<SMALL>What you are looking is the latest Sho~Bud part I am working on. Any of you that have ever done any work on these Sho~Buds know of the poor quality of the casting that were used. My replacement keyhead is CNC machined from 6061 aluminum. I corrected the areas for tuners 5 & 6 so that you don't have to grind the ends of the tuner shafts!! It will actually set flat on the body!! Imagine that!! The tuners will actually set at a 90 degree angle to the bottom and all be in the same plane line!! Imagine that!! Sets flat, holes in line, whats next? The part that holds the rollers will be a seperate piece that will be held in place by dowel pins and socket head cap screws from the bottom. Once the roller piece is mounted in place, the slots will be precisely milled to very exact tolerances. Whats that? No more slop in the roller slots? Good grief, what are these Sho~Buds coming to? I will post pics when I get the prototype done. After this, Tailplates! Stay tuned! Coop</SMALL>
This of course is great news to all Sho~bud owners; as this headstock and roller assembly is far superior to what was; as you will notice a huge improvement in the tuning stability; that comes from the inconsistant way the tuners used to sit and hold the strings; in conjuction with the way they roll and buzz on the rollers...ah...ha.
Ricky
Sho bud could have just as easy done this in the first place, couldn't they have?? I've had head stocks before that the tuners were even milled in crooked, let alone 5&6 tuners have to be ground down to fit! Sure takes away from such a great and beautiful instrument.
I was skeptical of John Coop and his parts, until this year in Dallas when I met the man (actually I met him about 15 years ago in St. Louis but we didn't really get acquainted) and saw the work he is doing.
I'm a convert. An evangelist. John Coop is definitely "the Man," and his Sho~Bud restoration parts are first... and I mean FIRST... rate. His parts not only work the way a fine S~B is supposed to work, but they simply look beautiful in operation. When he relocates to Austin, he will be working on an S~B of mine, I garontee!
Hey Herb; we are working on just that.
When Coop does finally move here; we will open a Shop that will be ALL about Sho~bud.
Restorations; but also presenting a new line of steel guitars, that will blow your mind in re-creating the REAL Sho~bud look and sound from yesteryear; played in modern day.
Ricky
Ricky & Coop,
Best of luck with this exiting new project . I hope it is up & running when I next have the pleasure of visiting Austin (which is the best city for live music I have ever visited).I'm sure there will be a strong market for guitars built by folks as well respected as both of you in the steel guitar world.
