The Steel Guitar Forum

1975 Sho Bud Pro II , 8+4, 2 up 1 down, two hole pullers. recently acquired. The body is indeed full of history, its clearly a relic and has stories to tell. 45 years worth. I have decided to leave the body as is with a clear coat to prevent further checking. Everything else, a full restoration, rods, bellcranks, brass swivels, both changers etc...Yep the guitar will look like its been on the road and many will shy away from it, but underneath will be pristine, it will play exceptionally well and it will sound just as good.

My opinion, not every 45 year old instrument should be returned to it's full brand new glory in the looks department. Its not a new guitar,its 45 years old ! I can't wait to finish this one and bring it out. I'm sure my band buds will say..Uhh.,..what happened to that thing ? I will say, it survived 45 years and its back ! Its a Sho Bud Pro II, early issue. Obviously its a personal choice to leave the body as is or refinish. Its a decision for THIS instrument alone.


We did the same to my wife Bonnie's fathers 1952 Fender Triple neck, we brought it back to full operational glory but left all of the patina and body wear intact. We would have removed all of the guitars history placed on the body by her Dad .

We can buy a brand new Telecaster that looks like its been around for 45 years, this will be a restored Sho Bud that actually has been around for 45 years !

My first Pro Steel was a 75 Pro III, D10 - Black, I've been searching for it or another for long time now, this Pro II will fit the bill nicely.

Yes, work has begun ! I wish this guitar could talk !

Nice guitar Tony,boy if they could only talk,I bet there would be a lot of stories there.
Larry

Yep Larry, I totally agree !


I previously removed all the rods and both Keyheads.

I did also chart all the rod , bell crank and changer positions even though I have no way of knowing if they are factory or not. This is actually a fairly easy Steel to set up. Its only a 2 up 1 down and two hole puller guitar . Not a lot of choices.

Today I cleaned and buffed all the rods, and yeah they are labeled, even though it's not hard to figure out which ones go where. Some are longer, some are shorter !


I removed 10 Grover Tuner keys from the E9th Keyhead, cleaned and lightly polished the Keyhead. I do not want it to have a heavy shine on the older non restored body, it would not look right. All the Tuners were disassembled, the gears cleaned, lubed and put back together. Same thing, a light polish to match the Keyhead. Then reinstalled


Side Note: These older guitars, nothing is perfect, don't expect it to be. Put the same Tuners back in the same positions and use the same screws to set the Grovers in
the same screw holes. This was assembled in 1975. Don't force a different screw into a different hole on the Keyhead, they will break off at the screwhead.

After the Tuners were installed, next was the Brass Rollers. Cleaned , polished and lubed, put back in the same order. Don't drop one when cleaning and polishing on the wheel, it may take a long time to find it, if you can find it at all ! Experience talking here.

Rods and one Keyhead done. About 3 hours today. Time for food and a nap ! This project is going to take about 8 weeks, working a bit at a time. Probably about 30 + hours total work time.

Looks like your doing a good job Tony,are you gonna sale this when your done,or are you gonna keep her,Classic!🤓
Larry

Tony you are so right about the time it takes. Every customer I have/get; that wants a full restoration; asks:"Ricky, so how long are we looking at?"...I always respond in reality: "Well it takes me about 30 minutes to take the whole guitar completely apart; and about 3 months to put it back together"..ah....ha....
Good luck and please yell if you have anything you question; wonder; brainstorm about any of it.
Ricky

Thx Ricky, I will indeed shout out to ya. This is I think the 4th or 5th Sho Bud from this era that I have torn down and put back together. Its not a career, its a ....uhmmm....well I don't exactly know what it is !

The Steel is 99.9 % factory complete and functional, there is a K Lever stop missing but its easy enough to fabricate one.

Larry, can't say what I'm gonna do with this Steel but I know I am gonna take it out, play it and show it off ! I play a very Steel friendly show 2 x month. I can share the story of this Steel with them. But , someone will say.. " Hey where's that Emmons" ? I'll point to the BUD on the decal !

Next up is the C6th Keyhead and Turners.

Then , one by one the Cross Shafts come off for cleaning and lube, as well as the Bellcranks and Swivels. There are 15 Cross Shafts and 25 Bellcranks ( pullers)

Then the hardware to pull the Cross shafts .

THEN, both Changers will be completely torn down to clean, inspect and re-lube the fingers.

Then, the Pedal Rack

The plan and goal is NOT to make this look like a brand new guitar but bring it back to a restored mechanical state so it performs like a brand new 1975 Sho Bud ! Each component underneath will be removed, cleaned, polished and lubed including all 20 Changer Fingers.


Good grief ! Maybe 8 weeks will be 12 weeks !

Excellent work Mr Prior.

That's a perfect plan Tony.....go to it bro.
Ricky

Tony, so cool to see this and your dedication to put it back in service. Once you get it complete and sit down to play the pride will outshine the polish. Great project and so worth the effort.

well I'm certainly not going to win any contest for how fast I will complete this project ! Its actually on the slow burner right now, the goal is to have it done sometime in April.

BUT, today , its raining so other projects are null and void.

So, this morning I did take apart the C6th Keyhead, removed all the Grover tuners, took them all apart, cleaned them, lubed them and put them back together. Put a satin buff on the keyhead and reinstalled the tuners to the keyhead. Tuners and screws back in the same locations they came from. Also removed the roller nut assembly , cleaned the brass rollers, cleaned the axle put it all back together , rollers in the same positions as well, reinstalled back onto the keyhead. This exact same procedure was used on the E9th Keyhead as well.

next up, cross shafts and pullers, removed, cleaned , polished and lubed. Then both changers.

It all just takes time.

Tony
I`ve been looking for a update on your Bud. frank

Cleaning up an old Professional at the moment. What did you use to clean up those tuners so nicely?

Jeff Goldstein wrote:Cleaning up an old Professional at the moment. What did you use to clean up those tuners so nicely?

Well it was pretty simple, I removed them from the keyheads then disassembled them. I wiped down the gear shaft with alcohol then put it on the wire wheel to remove any left over crud of which there was very little. Then put a bit of lightweight spray grease on the gear shafts and reassembled. Less than 5 min door to door !

I did not want excessive shiny parts so I wiped them down then used a Scotchpad ( on the drill press) to give them a gentle soft satin buff. They were reinstalled to the key heads in the exact locations they came from, using the same PIN mount screws for each of the Grovers.

I started working on the cross shafts and pullers a week or so back , I'm about half way done . Just taking a break doing some other outdoor projects with the good weather. One of my old Wheel Horse Tractors needed some maintenance and another needed spring serving for lawn service.

Then it was nap time, I think it still is !

Thanks Tony, it`s looking great! Can`t wait to see the finished product! Jeff

just a quick update, the Steel has a missing lever stop, LKR . PSG parts, Michael Yahl has the one I need , I ordered two different varieties just in case.

Its gettin' there.

Thx M.Y. !

Very impressive results for the metal parts!

I'm wondering for the lacquer, could there be a middle solution? For example, could a very light coat of fresh lacquer over the most worn areas then heavy buffing reduce about 70% of the wear and tear but allow just enough to let you know the guitar is an old champion?

Steve Sycamore wrote:Very impressive results for the metal parts!

I'm wondering for the lacquer, could there be a middle solution? For example, could a very light coat of fresh lacquer over the most worn areas then heavy buffing reduce about 70% of the wear and tear but allow just enough to let you know the guitar is an old champion?

Steve, yes, there may be a viable option, but I'm not there yet. I like your idea !

3 more cross shafts to finish before both Changers. C6 Ped 8 and both R - K levers. Its coming along nicely. SLOW, but nicely .

I don't remove everything, all parts, all at once, I take a few things apart, clean, polish , lube, then reinstall.

The goal is still the end of April.

back on Sho Bud duty.I've been side tracked but I'm back on duty.


Between yesterday and today I finished all of the cross shafts, bell cranks and swivels, They are cleaned, polished and lubed. And re-installed.

The E9th changer is now removed and torn down. Tomorrow will be the inspect, clean polish and lube day. Probably 2 or 3 hours. Then on to the C6th changer. Surprisingly I was expecting the E9th changer to be in worse shape, its not too bad.

Before reinstalling the changers I'll have to address the body, what it is I am going to do with it. It is not going to be refinished but it does need sealing, some help.

gettin' there

E9th changer done, ready to go.

C6th changer apart. ready for cleaning , lube etc...

Necks are removed from the body, started prepping the body for whatever it is I end up doing ! Uncertain as this time. It was really filthy.


C6th changer tomorrow

One thing I did notice while working on the E9th changer, several of the fingers ( raise and lower) were very stiff, tight, they didn't move freely. What I did was to slightly tap the back of the rivets to give them some "space" in-between the rivet and the metal fingers. This opened them up enough for them to move freely with no wiggle or slop. Then with added lube, they moved free as a bird !

Looks like a fun project, thanks for sharing! I’ve restored motorcycles and enjoy working with most anything mechanical, id love to find an old steel to bring back to life!

Al

Tony

Enjoying your posts documenting this restoration.

Like you and others I appreciate he "Rat Rod" approach....fully working under under the hood but original on the body.

I know you do great work as the Sho Bud Pro 1 you sold me probably 5 yrs ago still gets played about every day and works great.

Mike

Michael Greer wrote:Tony

Enjoying your posts documenting this restoration.

Like you and others I appreciate he "Rat Rod" approach....fully working under under the hood but original on the body.

I know you do great work as the Sho Bud Pro 1 you sold me probably 5 yrs ago still gets played about every day and works great.

Mike

Hey Mike , good to hear from you !

That Pro I is killer !

Glad you are enjoying it !

Tony

Looks good Tony! Keep the pictures coming! I love this stuff...

Don

Al, Mike, Don, thx ! I can see the end in sight with literally just the C6th changer left on the bench, a couple of hours and its off to the pedal rack and the body, which I think will be a satin clear coat to prevent further checking. After cleaning its not really as bad as first thought, yes surface cracks but over all it's still BLACK !

I am looking at using a Lacquer which if done properly can also soften the finish and fill in some of the voids. But I am not looking for perfect. I have to be real careful here.

Looks like we will be back playing our 2x month gig starting in June, heck maybe even end of May if restaurants are allowed to open to inside seating. I would really like to bring this Pro II out for its "Grand Return" as its been in a case , I have been told , for well over 4 or 5 years. I suspect much longer.

We can return to playing music together !