Memories of the Sho-Bud shop in London

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 5 Jan 2008 11:18 am

Roger. It must have been the same guitar, our drummer was mad on the Flyers , he came wiyh me to buy it from the Sho- Bud shop Denmark St London, I later trade it for a Sho-Bud pro D10 at Groundmusic in Doncaster, the Bud was a beautiful guitar , I sold it to someone from Lancaster, he had the under carraige redone , I really should not have sold it, but we are all in search of the next best guitar. I found mine ,Sierra session uni 12 2002..

Jonathan Shacklock · Post by **Jonathan Shacklock** » 5 Jan 2008 1:45 pm

Ken, thank you for posting these fantastic shots, what a result! Wonderful to see Lloyd there as well. Any photos of the shop front? Please thank Ron, these are great.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 5 Jan 2008 2:01 pm

Jonathan
Ron is now a member of the Forum, and I hope that he will chip in with some personal recollections that will be more detailed than I can relate second hand. Some really big names in the rock, pop and country world visited the shop.

Ken

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 6 Jan 2008 8:42 am

Ken, that's brilliant

Almost positive one of those S-10 ZB's in red at the back or one on the right could have been mine after I swopped to get my S-12 Sho-Bud. Great memories of the hours I'd spend in there with Ron and John, before heading off to China town for a good nosh

Micky Byrne

Rick Batey · Post by **Rick Batey** » 6 Jan 2008 8:59 am

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jan 2008 9:45 am

Great pictures!!!!

Best regards to Ron Mawn - I do hope he can post here on the Forum soon. As I said previously, he saved my bacon on more than one occasion when a pot-metal part would break on my old Pro 111! Happy New Year to you all...

RR

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 10:07 am

Roger
Ron lives less than 2 miles away from me now. He is going to work his magic on my D12 ShoBud that I bought recently. Lo and behold - he was the original owner of it and was badgered into selling it - somewhat reluctantly. He did say to me that he got you out of the mire a couple of times with broken levers. He said that you are one of the good guys.

His reminiscences yesterday at his home were incredible. He has got an Aladin's cave of ShoBud parts, memorablia and instruments. He has a fantastic D10 Fessenden with more knee levers than I could count, along with a 14 string keyless Sierra. He is still very enthusiastic about the pedal steel. He's now retired and spends a lot of time angling (no better way of spending your free time).

I hope too that he participates in the Forum as he has a lot to offer in the way of knowledge.

PS - I got a lovely email from Lloyd who had not seen some of Ron's photo's before.

Ken

David Hartley · Post by **David Hartley** » 6 Jan 2008 10:17 am

I bought mt Sho-Bud Super Pro from a shop in Cambridge called THE DRUM AND GUITAR CENTRE, in NORFOLK STREET. I remember the assistant Nigel ? was into steel and owned one too. This was a new steel but remember taking it home and discovering a fault with it. The end plate without the mechanism on was screwed on wrong. When you put the pedal bar on you had to force the legs in together to get it to locate, or leave the front 2 legs loose to get the pedal bar on. Because there was no way in returning or exchanging this guitar, I tackled it myself. unscrewing it, filling the holes with dowel, and refixing it.. Not the sort of thing you expected to do with a brand new steel but it was my only option. It was OK after that.. Befor that I had my ZB Student from Eric.. I wonder where that is now? I was a black plastic top with an alumimium body which I remember covering with red vynil and edging it with thin polished aluminium.. I looked really nice..Someone must still have it?

David Hartley

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 10:41 am

Rick Batey wrote:Great pictures. The Gretsch Atkins Axe on the wall - the one with the funny control plate - dates to 1976 or a touch later... so one of those red Sho~Bud S-10's could be mine. I can even see a likely candidate with an inlay that lines up...

Rick - the photos date at 1978, so you weren't far out. Most of the guitars hanging on the wall are in the £400 - £600 mark. (See price tags - just) Some a lot more. A lot of money in those days.

In all the time I worked for Eric Snowball selling steel guitars, he never ever carried the amount of stock that John Edmed did. Ron and Les even went over to the States to source more stock at one point because they were knocking so many out. There was quite a bit of competition between the two shops at one point. You can see a number of ZB's in the shop photo that people had part exchanged for ShoBuds.

There was great rumour throughout the UK steel fraternity at that time (completely unfounded of course) that ZB's didn't sound very good and had bad tone. This resulted in loads of guys part exchanging their guitars. I was one, and while I loved and still have my 1975 Pro 111 Custom, I still wish I had my beautiful sunburst ZB D10 from that time.

Great days and great times.

Richard Damron · Post by **Richard Damron** » 6 Jan 2008 10:54 am

To all who have posted on this thread.

At the risk of thoroughly hijacking this thread I must admit that I have nothing to contribute. B0b - please let me continue.

There are many on the Forum who are interested in the history of this wonderful instrument. Were it not for people like yourselves, we would most likely be unaware of the breadth of interest in the PSG and especially from "across the pond" as it were. This thread, as well as similar ones from the genre, was most enlightening indeed.

Many thanks

Richard

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 11:15 am

Richard D - to a certain extent I have also hijacked Jonathan's thread. I hope he forgives me.

You know, we in the UK were starved of information about pedal steel guitars in the late 60's early 70's. We would pester the daylights out of any touring American player over here. There was no tablature to speak of, and not many pedal steels available commercially.

Eric Snowball really has to take the full credit in England for raising the profile of the instrument, and for a while, pedal steel guitar became highly fashionable both in the pop world as well as country. Eric imported mainly ZB's from Zane, with a few Emmons from Ron Lashley Snr, and all of the merchandise like strings, bars, albums etc. His shop (E S Electronics) in Maidstone in Kent was like Mecca to those who played or wanted to play steel guitar. Many of us would travel there and spend the day immersing ourselves in the atmosphere of the place. A bit like you guys would do in Bobbe Seymour's shop these days.

Then a second shop - the title of the topic - opened up in London, and opened up the whole scene in the UK. I sold steel's as an agent for both shops, though not at the same time I might add. According to Ron Mawn, it was not uncommon for UK rock stars of the time, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Wood, Steve Howe, John Paul Jones etc to wander in these shops to buy or get work done on their pedal steels. This was an era when they were very fashionable.

Within a few short years (early 80's), there was a recession and the Yamaha DX7 keyboard came along. Both contributed to the demise of the popularity of the pedal steel. Thankfully, these days have seen a renaissance in the interest of steel guitar over here. People now seem to have more disposable income and can afford to buy steel guitars that at one time were almost completely unaffordable.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 6 Jan 2008 11:21 am

How many red LDG's were made?
I had a 1978 red LDG, signed by Lloyd (I bought it in 1987 from a player called Ron Wilkes, who lived in Worcester), maybe it's the one in the picture

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 6 Jan 2008 11:46 am

Roger..If you look at the second photo down, right at the back righthand side there is a ZB that looks like the ZB I bought .The Vic Collins one, the colour looks the same and it looks like a single neck. what do you think ?...

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jan 2008 11:46 am

Ken

An excellent potted history of the UK steel-guitar scare of the 1970s!!! I lost count of the days I would idle my time (and theirs!) away down at ES Electronics in Maidstone (quite a trek from Muswell Hill!). I bought three steels from Eric, so I wasn't a total 'tyre kicker', but I drank copious amounts of free tea; it wasn't all clear profit for him.

I recall Eric being delighted that I'd played a ZB with George Harrison on TV, and he displayed a picture in his 'Rogues' Gallery' for years.

I agree that Eric was the catalyst for many of us starting out. Gordon Huntley was a factor, too, as he set the guitars up and was often on hand with plenty of helpful advice.

I remember driving home with MY first ZB Student steel (mine had the red top, David), thinking 'I'll soon figure this out.....'

HA!

RR

Ron Mawn · Post by **Ron Mawn** » 6 Jan 2008 12:15 pm

To the many people showing a interest in the shop I will try to answer a few of your questions.
Yes Micky, if my memory serves me right that was your old red ZB in the picture, the ZB D10. belonged to a guy from Wickford in Essex who's name eludes me.
The red LDG was one of many we ordered along with Blue and standard ones and one in Black with a ali neck.Regarding the Gretsch guitars we usualy had the whole range along with s/h guitars.
Good to hear from you Mr Rettig have a happy 2008.And to all forum members.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jan 2008 12:17 pm

Here's the guitar - and I'd totally forgotten that it had five pedals! I don't even know what they did, or even if they were hooked up.

This red S10 was traded back to Eric for a brown D10 - I believe that Vic Collins had this one after me.

Sorry about the hair, and that's Billy Bremner on my left.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jan 2008 12:22 pm

Yes, John, it could be the same guitar. I can't see the pedal rods in that picture in the shop, but it's possible it is my old one.

RR

PS: I believe that this shot was taken at the Merryhills Country Music Club on Hendon Way.

Jonathan Shacklock · Post by **Jonathan Shacklock** » 6 Jan 2008 12:54 pm

Ken, I couldn't be happier with how this thread has turned out so far, you are forgiven! For me as a new steel player it's fascinating to hear about all this stuff and the small band of passionate British pedal steel enthusiasts who got things going over here. It's nice to feel part of a tradition.

I'm always surprised that ZB's are more common than you'd think in the UK, we owe Eric for that. I'm hoping to get my hands on one of his guitars when I've got the chops and the cash together.

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 6 Jan 2008 1:02 pm

Roger, i belive it is , not many ZB's had beading along the neck and both guitars in the photos have it..
What do you think Watson??

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 1:51 pm

Ron
You have sneaked in here mate. Can I just say welcome to the Forum, and I hope everyone makes you as welcome as they did me when I joined here.

Ken

Jonathan Shacklock · Post by **Jonathan Shacklock** » 6 Jan 2008 2:29 pm

Welcome Ron, and thanks for your contribution and the photos.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 2:46 pm

Here's Mr Mawn beavering away in the shop in 1979. As I said before, the ShoBud shop always had a lot of stock in at any given time. They used to turn over a lot of guitars. I once sold 4 in one day, much to John Edmed's delight.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 6 Jan 2008 2:56 pm

Yes!! Welcome, Ron - don't be a stranger here...

John:

You're right - that neck-inlay was what set it apart from other ZBs that Eric had, and it's probably why I chose it.

I'm really intrigued about those five pedals, though - can you believe that I'd forgotten!!!? At that early stage, however, I only used three, and was probably only raising and lowering the 'E's!

I'm trying to find a shot of my subsequent ZB - the brown D10.

RR

PS: I'd forgotten how many MSAs there were around back then.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 6 Jan 2008 3:08 pm

Roger - the MSA's were as a result of Reece and John Edmed meeting over here. John put an order in for a number of MSA's, and of course Reece's appearance at a series of shows didn't hurt the promotion either.

Although it was called the ShoBud shop, it was not based entirely around that make of guitar.

If anyone has pics of their guitars from that time it would be great to see them. Micky Byrne may be able to come up with him on his ZB complete with Afro haircut!!

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 6 Jan 2008 3:24 pm

I had a LP by Reece and John , It may have been recorded in the UK. John had written a few of the tunes as i remember. I don't recall what it was called , maybe Reece would know.
As far as big hair went I think I could compete with Micky. what were we thinking!!. I may have posted this before but I had mine permed the same time as John Virgo in the same hairdressers , we sat across the room from each other and when we had the curlers taken out John said to me you look a right pratt to which I replyed so do you . Mine you it did not hurt his career and I'm still working, just

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Memories of the Sho-Bud shop in London

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