The Steel Guitar Forum

Regarding a Sho-Bud Pro I 3+1...
Is adding additional 3 knee-levers
1. Possible...
2. Hard to do...
3. Cost effective..or are am I better off just holding out for a 3+4 to show up.

Dana,My friend Larry Allen has a Pro1 with 3+5 and it plays like a dream,It can be done.Stu

possible, cost effective and fairly simple once you have the necessary parts!

My 6139 had three levers recently installed by Jeff Surrat over at Show Pro. The cost was $100 per and from my understanding, that's about the going rate.

I should have added #4 Best place to find all parts...

Jeff Surrat can get you the original parts. Coop custom makes them amd they're beautiful.

By all means, add those KL's. That is one fine guitar and the KL's do go on easily. You'll wind up with an enviable result.
PRR

Count 'em! Ricky Davis/John Coop.

I have nothing but good things to say about John Coop. He completely replaced a cable undercarriage for me many years back while also upgrading a 3 and 1 into a 3 and 4.

Yes, adding levers is a great way to upgrade your old 'bud. Her's my daughter's '68 I did with Coop parts. Knee kits will run about $125 apiece. A little more than original stock, but well worth the extra bux. The whole undercarrage is John Coop parts, which I encourage to go all the way with. The feel you will get out of your guitar is stunning, and the precision of these parts will help bring out the tone, as there is no slack in this undercarrage. Slack dampens tone.MHO

James,

Every time I look at that blondie I get the same reaction... Slobber slobber droll drool

I'll add to this conversation, not to take away from others, but that Ricky Davis is the man for the job---finest Shobud man on the planet, and I'll up ya the moon in that deal to. MHO

I have done this to 3 Sho-Buds and a Carter..Easy to add pedals and levers....parts from Duane Marrs store and Coop.....Larry 4 & 5 Extended E9th...

Not to hijack the thread but while we're discussing changes, is it possible to put the PF pedal on the old sho~bud pedal bar?

RC, given brains, machinery, and time, anything is possible! Of course, you could also get a different pedal rack from Coop. The one on my blondie holds 6 pedals, and would be easy to modify down to four. But the pedals would still be in the rather old-fashioned, more central position. But they're not uncomfortable to play.

Jeff S. rebuilt my Pro-1 from 3x1 E9 to 7x5 S10U (this was pre-Coop timeframe).
'Came out pretty good, but not as purty as those Coops!
~pb

That's beautiful work on both those Buds, fellows. Are the p/u's original or rewound or ??
I put my name in the line for a Jeff Suratt ShowPro. Looking forward to the day when it's fully borned. Best wishes to all.

Skip

Skip, the pup in mine is original. I think James' might be a Truetone???
My guitar came as a 3/1 with no coil tap. Ricky told me to look and see if there was a third wire taped up and not connected. There was! Ricky put in a coil tap switch.

RC.....

I put the PF pedal on my S-10 'Bud.... I got another wide pedal from a friend, the rest of the parts came from Coop or Marrs. I needed a longer rod for the pedals, which came from a good hardware store. It took a couple of hours, and works great.

Mike, how about another pic showing the rack from the pedal side? Good job!

Yeah, I wanna see how it's attached.

Skip Cole wrote:That's beautiful work on both those Buds, fellows. Are the p/u's original or rewound or ??
I put my name in the line for a Jeff Suratt ShowPro. Looking forward to the day when it's fully borned. Best wishes to all.

Skip

Skip, Mine is a Jerry Wallace Truetone, and it replicates the old original shobud pickup about as good as is possible, and I don't have hum issues, either, they are that nice.

Skip, when you get your ShowPro, be sure and share a few pics, ok?? I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff and his bride at Dallas Show this year, and they are the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet.

RC, quit slobberin'--you'll short out your keypad!!

John Good eye on the Truetone. If you ever wanted a coil tap on your guitar, all you need to do is tell Jerry, and he will wind it in as he makes the pup. You can mount it underneath, if you'd rather not drill a hole in your endplate.

OK, here ya go. This 'Bud is probably really late '74 or earlier '75. It has a slightly different pedal rack than on my '73 LDGs. On this one you can just slide the chrome piece at either end of the pedal attachment to add a longer rod and more pedals.....

Thank you Mike. That explains it all