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Topic: Sho-Bud Fingertip |
Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 28 Jul 2005 12:39 pm |
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| Has anyone who owns one of these guitars had the pickups changed? If so, what did you change the PU's to and what was, in your opinion, the results? Considered by some to simply be a "collectors item" and not very useful, is your "Fingertip" the only steel you own, or is it just one of several in your collection? Just curious. |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 28 Jul 2005 2:10 pm
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| Considering the rarity of fingertip Sho-Buds (I've never even seen one out here on the West Coast), I'd think twice before changing the pickups. There aren't too many collectable models in steel guitar history. Changing the pickup could seriously impact its value. |
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Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 28 Jul 2005 5:00 pm
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| Value. Yes, I understand. In talking to Bobbe Seymour from his recollection he thought a round figure of perhaps some 400 FT's were made. This project started out to try to make this guitar more mechanically dependable, particularly in the action, and I've done that with simply changing the bell cranks. I then put a simple, updated 9x4 copedent on it. That's all I've changed. Everything else is the same. Unless you look up underneath, you wouldn't know it had been touched. So, depending upon the eye of the beholder, I may have hurt the value or I may have helped the value, depending. It still has the original Sho-Bud tone and sound of the late 60's era. But I wasn't interested in old value here. I wanted an older guitar made dependable with the "old" sound. Yet, since I've already done what I've done, I wondered if a pr. of E-66's would make it cleaner and have better separation in the sound? I guess what I've done here would be like taking your antique car with mechanical brakes and replacing them with hydraulic brakes. I still have all the old bell cranks and parts and it could be put back the way it was, but then, it plays so much easier now. [This message was edited by Larry Harlan on 28 July 2005 at 06:02 PM.] |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 28 Jul 2005 5:19 pm
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Replacing the pickup is not going to matter to anyone as long as the original pickup is sold with the guitar if you sell it. Same goes for the bellcranks. Keep all the original parts in a box. If someone wants to pay a fortune for it and wants it 100% original, it can be done in a day or so's time.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
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Al Miller
From:
Waxahachie Texas
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Posted 28 Jul 2005 10:15 pm
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Kevin Owens Plays one of jimmy Day's
old finger tips on the road with Tanya tucker.. and it seems to perform flawless .. you can see him playing it on the george jones 50th anniversary party that aired on CMT awhile back ..
Boo Miller |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2005 9:15 am
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| If I were you, I'd just get a rewind of the orignal pup. |
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Marc Weller
From:
Upland, Ca. 91784
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Posted 29 Jul 2005 12:14 pm
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Larry,
I didn't realize my guitar was so rare. I have a Fingertip and I'm on the West Coast !!
Anyway, I just love those pickups. Just curious, what amp are you using?
MW |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2005 6:07 pm
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Al; Actually, the blue Sho-bud you see Kevin Owens playing is Jimmy Day's old Permenant. The dark stained Sho-bud you see Kevin play; is just a regular old Fingertip.
I don't consider changing a pickup; to de-value a Sho-bud pedal steel guitar, as long as the original is sent along with it when/if you sell it; as many like the guitar to be original first and then do with it what suits them. I think a Sho-bud pedal steel looses it's value; when it looses it's original voice/tone, and that happens when you change too much of it's original mechanism. Sure you can change the mechanism for the better playability and if done right; it can keep it's original voice> but if it is upgraded to a modern mechanism out of it's decade; it will change it's voice and is no longer of any value to me(my opinion); because I would be buying it for it's original ora of voice for its day.
Ricky
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Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 29 Jul 2005 7:04 pm
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Thanks everyone for all the replies.
*Marc, I play thru a Nashville 400. I think it has had a Lemay(?) mod also. I happen to have known the owner of this amp before he died and he told me one time he took it for a modification and Peavey didn't have a modification out at that time for the NV 400. So, it must have beena LeMay mod.
*Ricky and others, the PU change was just a consideration. I was searching to see if anyone had actually done so and the results that were attained. I realize a single coil rewind is also an option. As for now, since no one seems to have done a PU change to a modern PU, I'll leave well enough alone. The old thing does sound pretty good as it is. I guess I was just searching for a little higher level of excellence. Best regards. |
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Bobbe Seymour
From:
Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 10:43 am
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These guitars were among the best sounding of all Sho-Bud guitars, if not the best.
But don't confuse the "Finger Tip" guitars with the "Permanent" models.
Kevin's blue guitar is a "Permanent", not a finger tip. Came from Sho-Bud as a black finished guitar. I have owned it twice, I sold it to Kevin, he won't sell it back, darn it.
These old Sho-Bud steels have made me a serious collector and lover of old Sho-Buds. Beauty is unsurpassed, tone is great and heritage to the bone. But where have they all gone?
Bobbe [This message was edited by BobbeSeymour on 30 July 2005 at 11:43 AM.] [This message was edited by BobbeSeymour on 30 July 2005 at 11:51 AM.] |
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Ernest Cawby
From:
Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 11:07 am
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Bobbe people like me will not sell the old ones.
ernie
ps I have started to collect them, I now have 2. |
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Joe A. Camacho
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 11:17 am
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| I watched Chris Lawrence play 2 sets on his old Permanet last night, same guitar that was owned by Hal Rug and upgraded by Duanne Marrs, one of the sweetest sounding Sho-Bud that I've ever heard. |
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Neil Lang
From:
Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 2:36 pm
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I own 9 Sho-Buds and never have changed pickups on any of them & never will. But that doesn't work for everybody. 99% of the people listening don't know or care what kind of pickups are on it, do they?
Neil |
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Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 30 Jul 2005 4:53 pm
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Bobbe, good question. "Where have" they all gone?
Ernest, you own 2-Fingertips?
Joe, it would be interesting to know just how many old Bud's are out there still working a regular job.
Neil, 9-Sho-Buds??! Please tell us about them. How many are "Fingertip's?" if any. BTW, does your wife know you have all those Sho-Bud's?
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Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 31 Jul 2005 3:07 pm
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Back to the PU's of the Fingertip.
I see here on the Forum a electronic measurement called "Ohme's" and that "single coil" PU's are wound anywhere from 15,000 to 22,000 ohme's. Can anyone tell me approx. what the "ohme's" (were) are of the FT PU's back then when they came out.
Also, (I assume with an ohme meter) you can see what ohmes your PU's are "wound to." How do you check to see? Put the ohme meter contacts on each wire coming out of the PU? |
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Fred Layman
From:
Springfield, Missouri USA
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Posted 6 Aug 2005 6:12 pm
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| Larry, where the pickup wires come to the jack, put one of the ohm meter probes on the ground and the other on the hot wire to get an ohm reading. If the pickup is dual coil you will need to switch from single coil to dual coil setting on the neck or endplate switch in order to get both readings. FWIW |
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Larry Harlan
From:
Hydro, Oklahoma
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Posted 7 Aug 2005 5:14 am
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| Fred, Thanks. and great to hear from you. Larry |
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