The Steel Guitar Forum

Im new to the forum and steel guitar. I always loved the sound and one day I traded a mexican stratocaster for a sho bud maverick. I heard many bad things about this instrument ( after I got one) but it has the most beautiful sound!!!! I am determined to make a go of it!!

I need to find out which string guages to purchase ( factory specs0 and need any advice,tips and helpful hints that come my way. I bought the winnie winston method book and some old copies of Steel Guitarist magazine which are pure gold.
I also would like to find a teacher in the southeastern mass./Providence Ri area.

I m glad I manned up and finally took on this intimidating but beautiful instrument.
Thanks
Joe Buckley

Welcome to the club Joe!
Are there strings on the guitar now? If so, get/borrow a micrometer and measure them. That way everything will stay pretty much in adjustment. I have a whole herd of ShoBuds, but have never touched a Maverick, but when I get a new old guitar to restore, I always mic the strings before taking the guitar apart.

It's not real critical. I used the Jagwire Carter Starter nickel set last time I restrung mine:

http://pedalsteelmusic.com/strings/E9.html#cs

Pictures !!!!! I hope you got the natural maple, not the "other one", like John said, mike the strings then go to the string section of the forum and order yourself a couple of sets, also several (6) .011 extra. Thats the one that likes to break in the middle of a song.I do hope you have an understanding wife.

Bill

Welcome aboard Joe! Enjoy the ride. There will be many happy hours and a few frustrated ones but don't get discouraged, the good will outweigh the bad by a huge margin.

You'll find a lot of good guys willing to help here.

Best of luck with your steel guitar experience.

I started playing steel on a natural, bird's eye maple Maverick, with 3p+1kl, some 30 odd yrs ago. To this day, I still think it was a fine sounding steel.
It's limited to its setup, but, there's a lot of music to be played on it. Good luck and enjoy playing it.
BTW- Look up Doug Beaumiere. Click on links under instruction. He's from Mass.

Welcome aboard! One of the first things I do when I get a new "used" instrument (guitar, steel, bass or the dreaded and to be avoided at all costs banjo) is change out the strings and do some cleaning of stuff on it. (tuners, fretboard, changer top, etc.) A lot of times I have found that used guitars have mismatched strings and since you are new to the game, I wouldn't go to the trouble of micing the individual strings that came with it. Unless, that is, you know for sure it came from a player who had correct strings on it to start with. There are a lot of players on this forum who have much experience with Sho Bud Mavericks and can give you some great advice on good string sets to use and how to get the most out of a Maverick. Clyde Mattocks is a forum member from Eastern North Carolina and has contributed good advice for Maverick owners and there are others out there as well. Be warned however! If you really have the bug about playing pedal steel guitar you need to start thinking about transitioning to a pro model instrument at some point in the future. The Maverick has inherent limitations because of the basic design of the steel; It is what it is and can be a great starter steel. The good news is that there are a lot of good and well taken care of used pro model pedal steels for sale here and prices have never been better. Good luck and stick with it. The forum is always here for camaraderie, advice and support.

The Maverick has its limitations, as you've heard before, but it's fine to start on. And if you traded a Mexican strat for it, you can sell the Sho-Bud for twice that when you want to get a professional model, if you decide to. But a lot of great music can, and has been played with that setup.

For strings on my Maverick, I use GHS Boomers. You can Get them here from BoB by clicking on STRINGS at the top of the page. Feel free to ask anything here or message me with any questions. Heres my Maple Maverick I just recently got

Regardless of the mechanical limitations, those old Mavericks are some good looking guitars!

Mavericks do have their limits but a great sound & tone. learn all you can on what you have, then send it to John Coop to do a rebuild of the changer as he just did on one. Don't know what it cost but he gave it all the capabilities of a pro- steel but kept the great sounds. THE way to go IMO. Andy H.

Welcome to this Great Forum Joe
Like many, i started out on a Maverick too
second edition model
it served me well & taught me the ropes
here's a steeler from Belgium , Jan Oelbrandt w: a mav
he's amazed a quite a few of us - check him out

" Bluesette "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IASxuHcouS4

" Take 5 "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTwCkNPwr2g

"Sunny Side of the Street "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGXrlDPLPGU

" Line for Lyons "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv7WfeSyxdw

Welcome to the world of steel guitar, may your life never return to "normal".
And don't worry about what anyone else says that put down your maverick. Why should a guy starting out have to haul around all of those extra heavy parts, when he just wants to get started? Your maverick will sound great, and sound is what it's all about (isn't it?). When a new steel budget model comes out with the shiny cast aluminum and birds-eye maple, and all the stylistic class and tone of the best of those old maveicks, for the price of an old maverick, then that guy can badmouth them, but it ain't gonna happen.

It was a budget model, they had to cut out some things, but what they left on it is way classier than anyone else's budget model, then or now!

Even the "other" mavericks have the cast aluminum end plates and the maple. They just uglied them up a little, but they can still sound fine.

Someone on the Forum had a Mav with the contact paper. He took it off, and found some very nice Maple underneath.

Welcome Joe,

I've played Sho-Buds for 37 years. The closest you can get to the original Sho-Bud strings are Ernie Ball. The gauges I use are as follows:

1. .012
2. .015
3. .011
4. .014
5. .017
6. .020P
7. .026
8. .030
9. .034
10. .036

These are the same as in the Sho-Bud set with the exception of strings one and six. Sho-Bud reccomends a .013 instead of .012 and a .022 wound instead of a .020 plain. Good luck.

Al Kentfield
Jonestown, Texas

Right. The Carter Starter set has the .022 wound that Sho-Bud recommended. Sho-Bud's recommended .013 is fine for the first string because there are no pulls on that string. Other than that, the sets are identical.

What a great bunch of guys!!! I want to thank everyone for the help and advice.Im begining to see there is a lot more to this steel guitar stuff than the obvious. It's like a special club.

My Maverick is covered with this damn contact paper but it looks as if there is some good maple beneath it. That is something to work on after I make a start my playing/maintenence stuff.

I feel like I can do this now.I work 2 jobs weekends so i can not dive into this just yet

once again ,thanks to everyone who has been so nice!

Joe

Hi Joe & Welcome,

That Maverick can be re-worked and turned into one very fine and up-to-date steel if you care to invest the dollars and time. There was a thread recently on just such a conversion and it transformed the unit into a thing of beauty, both on top and underneath, as well as adding the additional levers for the more "modern" E9th copedent. It had that Sho-Bud tone too...in spades!

There are a number of very skilled 'Bud re-furbishers here, Ricky Davis and John Coop to name just two.

You're off to a very good start, both with your 'Bud and being on the forum.