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Topic: Sho-bud pot metel parts |
Ronnie Boettcher
From:
Brunswick Ohio, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2007 5:17 pm |
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I have a LDG, and I am wondering if and when Sho-bud stopped using the pot metal parts. Or if they all have them.
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Sho-Bud LDG, Martin D28, Ome trilogy 5 string banjo, Ibanez 4-string bass, dobro, fiddle, and a tubal cain. Life Member of AFM local 142 |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2007 5:51 pm
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Ronnie, it's more a question of when they STARTED using pot metal parts. As I understand it, with the exception of a literal handful of Super Pro II's at the very end of the company's life, they used pot metal from the late 70's on till '84 or so, when the company folded.
If I'm not mistaken, one rule of thumb would be if the changer has slots instead of pegs for the string ball ends, the pull fingers are pot metal.
If the pull rods connect to the bell cranks directly, with little spring clips to hold them on, the bell cranks are pot metal, and likely so are the knee lever brackets and knee levers. |
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John Coop
From:
YORKTOWN, IND. USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 4 Dec 2007 6:47 pm Pot Metal Parts
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| Next time you break one of those pot metal parts, call david jackson and thank him for putting such "world class quality" parts out. Coop |
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KENNY KRUPNICK
From:
Columbus, Ohio
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Posted 4 Dec 2007 6:51 pm
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| Why did Sho~Bud use pot metal in the first place,instead of using hi quality aircraft aluminum? |
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Ronnie Boettcher
From:
Brunswick Ohio, USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2007 7:33 pm
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Thank you, I have the slots, so my bud has the pot metal. So far they all are good. My bud is in that time frame. Thanks again.
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Sho-Bud LDG, Martin D28, Ome trilogy 5 string banjo, Ibanez 4-string bass, dobro, fiddle, and a tubal cain. Life Member of AFM local 142 |
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Ernie Pollock
From:
Mt Savage, Md USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 6:17 am Yes!!
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I'll be on Coops side on this one, I have had the honor of breaking a few of those knee lever parts & having to beg a machinist to make me one from aluminum to replace them. When you play one of these buds, your playing a 'time bomb' just waiting to break in the middle of one of your greatest solos!
Ernie  |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 6:43 am
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| Ya, I had to drive home during a break one night to get my other steel (glad I had a spare). Those pot metal parts WILL snap sooner or later and then you're pretty much done for the night. Great guitars had it not been for that. I had all the lever brackets redone in steel & chrome after that. That still leaves a lot of pot metal though. Today I would just have the whole thing redone. Those steels were not cheap to buy either. I wonder how much they saved by putting that garbage in them. |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 12:29 pm
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Could anybody post a photo of the specific part (or parts) that tend to break? I've never been clear on this. I'll appreciate it muchly.
Also---is there any way for a layman like myself to determine if my parts are pot metal? My 12 string Pro 1 has a pot metal changer but has two hole swivel pullers rather than slotted bellcranks. I'd really like to know once and for all if I've got anything to worry about (the changer fingers are on my list of things to take care of but 12 of 'em won't be cheap.) |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 2:15 pm
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Jon, I know you asked for photos, and I don't have those, but I believe the most likely part to break on late-model Buds (it happened to me) is the knee lever bracket, that is, the piece that is on the hex crossbar and to which the knee lever itself attaches. If those are shiny and have indentations in them, they are pot metal. But with two-hole pullers, I doubt you have hex crossbars. If your crossbars are not hex, you're probably OK.
I think in general any original parts that look shiny are pot metal. |
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mike nolan
From:
Forest Hills, NY USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 2:24 pm
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Jon,
Your guitar has pot metal changer fingers.... the rest of it OK. |
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Scott Denniston
From:
Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 2:27 pm
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| Jon, like Brint says plus I've seen the lever itself broken in half. My bracket (the part that the lever is attatched to) broke in half. You can tell if they're pot metal if they look like they were poured into a mold. They are light weight and chrome covered. The backside of the levers look pourus. There's a strip on the back that isn't covered with chrome. Sorry no pics-this is from memory. I think if you have pot metal levers and brackets then the fingers probably are too. It would be worthwhile to have the whole thing redone the right way with aircraft aluminumn. I think these Buds are worth it! |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 5 Dec 2007 2:32 pm
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Cool--thanks, Brint, thanks, Mike. Back before I knew anything at all about Sho-Buds, around 20 years ago, I had a friend in Boston who told me about twice breaking something in his knee lever linkage on his LDG. First time I heard the term 'pot metal'. Always spooked me, the thought of that ticking time bomb.
He made a trade with Tommy Cassela a couple of years ago and got a Fessenden which got my mind working and I ended up buying my new Fess thru Tommy shortly after. And now I've got a Bud. But without the worries my friend had to deal with. Cool. |
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Ernie Pollock
From:
Mt Savage, Md USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 10:18 am Refresh my Memory??
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If my memory serves me right, and I have been giving those 'fish oil' pill hell latley, I think the EMCI S-12 that I once owned had pot metal bellcranks, I could be wrong, but they were not stainless steel and a magnet didn't stick to them & they were shinny & it was not chrome plated, wonder if anyone with one of those guitars could check his or hers & see if it is in fact pot metal. Don' t know about the MCI which preceded that EMCI. I never owned an MCI.
Ernie Pollock  |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 12:04 pm
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| BTW---somehow I only just saw your response to my question, Scott---thanks. |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 12:09 pm
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On my Super Pro I broke the "F" lever bracket one night and the lever just fell on the floor. Fortunately my set up is a 9+9 so during a break I swapped one off the C6th neck to get me through the night - luckily I had the tools with me. If I recall the bellcranks were pot metal as well but I didn't break one of those. Absolutely rubbish parts - but the guitar was great and sounded really good - mind you I had BL705's on it !
Also the end of the crossrods where the pedal rod hooked on used to wear right through as well on the AB pedals ...so ended up swapping those out for less used ones on my C6th neck. Gave up eventually and bought an MCI which I played for 20 years til I discovered ZUM's. |
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Will Hart
From:
St. Croix, Virgin Islands
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 2:58 pm
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For Jon Light
 Also broke a knee lever (not shown) |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 9:43 pm
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Hm, I never had those pictured parts break. I do have a recently-acquired LDG where the bell cranks the pedal rods hook into have almost worn clear through--I won't gig with it until I replace those, for fear the pedal rods will break through. But my Super Pro doesn't have that. 
I guess it's a crapshoot with the pot metal--the stuff must be so inconsistent that some pieces are solid enough to last, while other identical parts are fatally flawed. A shame that an otherwise fine design was so compromised by the use of poor materials. But the guitars, IMO, still sound great! |
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Tony Glassman
From:
The Great Northwest
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Posted 6 Dec 2007 11:22 pm
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........and trying to get a .066 ga string into the slot of the C6th 10th string pot-metal changer head isn't any picnic either.
I can hardly wait to re-build my Pro-II with Coop parts! |
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