The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently bought this Pro I and was wondering if anyone knew any info about it..?? Possible year? If the parts look good? Any thoughts help. I played one of these a while back and haven't been able to get it out of my head. The knee levers definitely are an addition. It is being shipped right now so I haven't played it.

It's pre-Pro I.
Looks like it was originally a 6140, which was a Sgl 10 with 6 pedals, and 1 knee lever...although a good percentage of them came from the factory with 0 levers.
Year? Early '70's... 71 - 73. I'm not sure, with the serial number starting with a 5. Most Sgl 10's that I've seen have numbers in the 2's or 3's.
Sho-Bud made a lot of Sgl 10 guitars back then...this one might have been near the end of the run.
It's in really nice shape...should be a tone monster. You might think about contacting Michael Yahl to get some proper Bud KL's.
Good luck with it & enjoy...

And... on second glance I see that it doesn't have the tone/volume pots & tap switch on the rear shelf...and the tap switch was on the endplate. That would put it no earlier than '73, and possibly early '74, but no later, IMHO.

According to Gene Haugh's factory serial # list, Feb '74: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 49#1951049. If you reach out to Gene he probably has the production card with specific info on date, model, etc.

It seems to be a strange one. Thanks for all the wisdom.

It's not really strange, it's what Skip said, a 6140. It came new with 6 pedals, someone just converted the last three pedal racks to knees.

Have a look at this Sho-Bud chronology compiled by forumite Duane Becker: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 90#2342990

Here's a page from the '72 catalog:

Yep... a 6140. Originally intended to be a sgl neck C6, which is why the pedals are at the center of the body in the catalog pic from '72. After a year or two, they figured out that E9 gtrs were selling much more, and so the pedals got shifted to the end of the pedal bar, in normal E9 position.
Like this...



Over the years, a good number of 6140's have been converted from 6 pedals to 3 pedals and 4 KL's...essentially turning it into a model 6139. That's what yours is.
Enjoy it...it's a classic Bud...

6140 it is. Thanks for all the advice.