Hey All, In my never ending quest to learn about steel guitars and their evolution and history, I happened across this old Sho~Bud Permanent. I tried to resist, but within 24 hours I weakened and clicked the Buy It Now button. Well it should be here in a few days, so I figure I would see if anyone has an interest in sharing what they know about these cool old steels.
I realize that as they came from the factory, it was only possible to either raise and lower a string, not both. And also being an D-8, the chromatics strings on e9th hadn't been added yet. It looks to have coil tap switches on the pickups, I am interested to hear what she sounds like.
I have a contemporary copy of a Permanent D10. For all its limitations (maybe because of them) you should find that it holds its tuning extremely well.
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs
Thank you for the positive comments, it is always fun to read different peoples perspectives on a topic.
Bob, the guitar should arrive next week, and I will post some undercarriage shots. I have no idea what the undercarriage looks like, I bought it blindly, kinda foolish, but the rest of it seems good so I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!
Tom, Kent is a nice town to live and work. I wonder if your brother ever hangs at the Water Street Tavern, when they have live music? I play there occasionally, one of the few bars that has live music on a regular basis.
Mike, the last time I was in Kent was 1982 for my sister's wedding --we grew up in Willoughby. Her friend took me to see a band that was popular then called "The Numbers Band." In the basement was this weird group in school girl outfits pogo-ing. They were called Devo...
I used to play the bars in Kent, in 1965! Joe Wash and I were freshman friends back then, and tried out for the same bands. He went on to start his own band, The Measles. Good times!
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
Mike, not to worry about the underside,anything can be fixed. Just be good to see what it looks like. I am still looking for one like that, you got a lucky find.
If the guitar I sold to James, a '59 D-10, is any indication, it will sound like Angels singing!
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
I like it! Great find. Hope you share more about if with us after you spend some time with it. A real piece of history. It's good when we appreciate where we came from and how we got here.
John Billings wrote:I used to play the bars in Kent, in 1965! Joe Wash and I were freshman friends back then, and tried out for the same bands. He went on to start his own band, The Measles. Good times!
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
Does your guitar have a "roller nut"? Some of these guitars were retro fitted with one.....I believe they originally came without a roller nut.
Do you know what scale length it is ?
A lot of these earlier guitars had their scale length reduced (often by ShoBud I believe). You can tell because the key heads were moved...so you'll see a couple filled screw holes...besides obviously cutting the necks down.
Yours has a knee lever ? something that was added later...
Id love to see a pic of the underside when you get the guitar.
Really great guitar...my all time favorite Shobuds.
Roger
Roger,
I think the roller nuts started with the Fingertips, and were string ball-ends. But there was plenty of material in the Perm keyhead to machine them to use those small rollers. Wonder if that would hurt the sound?
JB
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
It is an interesting keyhead. Not a "Super Gumby," but it has the "Ducktail" changers, which were early. They're my favorite changer casting. Of course, you never know what parts Shot and David had laying around.
Dr. Z Surgical Steel amp, amazing!
"74 Bud S-10 3&6
'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps
