Sho-Bud Fret Board Construction

[Paul Brockett]

Recently, while trolling old photos of Sho-Bud guitars, I noticed an anomaly on the fret board of one guitar. Of course I came straight to the forum to find an example of this anomaly and found the picture shown bellow. It appears that the fret board is held on by two screws located just after the second fret and again, two screws, just after the seventh fret. Is anyone familiar with this construction on a Sho-Bud fret board and if so what year were they constructing the fret boards like this? Thank you in advance.

[Ian Worley]

That would be the infamous plastic "dustcatcher" fret board, very common in the mid-late 70s. Not all had screws in them, some were just glued, some had screws in the center

[Paul Brockett]

Thank you Ian for the come back.
I was looking over old photos of Pro 1 guitars trying to learn as much a possible about which year had which features when I started noticing the fret boards.
I'm assuming that if I were able to examine the fret board in the photo above, the markers and frets would be raised and hence the name "Dust Catcher". Now the name and the screws make sense.

QUESTIONS: What were these fret boards made of?
Is there any Pros or Cons (outside of the dust) associated with these fret boards?

Thanks again.

[Robert Parent]

QUESTIONS: What were these fret boards made of?
Is there any Pros or Cons (outside of the dust) associated with these fret boards?

Thanks again.

It has been many years since owning a Sho Bud but I believe the fretboards were made using injection molded plastic. Likely some sort of ABS material as it would be cheap and easy to manufacture. The ones without screws would always fall off here in the frozen wasteland of MN and WI.

Robert

[Allan Kirby]

My 1974 model Sho-Bud has the plastic (dust-collector) board screwed to the body. I like it being secure. I also like the fact that the board is easier to see in dimmer light because it is not glossy. I dust it regularly with a large soft paint-brush.

[Paul Brockett]

Thank you Ian,Robert and Allan for your input. Before I posted here, I was searching the SGF archives for information on "screw down fret boards". My results were mixed. After I learned the term, "Dust Catcher" my search was much more successful. Your input along with the forum archives has taught me a lot. Thank you.