The Steel Guitar Forum

Just a thought. I was wondering is it would be dumb to try to convert a sweet looking maple 3&1 Sho-bud Mav to a 3&4 S-10 by gutting the clothes hanger type rods and replacing them with a more pro-type undercarriage.

Bobby,

Not at all if you have the parts.

Not at all. Those old, all-wood Mavericks are purty.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... t=#1053022

Paul Redmond's Super Maverick!








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Coop's Mod.

What Rus has is sort of what I have in mind, if I ever get my hands on one. Plan to hand make all the parts. Done it before. no biggie. Andy H.

Thanks, Russ. I really ought to re-do the pullrods, etc....they're pretty ugly by today's standards. But they've been in there for a shade over 30 years and I hate to mess with success!!! The entire system still works with 100% repetition. The guitar exhibits minimal cabinet drop and has a sound that's amazing.
The lock lever shown in the one pic holds string #7 "up" in F#. When the lock is released, that string drops to E. The weird-looking rocker shown in another pic allows it to pull in tandem with #8 when 4 and 8 are raised to F. When the E's are dropped to D# on the RKR, #7 goes back up to F#. When I flip the lock back to home position, all of the above is null and void. This gives you major-only chords whether the pedals are up or down, and also gives you a major chord using the 1st pedal/F-raise. I use it mostly for Gospel music when I want "wide" chords.
I still play it at gigs occasionally as it's a very dependable guitar.
I like John Coop's idea better!!! But I'll keep what I've got for now. It hasn't failed me in 30-plus years.
PRR

BTW John Coop...I've heard mention in the past of the Maverick's cheap, thin, flimsy legs and the fact that they wobble. That's not really the case. The tubing used for these legs is more than adequate to do its job. To omit wobble, I set the endplates up in the mill vise, tilted the head (don't remember the angle), then walked an endmill into the leg holes and cut a highly-radiused "vee" instead of just leaving the bores round. I replaced those thumb screws with socket heads, then added brass plugs in the upper ends of the legs. The screws now seat the legs well against their "vees" and I have never had a leg-wobble problem on this guitar since. I believe I used a 3/4" endmill even though the legs are 7/8" diameter.
Just thought I'd pass this along FWIW.
PRR

The ashtray Mavericks actually have nice looking maple cabinets too if you strip off the faux burl.

The maverick mechanism is pretty sorry IMO, I think it would be dumb not to convert one if you had the time, parts, and know how.

If you don't have the tools, know how, or the DIY desire, I highly recommend sending your guitar to John Coop. Great work at a great price.

Right on, John. I was amazed back in 1979, to discover that my Maverick had indeed been covered with that ugly brown "shelf paper/plastic" stuff. It's beautiful bird's-eye maple underneath!!! AND you could about park a Mack truck on it and still only get 4 cents cabinet drop!!! Jeff Newman once vociferously told me that the Maverick's had one of the most rigid wood cabinets in the industry. Kline's had similar cabinets...maybe that was why Jeff liked those guitars and played them for so many years.
PRR