quality of early sho bud pedal steels

[Don Glasrud]

I am looking at an early double 10 sho bud don't know how many knee levers as it dosen't show in the pictures. circa 1960's or early 70's. I'm new to the steel world and would like to know opinions on sho buds from this era. I have emailed the seller and am waiting for a reply on the knee levers. Asking price 1700.00 canadian

[Greg Lambert]

I had a old fender D10 that was built by shobud. All of the Knee levers were pot metal. I ended up replacing all of them as they broke. Not sure if SB put these on their named guitars but I would check the underneath for pot metal parts.

[Jon Light]

Lots of us can tell you lots about the guitar including whether it's got pot metal parts and what year it was made with some pictures including pictures of the undersides. Without pictures I wouldn't even think of wasting your time with a guess.

[Don Glasrud]

Thanks to those who have posted so far. I will try to post some pics

[Lane Gray]

They weren't really standard, as they were built to order, so that if the standard model was 3 pedals and 1 knee, they could have been made with any number.
If it's an all-pull (look for the row of springs across the bottom of ALL the fingers), it's a fairly easy to work on system.
If it's the predecessor pull-release, it will require a bunch of work if it's not already what you want, in the way of setup.
BTW, there's no added value or virtue in keeping the mechanism of a Permanent (the pull-release) in the original setup, even if you could find out how it left the factory. The value is directly related to its suitability as a playable machine.

[Lane Gray]

If the underside of the changer looks like this, it's not for the faint of heart or the tinkering-averse, this is called the Permanent.

If the top side of the changer looks like this, with two rows of thumbscrews, it's the Fingertip, which is also little understood, and parts hard to find

If the underside looks like this, it's easy to work on and parts are available

[Don Glasrud]

one knee lever

[Don Glasrud]

these are all the pictures that were posted by the seller. Thanks Lane for the pics of yours. Hard to tell from my limited pics what I'm dealing with? Any suggestions. Also not sure if one knee is good?
I'm a guitarist and had an msa and a sho bud 30 years ago just now getting interested again.
There's a big hole in my heart where steel should be!!!

[Lane Gray]

OK, that's an iffy one. Disable the crossover, as it's wonky. You can add more racks, or change to cross-shafts and 2 hole pullers (the early bellcrank).
Good tone, good changer, but a somewhat wonky pull train.

[Lane Gray]

Here's what I'd do, if that was a good deal of a steel:
Either take the strings off the back neck or just make it a C6th lap steel;
Order 3 levers to drive 3 of the 6 pedal racks, so you'd have 3 pedals and 4 knees for the E9th neck.
The crossover system would tune up one neck fine, then you tune up the other, but when you went back to the first neck, it'd be all wrong.
I'm almost wondering if you could drive both necks all the time.

[Don Glasrud]

Who makes a good steel that's still in production (E9th single 10 or 12 with 3 pedals and 4 knees would be fine) that wouldn't have to be replaced in a few years and also wouldn't break the bank? Any ideas?

[Lane Gray]

What's your budget?

[Don Glasrud]

Thanks again Lain. Don't think I have the mechanical know how to do all those things. I honour you if you're good at that!!!

[Don Glasrud]

Up in Canada we take a big hit on US dollars. I'd have to look around and do some calculating.

[Don Glasrud]

probably between 1500 and 2000 U.S.

[Lane Gray]

Either a used Stage One, Encore, Justice Pro-Lite or Mullen Discovery.
The GFI SM-10 would also work new.
You could also find used MSA guitars in your range, but shipping might get high, as they're kinda heavy.

[Don Glasrud]

Thanks Lane. Looking for as much input as I can get before I put any cash out

[Tony Glassman]

$1700 Canadian = $1300 USD. As beautiful as those old Sho Buds are, they are quirky. I'd recommend a more modern single 10 with 3+4 for an entry level guitar.

[Richard Sinkler]

Have talked to Al Brisco there in Canada. He'd probably be able to help.

http://www.steelguitarscanada.com/

[Ricky Davis]

Yes don't mess with that Crossover...do what Richard just said and contact Al Brisco...super great guy in the steel guitar biz for a bazzilion years and has any and everything you need.
Ricky

[Lane Gray]

Currently, Al doesn't show any used steels on his website, although he may have some inventory not online.

[Erv Niehaus]

How about Wayne Link in Canada?
I've done some business with Wayne.

[Charlie Hansen]

I bought a Carter S10 from Al a couple of months ago. It wasn't listed on his website but he had it on hand and the price was comparable to buying it in the US.
Great guy to deal with.

[Richard Sinkler]

Al might know people that have guitars to sell. Same with Wayne. Forgot about him.

[Don Glasrud]

All the help from the posts is much appreciated. I do have Al Briscoes info from many years ago when I was working at steel.
Wayne Link I didn't know about. Thanks