The Steel Guitar Forum

Looking for a recommendation on a good pick-up for a 74 shobud Pre-Pro. My old one is so microphonic. I love chime and bell tones. I run through a modded higher headroom 72 super reverb. I tryed a George L and it is pretty treble sounding. I play in rock and ambient bands along with few country/folk bands from time to time.

I've always been happy with Jerry Wallace True Tones in my guitars, especially my Sho~Buds. 17-18K ohm, with a coil tap at around 11K.

Just my opinion.

https://tombrantleyrewinds.com/




Just get the Bud pickup rewound.. Half the price of new, and you still have a great pickup thats original to the guitar.. If that Bud were mine, I would send it to Tom for a rewind with a coil tap, giving 2 distinct sounds ... You could have one coil wound at 18 or 19 K, with at tap at around 13K.. I don't think he charges extra for that either... bob

Coil tapping sounds amazing. I am new to the concept. It cuts the output down? Basically not as hot? I have a little hole on the side where a switch once was. Possibly it had one. Does it affect the tone? Is it possible to do a coil split and then a tap on a Humbucker like a 710 (best of both worlds). This is amazing! Thanks so much.

Thanks Rick! I have heard good things about Wallace. Do you use the 11K coil tap a lot?

+1 for Tom Brantley. He does a great job.

You might be able to get Harry Jackson to do it too--oddly enough, he gets that Sho Bud sound out of his pickups!

Dave

Brockett Hamilton wrote:Coil tapping sounds amazing. I am new to the concept. It cuts the output down? Basically not as hot? I have a little hole on the side where a switch once was. Possibly it had one. Does it affect the tone? Is it possible to do a coil split and then a tap on a Humbucker like a 710 (best of both worlds). This is amazing! Thanks so much.

Yes a lot of old Buds had factory coil taps.. The two sounds are very different, and distinct.. The "tapped" tone is lighter, and more of an "out of phase" sound, and not as hot and thick as the full coil. That was always my favorite.
The old Bud coil tap pickups were amazing sounding pickups, and thats how I would go for certain. tom's prices are very reasonable and he does fine work.

Personally, I have NO use for a humbucker in a sho bud.. If you have a sho Bud single coil, that the one to use,, just get it back up to snuff and it will be all you ever need in your bud...
The GeorgeL 10-5 pickup had a 5 way rotary switch that did coil isolating and coil splitting.. That is a great pickup, but I dunno, for your guitar I would use the Sho bud pickup you have,,, bob

Yep, another vote for restoring the original pickup. It does everything Bob Carlucci suggests, and more.

The coil tap is not in the exact center, so some combinations are possible. I added a switch to select (a) full, (b) this half (tap to one side), (c) the other half (tap to the other side), and (d) both "sides" in parallel.

Brockett, does your guitar have the switch and volume/tone controls?

the true tone is great. get one while you get your original rewound.

if you're looking for a humbucking pickup, i really recommend the telonics 409 in a bud.

It has the spot on the side for the switch but no tone or volume control. If I were to add a volume and tone control do you have any suggestions? Thanks

I meant to add this one instead of 2 of the other...

I am definitely going to restore the original. I reached out to Tom.

Brockett Hamilton wrote:Thanks Rick! I have heard good things about Wallace. Do you use the 11K coil tap a lot?

I use it mostly on my C6 neck, but also the E9 when I'm playing through my Tweed Deluxe. It cleans up the front-end of the amp a bunch, but doesn't lose much volume. Otherwise, I generally play the full coil.

You're going the right direction with this pickup, you'll be glad, I'm sure.

Brockett Hamilton wrote:It has the spot on the side for the switch but no tone or volume control. If I were to add a volume and tone control do you have any suggestions?

Beautiful old wood! You probably don't want to make holes in the deck. Start with a coil tap switch in that hole in the end plate. There was probably a switch there at one time that broke when the guitar was put in its case. Use a SPST (single pole, single throw) toggle switch with a small bat handle.

Experiment with half-coil, full-coil, and pickup height adjustments. Input 2 on your Super Reverb is lower gain, and might be more "steel friendly."

You can mount potentiometers and capacitor on a small angle bracket. Install underneath, in a spot you can reach with your right hand.

I'm a big fan of the double tapped pickup too. It's really difficult choosing between the 2 taps sometimes since both are so beautiful and musically useful. Though with the thinner sounding tap I tend to compensate by adding more bass or less treble with the amp setting. It's good to get familiar and experiment with both tones.

Brockett,

Here's a simple coil tap circuit. In this example the pickup is wound to 19K Ω, with 11K Ω on one side of the tap, 8K Ω on the other side.

Your pickup will have three wires. Use an ohm-meter to check DC resistance on each pair of wires. Exact values don't matter. Identify "tap" (center-tap), "hot" (the end with higher resistance), and "gnd" (the other end).

Keep pickup leads gently twisted to reduce hum. Connect as follows:
• "hot" to the output-jack tip.
• "gnd" (8K Ω) lead to the output-jack ground terminal.
• "tap" to one switch terminal.
• connect the other switch terminal to the output jack ground terminal.