The Steel Guitar Forum

A lot of Sho-Bud player seem to like the pictures of the factory so I thought this might be interesting as well.
Across the street from the Sho-Bud factory was this little shop run by Lee Wheeler.

A few days earlier I had been to MSA in Dallas were I was impressed by the overall quality of the instrument. The way they managed the building process resulting in an instrument that both was a fine piece of mechanical engineering and a joy to look at, had won my deep respect.
That morning I had visited Sho-Bud. A place that was not even close to MSA in terms of how you should run a factory, but never the less putting out stunningly beautiful guitars.
(Before you all comment this, I think my pictures proof both statements)

And than I walked into Wheelers shop. Lee was convinced that he was building the best steels on the market. I was amazed and impressed by what I saw in that shop. The quality of the workmanship was evident, but the shop was a mess and those guitars were so ugly! Two things he had in common with Maurice and Shot. That was the love for the instrument and the hospitality he showed to visitors. To me it was obvious that this guy was not cut out to be a businessman, a guitar builder yes, and an innovator sure!

More on his person and his guitars you can find here:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ht=wheeler

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ht=wheeler

One of my pictures actually shows the left-handed D14! That is mentioned in one of the links

His guitars had a great resonance. I put one in the door opening because of the poor light conditions inside the shop and the wind started “strumming” the guitar, and the guitar started singing. It was magic! As I said, It was an amazing experience.

As I mentioned in one of the other threads, one of these guitar was (probably still is) sitting in a guitar store not far from me and I went and checked it out.

This particular one needs some major restoration work. It is missing a pedal among other things. But it could be made into a perfectly serviceable instrument. However it is extremely heavy, more so than my old MSA.

If the guitar is properly restored, it will a pretty good instrument, weight notwithstanding. In it's current condition, it's utterly useless.

There's one on Ebay right now,been on there for months. I was wondering about the history of that brand. Thanx for the pics!

I bought a S-14 from Lee in the late '70's, 1977 or maybe 1978. I've got a bunch of pictures of him, the shop and the guitar. I remember we put it in the back of his truck and took it around Nashville and took pictures of it in front of the well known landmarks.

Heavy is an understatement. The guitar in its case was just shy of 100lbs. I was much younger then too, so picking it up and moving it around was not a big deal. The body is a single aluminium extrusion with the end pieces welded into place. In those days when everyone was worried about cabinet droop, that solid piece of metal didn't flex, even a little bit. All of those holes that you see on the back view was so that any number or arrangement of cross pieces could be placed just about anywhere. The changer and everything underneath was 440 stainless. Mine has 7 knees (4 L-Rs, 2 verts on the left and 1 vert on the right), and eight on the floor.

After 25 years of not having played, I'm finding myself wanting to set it up again and see how much I might remember. If anyone has a current address for Lee, I really like to say hello to him again. He was a really nice guy, an artesian and true craftsman.

So am I seeing that right, a left handed D-14 with about a dozen tone control type switches on the back of the C6 neck?? What tuning to you think is on the front neck? It looks like it has the heavier strings in the middle of the tuning. If an S-14 was 100lbs in the case, what must that monster weigh??

Jay,
Yes you are seeing it right. I did not remove the top part of the shot with the Crown cola box, so you could see that it was not a mirror image. As far as the strings or the tunings: I simply don’t know.
Someone ordered the ultimate, and Lee saw only the challenge. Lee did not asked money upfront, so he was left with this monster.
The only thing he could have done with it is put it in his shop window as a showcase of his capability as a builder.

Norm,
Even your S14 strikes me as a guitar that takes two lifetimes to master. You are so right about Lee as a person, but that makes it all the more sad that he was not hired by one of the regular builders, his visions and craftsmanship deserved better.

On the Sierra website is a set of pictures of a S20.That is also a guitar in this league, but that is a project of a forum member who did not bring Sierra down with his fantasy.
Talking about Sierra, Lee was bitter about Sierra. He claimed to have designed most of the mayor features that up to this day are present in Sierra guitars. The undercarriage of Lee’s guitars looked a lot like a Sierra’s but the real story is in the dark. Maybe David Wright can clear this up.

Well Guys, I kept in touch with Lee Wheeler, from 1977 until just 2 years ago, He and i built a lot of parts together in my shop and in his, and helped each other out on designing and building, Lee was a good friend of mine ,though he was a little excentric. He was a very good machinist , and could really play C6th , he last lived in Galesburg ,IL, I live in Jacksonville IL, and he would drive here at least once a week. But he got his arm caught in his milling machine, and broke it, he slowly went downhill from there, after his arm healed , he moved all of his equiptment ,mill , materials ,stamp dies all his tooling and power tools , everything he owned into another building with a guy he thought he could trust, and he slept there in a small room, when he could not pay the rent , the guy put a new lock on the door and Lee, never got anything back, he was heart broken, but had no money,so he lost everything, The Guy was a first class crook, he knew that Lee could never get his stuff out of that building, because he was too old and no help to physicly move that equiptment. the last time i saw him was 2 years ago, he called me and told me that he had been going to the VA hospital everyday in Iowa City. I would sure like to see him again. if anyone has any info please inform me, i cannot find a Phone number , his was disconnected, i fear he may Be gone Home Chet

Thanks, Bas, Chet & company for the discussion of Lee Wheeler and his instruments.

I remember seeing his place near the Sho-Bud factory but, unfortunately, didn't investigate.

Thanks again.

Andrew

Here's a few pix from my collection. The fellow next to Lee in the shop was Woody Wodell (I think that was his name). I memory serves me correctly, Woody was the guy who build the cases that Lee used, complete with the fake fuzzy cowhide interior.

I remember multineck guitar with all the switches. They were all different taps in the coil.

I think Lee was a little upset with me because I didn't want the multi-colored pedals and had asked him for a set of straight black anodized. I think I still have the original red, blue and green ones. I also ordered a black pedal rack and I still have the one with the copper foil . . . somewhere.

Two lifetimes of learning is an understatement. One thing I just never got around doing was to build a lever lock for the E-D# change. That change is on my RTK->L. I remember it being a little hard to hold after a while when I wanted to stay in B6. Of course, that's the vol pedal foot too, which just adds to the task. (Gotta love an instrument that uses both hands, both feet and both knees (going left, right and 2 directions of up) all doing different things and all at the same time.

I truly hope Lee is still with us somewhere.
Best to all.

Lees name was, Willard Lee Wheeler

If I'm not mistaken, he was issued a patent either on his changer system or the actual guitar itself. I'll have to dig a bunch of stuff out of mothballs and cobwebs, but I think he did indeed have a US patent relating to his guitars.
I played a job last spring in Lacon IL. A man walked up to me and exclaimed that, "I used to build those things some years ago". It was none other than Roger Miller. He was confined to this "adult facility" because of his Alzheimer's condition. I felt very hollow inside knowing that he, in his own way, had contributed so much to the very instrument we now all enjoy. Lee Wheeler's shaft job is abhorrent to say the least. We lost Zane Beck at a very young age. Ron Lashley died of physical problems after building so many fine guitars over the years. Harold Flynn and Harold Spain. We recently lost George Lewis and more recently, Mona Lewis. The pioneers of this instrument...the very people who paid their dues and laid the ground work for what we have today should forever be revered in our hearts and our memories. Did I BTW mention Shot Jackson?
We owe them a debt of sincere gratitude.
PRR

I talked to Lee, today. he is in Galesburg Ill, and recovering from injurys in a car wreck, hes doin fine, thanks for posting the pictures when he was in Nashville. Chet

I Was In His Place On Broadway In Nashville once And Talked To Him For A While He Offered For Me To Play One Of His Guitars Seemed Like A Nice Fellow, SONNY,

Thanks for the memories! I used to visit him often when I lived there. He was a smart man and very informative and a nice man!

I used to wait on Mr Wheeler all the time at the Post Office in Galesburg before i retired. Once he found out i was a muscian, he always had stories to tell me about living in Nashville & all the muscians he knew. I was really interested to see the pictures of his shop,he looked alot differant then but it's the same Lee.

Just posted my musings on Lee Wheeler and his steel guitars at:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 66#2382866

Andy