The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi, My name is Ken Brooks. I'm new to the forum. I was recently gifted a pedal steel and told it had been hand made by someone who traded it for auto repair work. When it arrived, it looked exactly like a Sho Bud to me with the raised markers on the fretboard but it has no decals. I have looked for any serial numbers but can't find them anywhere or I don't know where to look. Some of the levers don't work and although I repair a lot of instruments, looking underneath this guitar just baffles me. I do think one lever is missing a nut. If there is anyone in the Spring Hill FL area who knows how to work these or how they work, I would like to get it in shape so I can confuse myself more while learning. There used to be a guy who came into my store and he was building his own guitar but I can't recall his name. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. I've added some pics.

Talk to "Jr" at Bondz Music in Wildwood. He works on steels and even owns a Sho-Bud LDG model.

The owner, Johnny Bondz, is also a Pedal Steel player and former salesman for Gretsch/Sho-Bud.

(352) 748-5048

Beautiful guitar! Definitely not a Sho-Bud but the workmanship looks top notch. I agree with Jack, Bondz is the closest place to you. I'm in Orlando often but likely won't be back before the end of October.
If you have some mechanical ability, post what it's not doing and folks can give you some instruction on what to do to fix it.
You're missing a hex nut - you can buy those from PGSparts.com and Bondz may have some as well.
Read the post on over-tuning an all pull guitar and you'll gain some insight into how to fix it.

Looking at it closer, that may even be an early Martin (Mike) Weenik build. Martin lives in Beverly Hills, Fl.

Good eye Jack - look at the last picture in the first post of this thread https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 2116ea8888
Is Mike still around? He hasn't posted in some time.
I really love his work...

That guitar is gorgeous.. Far better than any stock bud underneath.. that is some world class machine and assembly work.. wish someone would "gift" me a steel as nice as that one!

The guitar is beautiful, but one thing I couldn't miss is that the pad is too short, and wouldn't support the right arm in picking position. It should either be longer, or moved 3 inches to the right.

My suggestion would be to have a new pad made the correct length, to cover any possible damage installing this pad would have done to the finish underneath it. That wood is too gorgeous to have marred, IMHO.

Mike (Martin) is still around. He stopped building steels but may be talked into this one.

I'll see if I can get him to respond on here

Wow! That pic of Mike at the guitar really looks like the one. It sure is a pretty instrument and unexpected gift. I was working on the guys banjo and found it needed a lot more work which I insisted on doing free of charge knowing that the steel was coming. Thanks for all the help. As for the short pad, there was some instructional video I saw which said DON'T rest your arms on the pad while playing. I haven't figured out how to do that yet (or if that's even correct).

Not trying to be a smarty pants, Ken, but if the instructional video said to NOT rest your arms on the pad when playing, did it mention what the pad should be used FOR?

Herb, no it didn't but it could be used for protection when you beat your head on it in frustration during the learning process

I talked to Mike. He sold all his steel building equipment but was going to check this thread.

Gorgeous steel!!!!

Hey Ken; I live in Spring Hill & have managed to keep all my steels working for the last 30 years. If you would like to bring it by sometime, I'd be glad to take a look at it for you & see what I could do.

If I can't get it up & running, we could take a ride to Mike Weenicks house if I can find his number to get a hold of him; about an hour from Spring Hill.

You can PM me for my phone number.

Nice looking Guitar, it was obviously someone's pride & joy. That machine work, took forever. Shouldn't be too hard to have that puppy singing a Country Tune.... Good Luck

Hey Ken, it looks like my suggestion to re-post here worked - you are getting lots of great advice. Martin Weenick is much admired by many of us for the amazing steels he built for himself - and yours looks like a beaut! I'd follow up on getting his help if possible.

The pic with the arrow in it - yes, you need another plastic nut for that pull rod. That is how you tune the pulls - by adjusting that plastic nut in or out. You can get them a number of places, but I've used Michael Yahl's business for misc. parts a lot:

www.psgparts.com

But there are several sizes for those nuts (the outside is usually all the same, but the inside diameter can vary. Simple solution is to buy the smallest, and if it's too small, just drill it out if you have drill and bits. They are not "threaded" - just drilled. First time you thread it on, it cuts it's threads on the (usually) stainless steel pull rods.

Good luck getting her up and running!

Thanks for the great help. I am feeling better about trying to learn this contraption and have found some interesting pieces of tunes in those strings. I wonder what it really knows and can do.
Rich, I will take you up on looking at it or just talking shop or whatever.
Douglas, Thanks I have looked at psgparts. They didn't seem to have the same length nuts unless that's just a website goof.
I nearly found "I Can't Help it if I'm Still in Love with You" tonight. Although, it's tough to sing and count strings at the same time.

Ken; I've got those nuts; stocked up on parts when I was at the Emmons factory years ago.

I met with Rich Upright last night and he graciously tweaked my steel into playable condition. What a difference. Now I no excuse not to start learning to play....correctly. Thanks Rich.

Ken Brooks wrote:I met with Rich Upright last night and he graciously tweaked my steel into playable condition. What a difference. Now I no excuse not to start learning to play....correctly. Thanks Rich.

It was a pleasure, Ken & we enjoyed meeting you & your wife. Great to have a steel buddy right in my neighborhood!

Hey Rich, I'm just one town away in Brooksville. I sent you a message a few days ago. Call me when you can. My number is in the message.

I just got under my guitar again and got rid of some "elephantitas" of the left levers. There were 2 set screws on the lever! Also, tightened some other loose bits that were about to fall off and lubed away some squeaks. Life is good and the work didn't upset the tuning too much.

Woohoo! My copy of the steel guitar bible arrived today!

Ben Lawson wrote:Hey Rich, I'm just one town away in Brooksville. I sent you a message a few days ago. Call me when you can. My number is in the message.

Will do, Ben.