Stephen, I have a 1967 D-10, Sho-Bud Fingetrtip, 9x4, that I have owned since 1971 when I purchased it from my instructor then.
On the Forum here, go to Links, then Personal Web pages, then scroll down about 2/3 rds of the way and click on "Sho-Bud Unoffial Web Site by Greg Simmons." On there click on a "History" of the models of Sho-Bud guitars that Duane Becker has put together. It's very interesting.
Now, about the fingertip from my perspective, what I've been told, and what little I know. The fingertip was made from about late 1965 (or so) through 1966 and into early 1967 when they ceased production of it. Reason being that it was, is, (in it's original mechanical state), a mechanical monster to adjust out and work on and keep in tune. When a guy would be doing a gig and the rest of the band would be on break, the steel man would have it upside down in the case trying to work on it to make it play right. Now, having said all this, while they are a bit of a monster to work on, if in adjsuting them you get the pulls or lowers to all "get there" at the same time, it helps the action a lot. Otherwise you'll constantly have a "hard" action. Another problem is getting the changer to fully raise or fully lower the string to where it needs to go. This is governed some by the "fingertip" adjustment screws out on the end of the guitar changer. These are guitars that need to be owned by someone with at least minimal mechanical ability and the patience to deal with their inherent tempermental nature. But once you get around the above, or get someone like Duane Marrs or other good psg mechanic to work on it that knows what they are doing, they are a gorgeous sounding guitar. Mine is still all original, "EXCEPT" to help the action and to make it more mechanically dependable, I milled out all new 4-hole adjust.-MSA-type bell cranks for it and installed them with the brass rod ferrels & set screw. This has helped in a tremendous way and I believe now this old FT has the best action it's ever had.
Some time back, Bobbe Seymore had one that he had Duane Marrs go through. In calling Duane, they ended up putting some later model parts onto that particular old FT and according to Bobbe it really made it a good playing machine.
So, there you have it. Mechanically, they need a little help as it was Sho-Bud's first attempt at an "all pull" guitar. But as for quality of sound, they carry the great Sho-Bud sound of the 60's and 70's, (not to be confused, however, with that of the Emmons P/P of the same era). To compare, I always thought it sounded also like the Baldwin Crossover (even tho a good idea on paper, but worse mechanically than the FT, IMO) but the Crossover also had a great sound. as did the Pro II & III. But after the "Permanent" the FT, tuned up and running right, has the clear, clean Sho-Bud sound from 416 Broadway in Nashville. The end result of all this technology is the Super Pro. Some think they sound just a little different than what I describe on the FT and others here. But they are the latest of the Sho-Bud line right now.
Best regards, LBH
and sorry I got carried away here and wrote so much.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Larry Harlan on 23 December 2002 at 08:08 PM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Larry Harlan on 23 December 2002 at 08:09 PM.]</p></FONT>