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Topic: Clinesmith Stratosphere Pickups - Sho Bud Permanents!!! |
Adrian Adkisson
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 16 Aug 2016 9:14 pm |
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, and it can be moved if necessary, but I wanted to give a review of a pickup I hired Todd Clinesmith to build. It is a pickup for a 1959/1960 Sho Bud Permanent Stratosphere pickup. The guitar I have was sitting in an old trailer for about 30 years and the original pickup sounded OK but was much quieter than the pickup on the front neck and very microphonic. Lee Jeffries informed me that Todd had the tools and supplies to build replicas. Todd is well known for his Bigsby style guitars and how amazing those are. He's also the owner of a Sho Bud Permanent, looks very similar to mine but I'll let him explain what year it was built because I believe it's earlier than mine. I'll have to say he knocked it out of the park on this pickup and was absolutely amazing to work with and accommodating. If I had the money to throw down on one of his guitars I'd do it immediately. I know that there are a lot of old Sho Bud Permanent enthusiasts on the forum. If your pickup isn't cutting it, contact Todd, he will give you something authentic to the guitar. Below I've posted some pictures that display how well he matched the look of the pickups that came with my guitar. Then, I've posted a link of me playing the guitar last weekend.It's not the greatest recording and I apologize to Todd for that but the string separation is better than what I had before and it's no longer microphonic! Great job Todd! Best of luck!!!
Above is the pickup Todd built for me, bobbin and everything.
Above you can see it side by side with the original pickup on the front neck.
The following link is me playing Sugar Moon on Todd's pickup, go to 3:11:
https://www.facebook.com/stockyardboys/videos/825001647636205/
Hope this helps some of you Sho Bud Permanent owners that want original sounding pickups. Of course, thank you Todd!
Adrian Adkisson
Last edited by Adrian Adkisson on 17 Aug 2016 7:01 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 17 Aug 2016 5:37 am
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Sounds great! So those pickups have more of a smooth and mellow tone?
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Adrian Adkisson
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 17 Aug 2016 7:00 am
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| Dave Zirbel wrote: |
| Sounds great! So those pickups have more of a smooth and mellow tone? |
Yeah, not super twangy or tinny. Probably had the bass cranked on my amp too, if I could go back I might back off of that a bit. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 17 Aug 2016 7:45 am
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I think it sounds great. I have a '59 wood cabinet end Bud that started as a D-8 string and was converted to 10 strings by ShoBud in '64. I may see if Todd will make a a pair of 10 string pickups for that guitar...
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 17 Aug 2016 7:58 am
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I def prefer the full fat old sb tone to the twangy hollow sterile modern all pull tones. It has a timeless quality to it. I do like the Emmons PP tone because it has that saxophone uppermid vocal tone but I do find it somewhat era bound.
Its pretty clear to me why shobuds and the PP became the standard for tone in the PSG world.
BTW... anybody tried a SBPerm through a Tweed DeLuxe type amp? This would be perfect for each other....big big powerful tone. .. or maybe too wide and heavy of a tonal footprint...? It would be center stage...nothing could compete for space. |
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Todd Clinesmith
From:
Lone Rock Free State Oregon
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Posted 18 Aug 2016 8:58 am
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Thanks for writing this up Adrian. This was a fun project. I have a 57 D-9 , that is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever played. It has a really tight and snappy mid range, not at all thin and overly treble based like most Pedal Steel I have played. Anyways I'd make these for more folks if the interest is there.
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face book page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clinesmith-Instruments/1457245817911268?ref=bookmarks |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2016 10:38 am
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I'm interested in a pair of 10 string! Sent you a message...thanks!
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Todd Clinesmith
From:
Lone Rock Free State Oregon
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Edward Rhea
From:
Medford Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2016 6:24 pm
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| Todd, you knocked'er clean out of the park, with this pickup!! Adrien is such a talented player/performer...I've heard him live many times and am pretty familiar with that perm, as well, and it's never sounded better! I'll have you know, when he announced to me that you were building the pickup, I told James Morehead and he was very pleased and even gave his approval, which I thought was huge!? You recreated and even improved on the pickup, amazing tone and string separation...the audio on this video, just don't do it justice. Keep up the great work! |
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Todd Clinesmith
From:
Lone Rock Free State Oregon
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