. It's ready for the pull rods, hopefully it will be playable in a couple of weeks or so.

[John Booth]

I have one of Jimmy Crawford's Shobuds

[Marco Schouten]

Lloyd Green's JCH with which he recorded many hitsongs is now owned by Walter Stettner.

[Don Mogle]

Darvin: You always have the most awesome looking guitars. That MSA is a treasure!

John/Marco: Thanks for the posts.

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

I was wondering who currently owns some of the pedal steel guitars that were previously owned/played by John Hughey, Hal Rugg, Gary Hogue, Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day, etc. It would also be cool to see a picture of the guitar along with the history! Thanks in advance!

Gary Hogue bought his first Emmons guitar, a 1976 push/pull, in October 1976. As I recall, he bought it through Jay Dee Maness who, if memory serves, was an Emmons dealer at that time. Brand new, that black 1976 push/pull Emmons D-10 with 8&5 was $1,900.00 (wish they still only cost that much). Here's an old photo (at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas) back when the guitar was still new (Gary with his Emmons and that young whippersnapper on the right is none other than our beloved Junior Knight) ...



Gary played it on the Back To Back album that he cut with Junior. Gary faithfully played that guitar from 1976 until the early 80s when he started using MCI and then a Mullen in 1986.

I bought it from Gary in 1991 and played it until 1998, when I loaned it to Gary. Gary used it off and on from 1998 to 2000 when he passed away. His wife, Nikki, held onto it for Gary's son, Elliott.

Some shots of Gary's 1976 Emmons during the time I owned it.



In its case in a closet, the guitar stayed in Nikki & Elliott's keeping from 2000 to 2014. During that 14 years when the guitar had not been seen, we weren't entirely sure if the '76 Emmons was actually the guitar that Nikki held onto for Elliott, but in the spring of 2014 (I think it was April), Elliott decided he wanted to sell the Emmons and Nikki dug it out and took photos ... and sure enough, it was indeed the old 1976 guitar! Yee-Ha!

I was in the VA hospital due to the stroke I'd just had and couldn't afford it, so I called Junior Knight and told him about it ... Junior was able to buy it and he now proudly owns that guitar.

Here's a couple of shots of Junior with it ...



I am so happy and proud that Junior has that guitar! He makes it sound like a million dollars and looks like he belongs behind it ... a marriage made in heaven.

For those wondering about the cutout in the end plate and the two rows of nylon tuning nuts for the raises, that is a modification that was done by Gary Carpenter (at Gary Hogue's request). Now, I'm not sure what the modification was actually supposed to do ... the guitar still tunes as a push/pull ... but I do know that I played the guitar when it was new and then after the modification ... the one difference I saw was that it played so much easier and smoother (pedal and knee lever action) after the mod was done, so maybe that was a purpose behind it.

The old Emmons was one of two guitars that were Gary's all-time-favorite guitars. The other one, which a lot of people like to call "the Holy Grail of Gary Hogue guitars", was his very first Mullen ... a 1986 D-10 with 8&7 and dual pickups on each neck. Here's a photo of Gary with it when it was new ...



Whenever asked what his absolute favorite guitar that he ever owned was, it was always the 1986 Mullen he referred to. Gary cut at least two of his albums, A Brand New Me and Night Train, with that guitar. I bugged Gary from the start that if he ever sold that guitar, I wanted to buy it; and he always bugged me with the reply that the 86 Mullen was one guitar he'd never part with.

One day in March of 1995, Gary surprised me like a big dawg when he called me up and asked me if I still wanted his old '86 Mullen ... my reply to that? "See how fast I write this check!" I bought it on the spot. Here's a photo of it showing lots of detail ...





Ah, you're noticing the Emmons fretboards on it, huh? Those are the silver anniversary chromed Emmons fretboards. I've had a habit of putting Emmons fretboards on my Mullen guitars and Gary, liking the look of my guitars, wanted some on his old Mullen, so he ordered the anniversary ones and when they came in, I installed them for him. They've been on the guitar since.

One quick interesting story about that guitar ... see the polished pedals on it in that photo above? That pedal bar was actually from Gary's second Mullen ... a black mica guitar ... and Del did the pedal bar with Gary's name on it. Gary wanted the personalized pedal bar on his old guitar, so he switched them and when he sold the black guitar, the old original pedals went with it.

Then we come full circle to 2013 ... Mickey Adams had acquired Gary's second Mullen which had my guitar's original pedal bar on it. Billy Tam, who is a local steel brother, purchased it from Mickey and Billy and I traded pedals ... we each kept our pedal bars, but switched pedals so that he'd have the original polished pedals that belonged to his guitar and I'd have the original old style pedals that belonged on mine ... here's a photo of the two after the pedals trade ...



So, there you go, Don ... photos and some history on the two guitars that were Gary Hogue's most favored and most played instruments.

[Jack Mansfield]

Where is bud issac's steel the one in Winnie Winstons book, also Winnie's steel "the steel"

[Don Mogle]

Jim,

Thanks for this post. Interesting reading for sure. Hope you are doing well.

Don

[Charles Kurck]

Anyone know what became of this guitar ?

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 4039f4863b

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Thanks, Don. I almost forgot about another Hogue treasure ... while it didn't rank as high as the old 76 Emmons and the 86 Mullen in Gary's book, it was a guitar he played a lot and really enjoyed and was in his "top 5 favorites" ... it was a 1995 Mullen D-10 with 8&7 in a lovely Bombay mahogany mica.

Gary got this guitar new in 1995 when he sold me his old 86 Mullen. He played this guitar a lot from 1995 until 1998 when he sold it to me (I almost turned down buying that guitar because I already had three guitars at the time and really didn't need to be spending the money, but Gary made me a deal that was just too good to pass up). Although he'd bounce around with a few other guitars off and on while he had this guitar, this one was his main go-getter.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of photos of that guitar, but, here's one of Gary playing it and a couple of me with it after I bought it.





Gary really loved the tone of that guitar and he hated to part with it, but he needed to "make room" for that beautiful blue sparkle Mullen that he used so much with Marty Stuart's band.

I played this guitar from 1998 until 2000 when I sold it to Bobbe Seymour. I never knew who ended up with that guitar, but a hear-say rumor got back to me that Bruce Bouton saw it in Bobbe's store, played it and bought it. Of course, I've not been able to ask Bruce about it, so I've no idea if it's true or not.

My playing is a poor substitute for Gary's, but if you'd like to hear the sound/tone of that brown 95 Mullen, here's a cut from one of our live concerts.

https://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/dont-tell-mama

There is another Gary Hogue guitar that I remember very well, but I've no idea what became of it or who might have it now ... it is a late 1975 (or early 1976) red MSA Classic with 8&5 that he had right before getting that 76 Emmons. I'd love to know what happened to the old MSA. Here's a photo of Gary playing it at the Longhorn Ballroom.

[Jack Stanton]

Buddy Emmons' SKH Legrand, the One For The Road guitar

I wanted that guitar from the first time I saw it.[/img]

[Don Mogle]

Hi Everyone,

This is an older post that I thought I'd resurrect.

Anyone have any new updates of where the guitars of our favorite players are now?

I'd also like to locate Jack Smith's purple Sho~Bud he recorded with and use to play with the Goodmans back in the 70s.

Thanks,

Don

[Nicholas Thomas]

I am also curious is to what famous guitars are still out there! To be more specific, I would love to know if the Sho~Bud Baldwin/Professional prototype that Lloyd Green removed the C6 neck from was ever found, I've read in old threads from years ago that he was interested in finding it. To me it would be very nice to see pictures of it or another like it because the are such interesting guitars, they were essentially a professional without the decal on the front apron, instead saying "distributed by Baldwin". Anybody have any info on this guitar or any other one like it?

Nic

[Johnie King]

Zane Beck an Zane King

Don of BMI OWNS ZANE BECK’S RED KEYLESS
ZANE KING OWNS THE GREEN BMI KEYLESS the first keyless Zane Beck built an played for years.

ZANE BECK gave the green keyless too Zane in 1982 an Zane will never part with it.

[Don Mogle]

Great stories! Thanks for sharing!