The Steel Guitar Forum

The guitar player in a band I'm in recently got a pedal steel -- it looks a lot like a Sho-Bud fingertip from the outside but I don't know about under the hood. I haven't seen it myself but he sent me some photos and would be interested in any ideas anyone has on what the guitar is and/or what's been done to it.

Yep, that's definitely a Sho-Bud fingertip.
I don't know much about the undercarriage, but the necks, fretboards, and keyheads are Sho-Bud for sure, and the changers are definitely fingertips.

Early run Fingertip. Just like mine! But I don't have a gas valve handle installed on mine. Nor does mine have the very strange assortment of knee levers/prosthesis!

Rosewood aprons, staggered 5th and 6th string tuners. Mine has different inlay strips though. They could be twins!

John Billings wrote: But I don't have a gas valve handle installed on mine.

Yours is electric, ain't it John?

Steam, James!

John Billings wrote:Steam, James!

I knew that gas lever had to be after-market.

Thanks, guys.

what does the handle do?

Beats me. At first I thought it was there to show scale, but it looks like it might be functioning as a knee lever. I'll ask.

The gas valve handle is configured to operate as a RKV lever. A bit tricky, that one.

Jim, I should have mentioned that I had a chance to look at the guitar when Paul brought it to my house a few weeks ago. It looks like it needs quite a bit of work done to put it in shape.

Thanks, Ian. That gas lever is pretty wild. Is the undercarriage standard fingertip apart from the weird lever replacements?

PS -- Nice to meet you the other night -- you've got me convinced to go to St Louis, now I have to convince my wife.

Jim, it's awful. I can't bear to see a friend stuck with a thing like that. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly.

"Is the undercarriage standard fingertip "

Yes, it is. I would suggest he gets in touch with James Morehead. The bizarre knee levers can be easily replaced with the correct parts. Nice guitar! Better maple than mine. F-tips are fabulous sounding guitars. I would encourage him to spend a few bucks to bring that lovely guitar into tip top condition.

Sorry, Scott, it's not mine to send. Given John Billings' comment I may suggest Paul (the owner) store it at my place -- he's got a B-bender already, the last thing he needs is to get hooked on pedal steel. It does look pretty and having broken a 5th string Saturday night on the bandstand on my "the Professional", I'd like that offset tuner.

It's gorgeous Jim. More than worth the effort involved to restore it!

Hey John, thanx for the kind words, my friend. Yes I do love to take on refurb projects once in awhile.
Jim , that fingertip is a real sleeper. Here's a few pics of what's under that "blanket". My fingertip project.

WOW! JAMES! That looks terrific!

Thanx John. Shows what's possible. Hopefully I can get back on this project this winter. I got a list of 'bud projects to get done first. Yee Haww!!

Projects? Tell me about it! My whole kitchen is sittin' in my living room!

THIS IS A FINGER-TIP THAT I AM WORKING ON. WHEN FINISHED IT WELL BE UPDATED TO THE TWO HOLE PULLER SYSTEM. JOHN COOP IS STILL FINISHING UP SOME OF THE PARTS, I WELL POST THE FINISHED PHOTOS LATERhttp://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix0903/7120_DSCF0125_1.jpg[/img]

Wow Bob! I love it! It gives me great pleasure to see people starting to appreciate Fingertips again.

Hey Bob!
That's going to be really pretty!
There's some really nice Birdseye there.
I can't wait to see the completed guitar.
Good luck with your quest!
Cheers!
Benton

Nice Bob. I decided to keep mine as original as possible. Fun projects, huh??

Those are beautiful restoration jobs. But how do you turn the gas on?

My first pedal steel was a Sho~Bud fingertip.
It was a beautiful looking guitar, complete with coco-bolo wood and etc.
However, you can spend a lot of time and money in restoring an old fingertip but it will STILL be a fingertip!