The Steel Guitar Forum

I am a new member. I recently purchased a sho-bud maverick on e-bay. At the time I had not found this wonderful site ,and knew nothing about PSG, but was always loved the sound. I have been a drummer all my life(now 46) and I have played around on guitar. After finding this site I realized the limitations of the maverick. In the future(~1 yr) am I better getting rid of the maverick and upgrading or can I add the needed knees to it? The maverick is in good shape ad has a great sound as far as I can tell. I have access to some machine tools so some fabricating of stuff is not out of the question. Has anyone out there tried this? Thanks in advance for any info you guys can give me.

Tom;
If you are serious about steel, buy the best professional and modern model you can afford.

Arch.

Yea, that was my thought after I already had this one. It would be fun to play around with the set-up on this one. I figure it is going to take at least a year to figure out if I can play this thing or not. I have found a teacher close by and I start lessons in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how it goes.




P.s. even without any instruction I am having the time of my life with the PSG

Hey Tom, welcome from the sunny South. If you are having fun already, you will really be hyped when you get a few lessons. A lot of other guys can tell you more about the possibilities for adding to the Maverick, or the limitations, as it were. That should give you a good start, then upgrade to a pro model would be my suggestion. I started on an old Sho-Bud that had 2 pedals and a jerry-rigged lever, was enough to determine I really wanted to play.

Had one, had several people look at it (during my first attempt at steel) and was told it was a terrible idea - you'll not increase the value of the guitar much (i.e. lose money on the investment) and just waste funds on a beginner guitar that you WILL likely outgrow.

Learn for a while, save your bucks, then shop for a better guitar.

Strings should both raise AND lower on a pedal steel, to get the full potential out of the instrument (IMO)

As far as I know, Mavericks can only raise OR lower a string, not both on the same string.

If you are mechanically minded, it's quite easy to get both a raise and a lower on the same string, but the best thing (IMO) would be to sell it and buy a more professional steel.

Jim Sliff wrote:Had one, had several people look at it (during my first attempt at steel) and was told it was a terrible idea - you'll not increase the value of the guitar much (i.e. lose money on the investment) and just waste funds on a beginner guitar that you WILL likely outgrow.

Learn for a while, save your bucks, then shop for a better guitar.

Jim is absolute right. I second his advise.

Look at the ZUM StageOne. I just got one and as a guy that started on a Maverick back in the stone ages, I would have killed for a guitar as good as the StageOne to learn on. I have played the Carter Starter and the Jackson Blackjack and the ZUM Stage one beats them both IMHO.
JE:-)>

To add knee levers you need a mechanic; to add knees you need a good surgeon willing to experiment

Play it as it is for a few months to a year, then trade up to a pro model that can handle a standard setup. A stock Maverick can either raise or lower a string, but not both on the same string. The standard pro setup both raises and lowers the two E strings. Stock Mavericks came with only one knee lever. I had Sho-Bud add one more to my Maverick back in the '70s (raised both Es). But the standard for modern pro instruments is four or five knee levers. When I traded up to a pro model, I was amazed at what I could get with the E lower lever my Maverick was missing. And the other two levers I got were also very useful. It didn't hurt me to play for a year or so without the extra levers, but beyond that I would have been stunted.

I have heard of people rigging up a Maverick to raise and lower the same string. It requires that the changer finger be suspended by springs without touching either the body or the endplate hex screw. It is difficult to imagine that this would be very stable and play in tune well. Best to use a Maverick for what it was intended, which is to get started on briefly before moving up to a pro model.

I agree with Jim Sliff and Mike, You've already bought it. Keep it until you conquer the basics -- like holding and manipulating the bar, getting different "grips" with the pick hand, playing simple melodies, getting a good sounding vibrato, eliminating pick noise, etc. By that time, you will know for sure what kind of professional model you may want and -- in fact, whether the pedal steel is the way you want to go.