Sho-Bud Restoration part duex

George Ross · Post by **George Ross** » 25 Feb 2006 7:59 pm

Here are the results of my Sho-Bud Professional refurbish with parts from John Coop. I'm emailing pictures to Ricky and perhaps he'll be kind enough to post them. I bought this guitar used in 1976 and have never had it apart until now. The fellow I bought it from was gigging steady 6 nights a week (ahh, those were the days...) so it already had quite a bit of milage on it. Regular guitar is my primary instrument but I doubled on steel regularly until the early 80's, then the steel gigs dried up for me and I focused on guitar, the steel mostly staying in the case for the next 20 years. Now I've started up on steel again but the instrument developed some rigamortis while in the case all those years. My thanks to Bobby Lee for this forum which provides a wealth of info for folks like me who are way out of the steel playing mainstream.

The first thing I did before starting was make a jig for holding the steel on my workbench. I'm pretty sure that at least some of the knee levers were not installed at the factory and whoever put them in did pretty sloppy work. Maybe you can see the wood chipped out of the rear apron to accomodate the LKR lever in the "before" picture.

After removing the hardware I had a lot of holes to plug. I used 1/8" dowel, then sanded it all down and repainted the underneath. I tried the Plastikote FleckStone splatter paint that Coop recommended but didn't like the roughness of the finish (although I must admit the underneath pictures of James Morehead's blond Bud look very nice) so I used a light gray eggshell Acrylic Enamel. It looks nice I think, but be advised that such a finish will show every irregularity in the wood!

While the changer parts were out of the guitar I cleaned them with brake cleaner solvent. I polished the end plates and other exposed hardware with Mother's Mag polish, then started putting things back together. I lightly oiled all the moving parts with sewing machine oil. The changers weren't that worn so I didn't replace them although I've mostly been hearing great reviews of Coop's changers.

The only scary part of the reassembly was discovering that my cabinet was a bit warped and the endplate screws wouldn't pull the wood down snugly against the endplate flanges. I had to use a big C-clamp (with a piece of scrap wood to protect the finish) to press the wood down flush and I was sweating that I'd put too much pressure on the wood and crack it, but it did the trick with no problems. Maybe Ricky or other guys who refurbish these old Sho-Buds could comment on how often they encounter cabinet warping.

I've sent Ricky couple of pictures of the undercarriage with the new hardware. I didn't have any significant difficulty putting in the new parts, just took my time and was very careful positioning and drilling new holes. The only minor incident was the cross shaft on my RKL lever was a bit over-chromed and the bushings were too snug as a result. I called Coop and he sent me a replacement which fit fine. I've got to say that Coop provided great service for me... he responded quickly when I had questions and even called me on his dime a couple of times to provide consulting. Thanks, John, I really appreciated it!

The topside has the original walnut stain finish. It has an assortment of minor bar dings and some laquer cracking but is still in reasonable shape so I didn't look into having the cabinet refinished. After seeing James' guitar I'm almost regretting my decision, its natural finish is beautiful!

So it looks nice but how does it play with the new parts? Well, the pedal and knee lever action is lots quieter and has much less play than before. The pedal pressure is noticeably easier. Some of that may be due to cleaning and re-lubing the changers, but Coop's parts perform great... very little friction or play. I'm pretty pleased... and doing the work was fun.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 26 Feb 2006 12:59 pm

Here's the pictures George wanted me to put up and I have to say: You did a Wonderful Job George....>good going.
BEFORE

AFTER

And yes; I am Kind enough....ha..
Ricky<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 26 February 2006 at 12:59 PM.]</p></FONT>

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 Feb 2006 2:04 pm

Naw George, as sweet as that guitar looks with the original finish, I wouldn't make it blonde. Yours is beautiful!! That elbo grease and Mothers transforms these guitars into "art work"!! And yes, what a nice job installing those parts----don't they play just super!!?? Do you have the original pups in there?

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 26 Feb 2006 3:14 pm

Very, very nice.

George Ross · Post by **George Ross** » 26 Feb 2006 5:57 pm

Thanks James. I love this guitar but yours is in a class by itself. As for the pups, I believe they are the original split coil pickups. Before I got the guitar the E9 pickup was apparently rewound with larger 1/4" diameter magnets. I assume it was the original pickup because both pickups have identical bodies. In any case the E9 pickup is just slightly beefier sounding than the C6 pickup. Not louder, just a bit fuller sounding. I like it, in fact for my taste I'd like the same treatment on the C6 pickup.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 26 Feb 2006 8:59 pm

Hey George, You might give Jerry Wallace a shout if you want some more beef under them C6th strings. He can rewind your originals and coil tap 'em for you, too. He built me a pair for my blonde(coil taps also), and they are way cool!
Thanx for the nice comment on my guitar!(not that I'm proud of it or nothin"!! HA!!)

Randy Reeves · Post by **Randy Reeves** » 27 Feb 2006 6:08 am

beautiful restoration.
I looked at my undercarriage.
it looks like the before before pic you took of yours.
lots of tarnish and not much shiney.
still works and sound great tho.

very nice job. tis a shame hardly anyone will see the underside on a regular basis.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 27 Feb 2006 6:23 am

Guess we could go to playing on mirrors, like the car exibits use! Put a light under your steel and play away! That would be pretty trippy!

George Ross · Post by **George Ross** » 27 Feb 2006 2:00 pm

My wife joked that I'd never want to turn it right side up after this... guess that would solve the problem!