Just bought my first Pedal Steel -- How'd I do, guys?

Jerin Kelly · Post by **Jerin Kelly** » 16 Dec 2015 7:15 pm

My first pedal steel. An '81 Sho~Bud Pro 1. It's on Layaway right now. Just over one thousand dollars. What do you guys think?

Jerin Kelly · Post by **Jerin Kelly** » 16 Dec 2015 7:17 pm

Any info on this model / year / style of pedal steel would be helpful. I'd like your input. I'm a total newbie.

Tom Gorr · Post by **Tom Gorr** » 16 Dec 2015 7:37 pm

Beautiful...a great price. .. super pro model I would expect based on the SN

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 16 Dec 2015 7:42 pm

The Sho-Bud Pro series of steels was introduced into the early seventies.The Pro I had been around since 1972 and was standard with three pedals and one knee lever. The Pro I was one of Sho-Bud's most popular steels.

Dan Beller-McKenna · Post by **Dan Beller-McKenna** » 16 Dec 2015 7:46 pm

Ya done good, Jerrin! These later model Sho Buds are very easy to work on and set up, and most of them sound good. I have a double neck version from around the same time: yours would appear to be late March / early April 1982, and appears to be all original and in great condition.

As you may have already gathered from searching the forum, these later Buds do have an Achilles heel. Several of the parts are made of cheap, weak pot metal. One group of parts is easy to replace, another not so easy. The brackets that attach the knee levers to the cross bars underneath are available from a few aftermarket manufacturers who sue superior aluminum. I would recommend replacing those right away, as there many stories of these breaking. Michael Yahl at psgparts.com can set you up with those.

More problematic are the changer fingers. The top part, to which the string attaches, eventually gets a groove worn in it from contact with the steel plate that activates the lowers. This can prevent the string from coming back up to pitch after it has been lowered. No one is making replacement for these at the moment. Looks can be deceiving, but, given how clean your axe looks, you can hope that it has not seen excessive use, and the grooves may be a long way off in your future, by which time (hopefully!) Michael or someone else will have started producing replacement parts. In the meantime there are a variety of fixes, but I wouldn't worry about it until and unless it becomes a problem. Many forumites have been playing this model of Sho Bud for decades without any problems.

Main thing now is to enjoy your axe and get playin'!

Jerin Kelly · Post by **Jerin Kelly** » 16 Dec 2015 7:54 pm

When I say just over one thousand, I mean $1300. But it sounds better in my head that way. This one has three pedals and four knee levers. I played it a little bit before I made the commitment, even though I don't really know what I'm doing. There's just a little bit of corrosion on trace rods and springs. But everything seems to work just fine!

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 16 Dec 2015 8:16 pm

Yes April 1982
[tab]
1982
January 17441 17510
February 17511 17580
March 17581 17660
April 17661 17711
May 17712 17755
June 17756 17799
July 17780 17810
[/tab]

Dan Robinson · Post by **Dan Robinson** » 16 Dec 2015 8:49 pm

Jerin, looks like a nice guitar. A whole lot of beautiful music has been (and continues to be) on steels just like your's.

Welcome to the madness. "It's a nice little hobby."

http://steelguitarnetwork.net/forums/to ... ost_id/109

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 16 Dec 2015 11:55 pm

Dan Beller-McKenna wrote:...More problematic are the changer fingers... ...No one is making replacement for these at the moment...

I doubt Jerin will need them but since you mentioned it, and just FYI, I can make 'em (in small quantities anyway). This is a set I just dropped in the mail today, going in the E9 neck of a later Pro II. They are 6061 T6 aluminum with pins instead of the frustrating little notch for the string ball ends (the pins were obviously not installed yet in the pic). The nice flat rear surface works much better for adding split tuning screws in the changer housing too.

Only the actual fingers and upper shoulder rivets are new; they're using the original steel raise/lower scissor. I'm not really set up to make those bits efficiently at present, but if the original steel scissors are still in good shape the actual fingers are easy to replace.

Btw, nice looking 'Bud Jerin, I have a red 12 string that looks just like it.

Patrick Laffrat · Post by **Patrick Laffrat** » 17 Dec 2015 1:52 am

Hello Jerin,
what a Lucky man you are. You was right to buy this very nice guitar with its light case. Have fun!

Dave Campbell · Post by **Dave Campbell** » 17 Dec 2015 2:50 am

ian, i'm sending you a pm.

Bill Ferguson · Post by **Bill Ferguson** » 17 Dec 2015 4:35 am

You did good.

Trent Harris · Post by **Trent Harris** » 17 Dec 2015 6:44 am

Is that the one that was in Arthur's?? I was hoping that'd be around for a while it's pretty!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 17 Dec 2015 6:51 am

Good deal, good guitar. Welcome to the club.

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 17 Dec 2015 7:03 am

It's a beauty... played a lot of gigs on black one from the same year.

Jim Hinds · Post by **Jim Hinds** » 17 Dec 2015 7:46 am

Very Nice

Eric Philippsen · Post by **Eric Philippsen** » 17 Dec 2015 8:53 am

Ya' gotta' love the older Bud dustcatcher fretboards.

Welcome to steel guitar in Indiana.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 17 Dec 2015 12:26 pm

I would also recommend upgrading the knee lever brackets, at least on left knee left. Your leg swings back and to the left to activate the lever. The pressure that the knee lever gets from the angle of the leg movement, puts a lot of stress on the bracket and it can break. I broke 3 on the Super Pro that I had. Some don't have any problems. I wish they would have mounted LKL the same way the did on earlier models. They angled the cross shaft for the LKL to somewhere close to the angle your knee would travel.

By the way. Nice score.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 17 Dec 2015 12:27 pm

Eric Philippsen wrote:Ya' gotta' love the older Bud dustcatcher fretboards.

Welcome to steel guitar in Indiana.

Wow. I missed that. My Super Pro didn't have them. They looks so cool.

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 17 Dec 2015 12:37 pm

Good Score ! !

If the knee levers are set up like an Emmons guitar (Eb lower and raises on Left leg) this may have been steel I owned at one time.

Really looks nice.

Merry Christmas !

Bill Fall · Post by **Bill Fall** » 17 Dec 2015 4:18 pm

For years, I've been hearing the knock put on later Sho~Buds equipped with pot-metal parts. I've owned seven pedal steels, including two Zums, but the one I've put the most miles on, far and away, is my 1981 Sho~Bud Super Pro, my first and, tone-wise, still my favorite. In the 33 years I've been playing it, I've had to replace only two pot-metal elements, both of them after having well more than 20 years of wear.

No argument: quality aluminum parts are a superior replacement for pot-metal ones -- if you can find them. But I personally wouldn't think twice about buying a Sho~Bud beauty like Jerin's just because of pot metal on the undercarriage.

Calvin Walley · Post by **Calvin Walley** » 17 Dec 2015 5:56 pm

look at it this way ...even if you never learn to play it,
you can always just leave it in your living room and when folks come to visit you ,look at it and say

aint that pretty !!!

Rich Upright · Post by **Rich Upright** » 18 Dec 2015 9:10 am

Good price. Not a great price, but a good price.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 18 Dec 2015 9:30 am

Bill Fall wrote:For years, I've been hearing the knock put on later Sho~Buds equipped with pot-metal parts. I've owned seven pedal steels, including two Zums, but the one I've put the most miles on, far and away, is my 1981 Sho~Bud Super Pro, my first and, tone-wise, still my favorite. In the 33 years I've been playing it, I've had to replace only two pot-metal elements, both of them after having well more than 20 years of wear.

No argument: quality aluminum parts are a superior replacement for pot-metal ones -- if you can find them. But I personally wouldn't think twice about buying a Sho~Bud beauty like Jerin's just because of pot metal on the undercarriage.

I loved my Super~Pro except for that LKL bracket breaking. I wasn't on the internet yet, and didn't know about solid aluminum replacements. I never broke any other part, or had problems with them. It was a great sounding, and when I put Lawrence 710's on it, it really shined. The only reason I sold mine was, after I bought my Carter, the wife (at the time) made me sell the Bud and my Kline. Had I sold her off instead, I'd still have both.

Jerin Kelly · Post by **Jerin Kelly** » 18 Dec 2015 6:07 pm

Thanks for all the replies! You guys seem like a super supportive awesome group of people. Can't wait to get this thing going!