The Steel Guitar Forum

Ricky D., or anyone else who might know.

I've been setting up the pedals on a Sho~Bud L.D.G. for a friend, and was curious about what year it might have been built.

The green is a little different than most, like a shade lighter. It has a square front, wide pedals that have been cut down, teardrop knee levers, single raise/lower with nylon tuners, and an extra hole for the 4 & 5th strings, it has the bellcranks with two discs in it, which hold the pull rods with allen screws, anvil keyhead, and is stamped on the bottom "BY SHOTJ"

The tone and sustain of this guitar is incredible. You can strum it without it even being plugged up and it's LOUD and keeps sustaining!

Lem

Lem without seeing it; that sounds like a LDG right when the Customs first started making the line...late '75 early '76. right in there pal.
Ricky

Thanks Ricky. I appreciate you and your willingness to always help out! I hope you have a super 2005!

Lem

Hope you don't mind me adding to this but i have an LDGsp.It has a raised fretboard & the top of the cabinet has no green paint on it(may have been stripped,lord knows why).Any idea what the sp stands for & what year it might be.Many thanks-Col

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Sho-Bud LDGsp,levinson Blade,Peavey session 400 Limited,Boss GT-3

The SP stands for "Special Paint".

many thanks Lem

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Sho-Bud LDGsp,levinson Blade,Peavey session 400 Limited,Boss GT-3

You're welcome, Colin.

As far as the year goes, if you can give more details someone will be more likely to be able to tell you the year.

Is it a square or round front, straight or teardrop knee levers, wide/narrow pedals, what type of changer, etc...

The more info you can provide, the more likely the folks like Ricky Davis, who really know the Sho~Bud's will be able to tell you.

Happy New Year,
Lem

Yes of course Lem is correct that "SP" stands for Special Paint and to add; Paul Franklin Sr. did all those custom jobs there at Sho-bud I believe from middle 70's to 1980-ish(Sorry Mr. Franklin, you told me and I wrote it down somewhere but can't find the exact dates dangit..ha) So most likely your "Sp" LDG is late 70's probably square front and narrow pedals eh????
Ricky

Lem or Ricky,the pedals are narrow,it's a straight front & if it's any help the fretboard is the raised plastic type as opposed to the sticker type-Col

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Sho-Bud LDGsp,levinson Blade,Peavey session 400 Limited,Boss GT-3

Colin,
Are the knee levers straight or "teardrop" style, and what type changer, triple/double, etc...

So far, like Ricky said, it sounds like a mid to upper 70's model.

Lem

If the narrow pedals have treads on them than you have straight knee levers and the superpro mechanics and now your talkin' early 80's.
If the pedals are slick(I doubt it though) than you will have curved knees and double raise double lower and late 70's is the ticket.
Ricky

One more note regarding the pedals. It's possible to have narrow treaded pedals with the curved knee levers, because sometimes people have trimmed the wider pedals. I have an original Pro II that has the pedals trimmed, and you can't tell they're not factory done. Matter of fact, they may well have been done at the Sho~Bud factory. Here's a pic of the underside that shows the pedals a bit on my Pro II to give you a better idea.


Just thought I'd add that. You can take what Ricky tells you about 'em to the bank!

Lem<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Lem Smith on 03 January 2005 at 12:32 AM.]</p></FONT>

Yes those are the "Waffle" tread pedals; cut down that Lem is talking about and pictured(way cool bro.) The narrow treaded pedals that I'm talking about came out on the latest model sho-buds and the tread is just straight across line cut on the pedals.
Ricky<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ricky Davis on 03 January 2005 at 10:13 AM.]</p></FONT>

Ricky & Lem,the pedals are the straight cut treads that ricky is talking about and the knee levers are straight.Couldn't tell you about the changers as i'm not that far into it yet.The guitar in question used to belong to Chad Udeen don't know if either of you know the guitar-col

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Sho-Bud LDGsp,levinson Blade,Peavey session 400 Limited,Boss GT-3

Adding to that i do know someone who had the slick pedals so i know the ones in question

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Sho-Bud LDGsp,levinson Blade,Peavey session 400 Limited,Boss GT-3

Ricky i've never seen one with that type of rod pullers before,is that cool or not??what they got a set screw in the side to lock the rod in place?sure beats the old stuff with those little set screws huh
farris

Yes Colin you have a early 80's LDG sp(special paint) built by Paul Frankin Sr.
I do know Chad and I believe I saw that Sho-bud once before> Enjoy.
Farris; yes I've seen those; actually I had a "The Pro-II" that had those insert type fittings. Yes they have a set screw through one end that holds the rod to the part that comes through the puller. Sho-bud was known to have soooooo many different mechanisms and different parts and there's even Sho-buds out there that has stuff on it that nobody has hardly ever seen before as it was just a weekly idea....ha...
Ricky

Here's a pic, though not a real good one, of the front of the guitar, whose undercarriage is shown above. As best as I can figure from talking to Ricky, I think it's probably a 74 Pro II original.
Lem
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Lem Smith on 05 January 2005 at 03:36 PM.]</p></FONT>

Lem yours has been re-finished and is supposed to say "The Pro-II" on the right side of the apron looking at the front. And the "Sho~bud Nashville,Tennessee" is not positioned correctly; as the center of the "S" in Sho~bud; should be 1" from the metal of the endplate that joins the apron.
Beautiful Sho~bud though and yes 1974-75; right before the "Custom" came out.
Ricky

Thanks for the info, Ricky. I hadn't really thought about it maybe being refinished, as I really don't know the history of this particular guitar before I got it.

I knew the Sho~Bud logo was a bit farther inward than usual, but didn't pay much attention to where it says "Pro~II", because I have seen that sticker on other Bud's before, instead of "The Pro II".

As they say...ya learn something new everyday!

Lem

I thought "SP" stood for Special Phood coloring, right Ricky?

BB

Buddy you are exactly right..ha..
Lem; your right, the first Pro-II's had just Pro-II on it but were barrel tuners behind two hole pullers; single raise/single lower. Someone must of screened a new Pro-II sticker; but didn't use the proper script on the "II" as that should be about the same hight has the "Pro" script seen below.
Lem here's a Question?
If you lightly run your finger nail along the edge of the script; can you feel the sticker?? Sho-bud used a water decal that went under the lacquer.

Ricky

Hi Ricky,
I tried the fingernail test, and I can't feel the decal. Both the Sho~Bud decal and the Pro~II decal look almost like they're painted on, but both are definitely beneath the lacquer.

Another thing...I've looked on the bottom of this guitar, and I haven't been able to locate the model and/or serial number so far. The black underneath is also something that I don't recall seeing on most Sho~Bud's either.

I dunno...maybe it's some kinda weird hybrid guitar or something!

Lem<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Lem Smith on 06 January 2005 at 12:12 PM.]</p></FONT>

Yes Lem; yours has also been re-textured underneath; as Sho-bud either did a cream/white texture; or a texture with a light green tint or just left the natural wood and lightly lacquered.
Ricky