Julian Tharpe picture

Joe Fortune · Post by **Joe Fortune** » 11 Nov 2009 10:28 am

This picture was taken on Sept 3, 1973 in Edinberg, Illinois.

Julian was playing with the Barbara Mandrell Show.
Notice the 14 string, 15 pedal guitar.
Guessing the guitar to be a SHO BUD.
This is all the info I have regarding the picture.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 11 Nov 2009 11:46 am

Cool pic! Anybody have the copedant?

Dan Burnham · Post by **Dan Burnham** » 11 Nov 2009 11:52 am

Love the Pic, none greater than Julian......

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 12 Nov 2009 8:24 am

Heres the org set up on the 14 my Dad built him
Dated Jan 31 1973

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 13 Nov 2009 10:10 am

David, do you know if your dad was actually able to get that .010" third string to pull from A to Bb? I tried to do that on a Dekley I built for Red Rhodes, and couldn't do it, even with a .008" string.

He said it would be impossible on a 24" scale and he was right. We ended up making a special 23" scale guitar for him and his tuning.

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 13 Nov 2009 11:12 am

That guitar must be huge, I am pretty sure Julian wasn't a big guy but look how much guitar there is to the left of his left arm!

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 13 Nov 2009 11:14 am

Big keyhead!

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 13 Nov 2009 11:42 am

At Ponderosa Park in OH, Julian was with Barbara Mandrell and they did a twin guitar song. It was pretty incredible. Then Barbara unplugged her guitar in the middle and the same twin guitars were there. All part of the act. It was all coming from Julian's pedal steel!

Greg

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 13 Nov 2009 11:54 am

Ah! Greg! Ponderosa Park. Played there several times. Always had fun.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 13 Nov 2009 4:56 pm

Looks like a plain ol' F6 tuning with two diatonic strings on top.

I recall Julian as being rather tall, somewhat over 6'.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 13 Nov 2009 5:05 pm

yeah herb...nothing special, just a 14 string julian tharpe thing...and he didn't even have an afro!

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 14 Nov 2009 3:36 am

Jim,
Yea, it did it, in the ol days, I have same change on my Bb tuning, my ol msa made it to, but what a time getting the note up there!!

Herb,
I spent a lot of time with J.T. following him all over DFW to watch him play, you got me to thinking on his size, I think he was under 6 ft...but not 100% sure, all I do know, he was a pleasure to watch play..he was such a BIG influence in my learning to play steel..hope to see him in the H.O.F someday....

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 14 Nov 2009 7:49 am

Wow! His 14th string, .080W going down to D!!! Now that's low!

Do other 14 stringers go down that far?

Ron Kirby · Post by **Ron Kirby** » 15 Nov 2009 4:07 pm

Julian is a KING in the steel guitar world ................

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 15 Nov 2009 7:00 pm

What happened to Julian?

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 15 Nov 2009 7:26 pm

I'm sure someone else here will fill in the details, but Julian got into some sort of altercation a few years back and was beaten up pretty badly. He died of his injuries.

Larry Bressington · Post by **Larry Bressington** » 15 Nov 2009 9:14 pm

Thanks herb.

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 15 Nov 2009 9:42 pm

..hope to see him in the H.O.F someday....

David!! He was inducted last year!
He was also inducted into the
Alabama Hall of Fame
several years ago.
~Russ

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · Post by **Ulric Utsi-Åhlin** » 15 Nov 2009 11:08 pm

I didn´t know about the circumstances leading to
Julian´s demise...terrible,sad.McUtsi

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 19 Nov 2009 8:31 am

Herb Steiner wrote:I'm sure someone else here will fill in the details, but Julian got into some sort of altercation a few years back and was beaten up pretty badly. He died of his injuries.

From what I was told at the time, he went to a guickshop for smokes, and a couple of thugs (low life) beat, and robbed him for a couple of dollars.

Bill

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 20 Nov 2009 1:27 am

Julian used to come by my bar The Hitchin" Post on Lower Broad back in the 80's and he was I'd say maybe 5'9" or a little taller but not by much. He was a really nice guy and a terrific player. I know a guy that has one of his old 14 String Sho-Buds but he won't turn loose of it. I heard it had most of the undercarriage taken out so it would be expensive to make it work again now. I tried to buy it from him but he wouldn't sell it as he thought it would be a collectors item.

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Julian Tharpe picture

Julian Tharpe picture

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