Sho Bud LDG YEAR??

Bill Simmons · Post by **Bill Simmons** » 3 Jan 2006 7:41 pm

I just bought a great Sho Bud LDG steel in excellent shape -- beautiful dark green. It has the tear drop/Gumbie tuner head and tear drop knees with a square front apron. It has the plastic '3-D' fretboard and narrow pedal. I was told it is a triple raise/double lower. The serial number is #12437. Does anyone have an idea of the year of this LDG and the pickup ohms?? Thanks in advance.[This message was edited by Bill Simmons on 03 January 2006 at 07:44 PM.][This message was edited by Bill Simmons on 03 January 2006 at 07:47 PM.]

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 4 Jan 2006 12:10 am

From that description; it sounds like it was made during the "pro-II and pro-III CUSTOM" era; but still had round crossbars...>so somewhere in the '76-77 area.
Slick narrow pedals right??
The Original Sho-bud pickup from that era was non split coil(with coil tap) and they measured 19,500 give or take....>but if you get a newly made pickup wound to that; you won't like it..ha....>as that was a totally different winding machine and different wire to wind and different pole pieces.
Ricky

Carl Williams · Post by **Carl Williams** » 4 Jan 2006 3:27 am

Bill,
Congratulations on finding your LDG. My serial # is 12403 and based upon your description, about the only thing I can see different on mine is the crossbars are "hex" shape vs round. Ricky refurbished it this past year and he said it was more than likely a '76 model +/-. His tip off was the color of the lining of my case which is a very light blue. I had Jerry Wallace wind me a 17.5 pup---sounds great and after Ricky's "tweaking", stays in tune and looks great! As Ricky asked, are your pedals slick? Carl

Bill Simmons · Post by **Bill Simmons** » 4 Jan 2006 6:06 am

Thanks so much Ricky and Carl! The pedals are narrow slick and do have the 'hex' cross rods. The case is in excellent shape with red covering inside. When I plugged it into Tom McDonald's Walker Stereo Steel the night I bought it, it just blew us away for sweet highs and full low's! What a incredible sounding steel and I have a great sounding '68 Emmons and a new Rains. Thanks again Ricky and Carl...

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 4 Jan 2006 8:50 am

Bill; It can't have Hex Crossbars and Curved Knee levers; unless someone retroed it together. If it has the Curved Knee levers with their regular mountings; that it should have round crossbars with two-hole pullers?? Otherwise the Hex crossbars came with straight knee levers.
Ricky

Bill Simmons · Post by **Bill Simmons** » 4 Jan 2006 2:26 pm

Ricky is right again!!! Thanks Ricky...you nailed it exactly what my LDG is!

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 4 Jan 2006 3:01 pm

Bill - As I said the other night after I heard your new guitar over the telephone..."It sounds like a Pedal 800 played through a Princeton amp." Therefore, you should send it to me as soon as possible.

Actually, I couldn't believe how great it sounded over the phone...It must be a killer guitar!

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 4 Jan 2006 6:28 pm

Bill,
I have Serial number 12446. I purchased this from the original owner and it is near mint as is the case. I changed the pickup to a Lawrence 710 and replaced the pedals with the older, wider type. Mine has the configuration 1-A-3 on the endplate also, does this denote the model?

Bill Simmons · Post by **Bill Simmons** » 4 Jan 2006 9:58 pm

Hey Kenny you 'ol Sho Bud player! This is a very good sounding LDG...trust to see you in Dallas.

Ricky Davis wil have to confirm about the numbers on the endplate...

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 4 Jan 2006 10:16 pm

Serial numbers on the Sho-bud mean nothing to the order or year they were built; they were only on there for personal records.
Model numbers coinside with what model it is; and the casting stamp is the other.
Ricky

Bryan Knox · Post by **Bryan Knox** » 5 Jan 2006 1:43 pm

Gee Bill...that steel sure does sound familiar!!!

Sorry I missed seeing you the other day. I was out of town doing an auction. We'll get together soon aso I can see your "new" steel!

b

------------------
Help prevent juvenile delinquency...teach children to STEEL

Jack Musgrave · Post by **Jack Musgrave** » 5 Jan 2006 5:24 pm

I got to chime in on this post , since I am in the middle of restoring one of these guitars. first let me say that Bill you and I have a whole lot in common. you love push-pulls, and Zumsteels, and LDG's. so do I. with that being said, let me say that I am continually impressed with the vast knowledge that Ricky Davis has concerning Sho-Bud guitars. I have learned so much by reading the post that Ricky has so unselfishly given to the Forum. some things that I have learned while working on this guitar are there are several versions of the LDG, something that I never knew before. It seems that the 73's were a breed of there own. rounded front , wide pedals, and appears to be a lighter shade of green finish. I am not sure if carried in to 74 or not.My guitar is similar to Bill's except instead of having triple raise. it only has double. it has the narrow slick pedals and the plastic fretboard, and curved levers. I am guessing 75 possibly. after that came the triple raise models and then finally the short key head models. I am guessing about a 10 year total run for all models combined. a couple of questions that I still have in my mind about these guitars would be the aprroximate production for all the years combined and which ones they made the most or least of? also when did the plastic fretboards first appear on these models? If I was guessing I would guess a thousand or less, but I could be way off

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 5 Jan 2006 10:14 pm

Jack the plastic fretboards actually came around in 1973; as some of those first run LDG's had that new style fretboard. But you could order a Sho-bud with any kind of fretboard(black background or white background or plastic)at that time; but they ran out of the white background production very shortly after that.
Again; with all these details, they are always subject to "Give or take" as there was something different going on just about every year with Sho-bud and every different model and mechanism and guys building them.
I've seen many times; some sho-bud owners will say: "Well I had this on my shobud in 19...whatever" when in fact; somebody was trying out a new idea and put it on there; but then it wasn't actually produced until later....>so ALL Sho-bud owners should just be proud they have one and just love having it and know it was built Sometime and who cares....when; Just that; YOU HAVE IT NOW.
It's funny; I just did a Live radio show here in austin on KUT radio Live set...and they announced me as "Ricky Davis on Sho-bud Pedal Steel"...ha...I love it...
Then someone asked me if I get paid or something everytime someone announces me on sho-bud pedal steel?? I of course said NO as Sho-bud has been out of business for about 20 years....> but I guess they got that from one of the lastest CD's I've cut on as every CD I cut on now in the last year I explicitly told them to credit me as "Ricky Davis/Sho~bud Pedal Steel".
Long live Sho~bud.
Ricky

Jack Musgrave · Post by **Jack Musgrave** » 6 Jan 2006 2:02 am

thanks Ricky, I did not realize those fretboards came in that early. as far as the other details, like you said, it's all good! [This message was edited by Jack Musgrave on 06 January 2006 at 02:03 AM.]

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 6 Jan 2006 9:31 pm

I'm thinking the plastic dust catchers came into regular production along with the intro of the ProIII.

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 6 Jan 2006 10:32 pm

Kenny I've already had a handful of big body round front LDG's and Pro II's that had the plastic fretboard original on it....and that was pre-'75.
But then again; there is always the possibility that the owner had the new plastic fretboard put on as a replacement when they came out on the Custom's '75-'76...ish....who the heck knows??ha...
Ricky