Rack and Barrels

Lynn Oliver · From: Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.

From Steel without Pedals:

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Sho-Bud. I'm not aware of anyone else that used this design other than maybe some copies (Miller?)
I certainly won't argue with John. But I've heard of and discussed some difficulties with this early 'Bud mechanism re: tuning stability. It may be one of those things that is great when dialed in perfectly but is tough to do so with. Hopefully someone will provide better info and pics of exactly what it is all about---a forum search might give you more info.
A while ago I was warned off this Bud incarnation for those tuning reasons. Of course you will also get warned off p/p's too.

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

The Sho-Bud Professional models from about '70 to '73 or so were the main one.

Seems like ZB had something similar and there may be others, but the early 70s Professionals are the classic rack & barrel design.
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Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

There's the underside of a rack & barrel---left arrow is rack, right arrow is barrel.

Skip Edwards · From: LA,CA

Rack and Barrel is a marvel of simplicity. One any given string, all the raises were on the same rod, and likewise with the lowers.

On say, your 4th string E raise rod you would have 2 barrels...one for your KL that raised it to F, and one for the 3rd pedal raise to F#. Both barrels would be tuned from the same hex end at the end of the rod, by the changer. This was possible because only the barrel that was engaged at the time would tune. In other words, instead of having threads that screwed in and out at the end of the rod (with plastic hex ends doing the turning), the hex end at the end of the rod would turn the rod itself, and the barrel (tight up against the rack) would screw in and out, thereby altering the tuning of that particular raise, or lower. Any other barrels attached to that rod would freewheel...they'd spin along with the rod, but they wouldn't turn within themselves.
There's a small spring on the barrel that protrudes and catches the rack, so it'll turn when needed.

Very simple...fast action, basically bulletproof, and a great system when adjusted correctly.

One cool advantage... it was easy to add barrels for micropulls, since you most likely would already have a rod in place. For example, (let's talk open position) on your 6th string G#... when it's in tune with the pedals up E... it's the 3rd of the chord, and tuned accordingly, but when you raise your E's to F and add the 1st pedal B to C# for that C# triad, you might find that the 6th string is somewhat flat, since it's now the 5th of the triad.
You can put a barrel on your first pedal (you already have a rod on that string - it just needed to extend as far as your 1st pedal...or you could put a barrel on your E to F lever) that would pull that G# just the smallest bit, to true-up that C# triad. The pull would engage near the very end of travel on that particular pedal or lever...you'd barely feel it, if at all. (btw, that micropull barrel would not come into play when you used your standard A&B pedals...since the B pedal already pulled the barrel further out...and I never noticed any tuning weirdness with any
"A pedal-open B pedal" combinations on those strings. And it never seemed to be necessary to repeat the setup on the 3rd string.)

The one disadvantage of R&B... Since the rack was not adjustable along it's length, you can't "time the pulls", like you can on a gtr with multiple holes on each string puller, like, say, a 14 holer on an Emmons LeGrande. Since different strings need to travel different distances to reach their desired pitch, the barrel that would move the most distance would engage right away, and the string that needed less travel would start a tad later. It wasn't a big deal in the real world, though. At least I never thought so.

It's a cool system...not to mention that it's attached to those old Buds that usually sound really good.

Of course, having said all that...my main gtrs these days are a p/p and a SuperPro.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Another angle, to go along with Jon's excellant photo. Cool

Lynn Oliver · From: Redmond, Washington USA * R.I.P.

Hey, thanks for the detailed responses. I did a search before posting, but only turned up one mention, which was related to Sho-Bud. Different search terms might have worked better, but I didn't know enough to think of any.

The context of the original post was in response to a discussion of palm levers that would, in theory, allow some steel guitar licks to be played on a lap steel. The discussion then evolved into whether it makes more sense for a lap steel player to simply use a pedal steel if there was a need to sound like one.

Might be an interesting discussion to have with Cindy Cashdollar at the upcoming Lap Steel Intensive.
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Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

And here's how a rack and barrel sounds when played drunk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUgkL0VAMms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvhXPi9PNtI
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Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Hey James---that was yours? I've accumulated a nice collection of photos but no names or credits. Sorry!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Yes Jon, This fine "The Professional" once graced my music room. It now lives in Alaska. Notice it has a 5th vertical? If you ever need some photos of particular areas under these old shobuds, let me know, Jon. I try to photogragh every guitar I handle, in detail.

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Del Mullen also built a rack-and-barrel setup in the early 1960's, but it was quite different than the Sho-Bud setup. Miller used a jerry-rigged sort-of-barrel device to allow you to balance tandem pulls when more than one string was raised or lowered. It wasn't a true rack-and-barrel setup. If you raised 4 and 8 from E to F, and 8 over-pulled a bit, you could get under the guitar and bring it down to pitch. Some people actually successfully used S-B barrels on Miller's, but they had to be adjusted entirely from underneath. On Miller's, there are no endplate openings. The rods hook to the single-finger changer and all adjustments are made with the tuning key, the FP or KL stop screw, the stop screw on the endplate, the make-shift 'barrels' underneath, or combinations of the above. The adjusters for these things appear to be the knurled terminal nuts off of the old-time dry-cell batteries. Despite their relative crudity in design, the little scudders actually worked pretty well.
When reworking Byron Towle's Miller D-10, I made an entirely new pulling system and used 3/32" pullrods instead of 1/8". I substituted the non-adjustable 'collars' as found on the original rods, with adjustable nylon tuners. See the post of the pics of his guitar on this section of the Forum. He's only had to tweak a couple of pulls in the three months he's had the guitar back.
The Sho-Bud R & B setup was not the greatest by today's standards, but it sure made a lot of sense back then and worked pretty well for the most part. Occasionally a barrel would get gummed up with old oil and stick. That would usually snap off the little 'whisker' of the spring which would cause that barrel to not be adjustable at the endplate. It seems that once those guitars were dialed in, they stayed put forever.
PRR

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

James, on the lower picture, the middle rack in the pic has some collars on each side of the rack on the 10th string. What is the purpose of these?

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Richard, Those are simply set screw collars. They have a set screw so you can lock them onto a pull-rod where ever you want. In this case, those collars are on the vertical raise for the purpose of giving that lever adjustment, to fit it to the player's leg. However, there are no barrels associated with those collars/vertical raise linkage, rendering the vertical inactive, in this photo. However, you could slip a barrel onto any of the rods that pass through that rack, and get a raise or lower(depending on the the hole you choose in the finger)and activate it with the vertical lever. That shows the versatility of the rack and barrel system. Cool

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Here's a pic of the very earliest rack and barrels system. 1967 S-10. Notice the aluminum "ladder-shaped" rack mounts. This system is so much fun cuz you can so easily change it.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

jon..i think people should be 'warned off' steels in general...

unless they're not afraid of rack and barrels, p/p's and drinking!

i've dealved into all of the above ...

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

Yes, Chris, there should be a steel police officer handing out tickets to people who play rack and rarrels and pp's while under the influence of booze and that much tone all at once!
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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

right chris...good looking chick cops on motorcycles.

i got a kick out of watching you concentrate up close! i've been there...

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

Ha! If I had been sober, I would have been more relaxed about my delivery...and definitely more intonated.. Smile

It's always that way when they put you on last, at 1am......and give you a booze rider with Jack Daniels at 10pm.

But if i'm gonna play drunk, I'd like for it to be a Rack and Barrel D10. There's no way I'm gonna knock it over!!
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Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Skip,Thanks for all of the info...I've always wondered how those things work.James where in Alaska does that Sho-Bud live,Stu Whoa!

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Benton Allen · From: Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA

Also, the Crossover model Sho-Buds sported the rack and barrel setup. I just completed restoring a 1969 model. It turned out pretty nice and plays well. A well setup and tuned rack and barrel guitar is very flexible and pretty trouble free.

Benton

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Timing the pulls can be quite difficult. So,,,, you sorta learn how to "time" your feet!

Chris LeDrew · From: Canada

And here I was, the whole time, blaming all my missed pulls and bad intonation on the booze.....it was the badly-timed pulls all along! Laughing

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chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

don't worry chris, we know you can play!

john...i never had to worry about that in 10 years of pickin a professional d10....was always pretty stable and comfortable.

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Mike Christensen · From: Cook Minnesota

My opinions on the rackand barel set up are:
1. If they were much good they would still be being made by somebody and used by many.
2. Noisy!! Like a Studebaker station wagon on a rough dirt road.
3. Fun to have one laying around if you have a good steel to play,but otherwise get it to Ricky Davis or Coop at the first opportunity and have it gutted and updated.
These are some of my opinions and that is just what they are. Others have theirs also but I prefer to call a spade a spade. I mean, after all!!!!

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