The Steel Guitar Forum

I just wanted to share these pictures of the superb rebuild on my Marrs D-10 done by Bobbe and Mike at SGN, with help from Dan and cabinet refinishing by Don Woods. The top picture is original, the rest post-renovation.

This is Marrs #0005 which was around 12 years old when I got it and I have now had for about 25 years. It always played superbly but suffered the ravages of age, especially cosmetically. Now it has been rebuilt mechanically and has had a major facelift. The pictures do not do it justice! Thanks again, Bobbe, both for this rebuild and the ShoBud 6140 conversion!!!

Don't mind the nosy dogs in the pictures!




















Doug Frank

Doug,

Words can't express how great your guitar looks.

Those guys really maintained it's original charm. It's in a league of it's own.

Congrats to Bobbe and everybody else involved in this superb renovation.

Danny,

Thank you. I think we all wanted this guitar to be a testament to the late, great Duane Marrs! I felt that if it was carrying the Marrs name then it needed to be properly restored. It always played superbly even after 35 years but Bobbe, Mike and the guys took it to a new level and they deserve the credit for making it happen. Ain't she a beaut?

Interesting bell-cranks. They're micro adjustable to allow optimally balanced pulls.

Thanks, on behalf of Bobbe, Dan and Don. What a finish job, huh?
Tony, those cranks are actually Emmons 5/16" x-shaft collars with 8/32 cap screws holding the collar to the shaft, and also serving as the actual bellcrank upright(except for that 14 hole LG crank I used on I believe, the RKL #4 lower on E9...I needed that for leverage). The use of the 5/16" collars and cap screw was quite an idea Duane had, and very adjustable.
Doug, I hope I got the setup right for you
That guitar was a long-term project, but after I slapped on the new Marrs decal, wiped 'er down and stood back and gave it the eye, it took my breath away. Thats some purty wood! And it sounds as good as it looks. Thanks should also go out to Bud's Polishing, and Jeff Surratt of ShowPro for the fretboards, decal and advice! We're all glad you're happy, Doug.
I hope Duane is pleased as well. I sure do miss him.
It was a pleasure to be involved in this project as a testament and memorial to my old friend.
Enjoy!
sincerely,

MC

Mike thanks for the info.

So, it looks like you just undo the spring-clip, slip out the pull rod and then spin the bellcrank up or down the socket cap screw to change the leverage. Then reconnect.

It must be a liitle tougher to do on adjacent pulls like the 3rd pedal on the E neck and 7th pedal on the C-neck.

Mike,

Thank you for all of your hard work. The setup is super!! I appreciate you givng kudos to Jeff and Bud's for their part in this renovation....truly a wonderful collaboration. I need to give their due to a couple of other folks (not to mention Linda, the wife, who din't squeal once when I told her I needed to get both guitars rebuilt this summer).

I got the Marrs in about 1984/5. I was looking for a double neck and contacted Scotty's Music to see what was available in my price range....I was struggling to get by at the time with a wife, couple of kids, new mortgage, etc. Although he had nothing in stock, Scotty offered to call around and see what he could come up with. He called back to say that Duane had this guitar on consignment which was about 10 years old or so but was sound and played well. I think a road player had been using it and was getting a new Marrs built. The only "flaw" was that the stain on the top had started to take on a purplish hue over time. The guitar had 9 pedals, 6 levers - a couple of which worked both necks, and Bill Lawrence pickups - it both sounded and played great and also looked pretty good.

Well, I jumped at it....I am thinking I paid around $1200 max, maybe less. I don't believe that Scotty, Duane or the original owner made a cent on this deal. Needless to say, I was and am grateful to all of them for helping me out when I was pretty well strapped.

I always figured that I would get this guitar renovated and refinished but I blinked and it was 25 years later!!! So this summer I decided it was time to give both my ShoBud and the Marrs a makeover. I am so pleased with the results on both guitars and even more pleased that these classics have been brought to their optimal state.

The ShoBud - originally a 6140...rack and barrel with 6 footpedals, no levers. I got it from Manny's Music in NYC, where they knew even less about steel guitars than I did. I added 2 temporary knee levers I made for the E and F changes since I couldn't afford knee lever kits at the time. They stayed on until this year. I talked to Bobbe this summer about an overdue upgrade and sent it to SGN to have 3 pedals taken off and 4 knee levers installed. It was polished, tweaked, set up and a George L pickup installed this summer. It has the old rack and collar feel and sounds superb with the new pickup. Cosmetically it was in decent shape but all the aluminum was polished and everything cleaned up. Once the 'Bud was back, I then sent the Marrs off to Bobbe.

So many thanks to everyone involved in both projects. The steel guitar world is awesome!!! Here are a few pics of the ShoBud today.