Ever Happen to you...

William Schmidt · Post by **William Schmidt** » 26 Feb 2004 3:53 pm

This morning I was getting in a little practice time on my ShoBud SuperPro, as I was playin' along I hit my "F" lever (my LKL) and it goes flying out on the floor. I cracked off the knee lever bracket. I was thinking how embarrassing this would have been if it was in the middle of a gig on stage somewhere. I've got my order ready to Duane Marrs for a couple of replacement brackets.
That reminds me, this week as I was replacing the strings on the C6 neck when the high "G" string popped out of the tuner and ended up putting a gash on the inside of my right nostral. I'm gettin'to think this thing don't like me!!
Anything like that ever happen to you?

------------------
Bill Schmidt

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 26 Feb 2004 4:07 pm

I had the little collar on the rod of an Emmons Push Pull fly away when I hit the knee lever.

Now I make sure to check that those allen screws are tight about once a month.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 26 Feb 2004 4:27 pm

That little distraction of a knee lever breaking off will continue to occur until you have replaced all of them with levers machined from something other than the original pot metal. That's a characteristic of the Super Pro.

www.genejones.com

William Schmidt · Post by **William Schmidt** » 26 Feb 2004 4:35 pm

Gene, you're right about that one. I can see air bubbles in the pot metal where the crack line is.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 26 Feb 2004 4:53 pm

"Pot-metal"..."Super-Pro"?

Those two certainly don't belong together!

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 26 Feb 2004 5:58 pm

Which series Sho~Buds had the pot metal?? Signed======= Not a Bud Guy

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 26 Feb 2004 6:11 pm

I have a fond memory of the 2002 Harvest Festival. Blueground Undergrass was headlining the Saturday night show, large crowd, on a huge stage twenty feet off the ground. I had already played with no steel problems with several earlier acts, and my steel had been sitting on stage all day. We got tuned up for our set, and on the first song, I hit my E-F lever and the capture nut fell off and the whole thing fell off the bottom of my Mullen, with the nut and a piece of the bracket falling through the cracks and into the mud twenty feet below. Half way through the set a roady handed me some duct tape. I was really missing that note...

------------------
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 27 Feb 2004 2:30 pm

the high "G" string popped out of the tuner

On that type of changer you always have to make sure the ball end sits tightly in the slot. You really have to push it in with your finger tip or a screwdriver tip and then pull up on it to make sure it doesn´t slip out again. The low C string on the C6 neck is a real hassle, but the high G should be easier...
The most memorable experience I had, on my first steel, a push/pull Emmons in a very questionable condition, one day when I pushed the C pedal the whole crossbar fell out and the pedal dropped to the floor. It seemed the whole body was not as straight as it was supposed to be, there also was a horrible crack between the changer and the endplate. Fortunately I wasn´t playing gigs yet.

Regards, Joe H.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 27 Feb 2004 2:43 pm

Happened to me twice on a Super Pro. Both on gigs. One of them was on the back of a flatbed truck next to a mountian slope. Went flying down the slope. Was at night and I was not able to retrieve it. This was in my "pre-forum" days and was not aware of third party replacements. Got rid of the guitar partly for this reason.

Loren Morehouse · Post by **Loren Morehouse** » 27 Feb 2004 3:16 pm

I had that happen to my E-Eb lever on my Pro I. I changed all my knee brackets to the aluminum ones Bobbe Seymour sells. Hopefully, we shouldn't have to worry about that little problem anymore. Loren.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 27 Feb 2004 3:28 pm

Which series Sho~Buds had the pot metal??

I believe everything after 1978.

putting a gash on the inside of my right nostral. I'm gettin'to think this thing don't like me!!

"Passive" instruments aren't anywhere near as fun as "active" ones, it's all part of the "bonding" process....

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 27 Feb 2004 3:40 pm

.....and then, there is the failure of the original changers to return "in tune" from lowering! They have to be replaced also!

But the Super Pro is a great guitar after all of the above has been done! Makes you wonder why it wasn't done before the first guitar! With all of the mechanics available today who can correct the initial "mistakes" of the Super Pro, I sure wish that I had my original Super Pro back as a "companion" for my Carter!

www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 28 February 2004 at 05:39 AM.]

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 27 Feb 2004 10:02 pm

I think everyone who plays E9 gets their right hand spanked by that 3rd string every now and then. It could be worse. I knew a guy who worked at Gruen's in Nashville who almost had his eye put out tuning up a banjo.

That's not a wink; it's the way he looked.

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 27 Feb 2004 10:22 pm

Just one more question please.Chas wrote everything after 78 had pot metal.Does this include the Pro I Pro II and III's. Just trying to educate myself.Thanks in advance!

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 28 Feb 2004 5:37 am

Bobby, I may be wrong but I have never heard of this mfg problem on any models other than the Super Pro which was a different design from the earlier ShoBuds.

www.genejones.com

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 28 Feb 2004 6:02 am

To quote Ricky Davis from a previous post:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>The pedal rod pullers; rod pullers(bell cranks); knee lever brackets and top section of the fingers are all chrome plated pot metal.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The levers themselves could be pot metal also. I have a "The Pro-I" (as opposed to "Pro-I") from the early 80's that has all of the above (and the E-F lever bracket had already been replaced by the previous owner, because the original one broke on a gig). The same applies to the Fender Artists made by Sho-Bud in 1976.

I may be wrong, but I think all Sho-Buds that have the hexagonal crossbars and the triple raise/double lower changer (i.e. "Super Pro undercarriage") use pot metal parts. Some Pro-I's, II's, and III's have an additional CUSTOM decal that signifies Super Pro undercarriage.

Rainer

------------------
Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, Sho~Bud Pro-I 3+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 29 Feb 2004 1:23 pm

Rainer,
the "Custom" decal does not necessarily signify "Super Pro" undercarriage. I´d rather guess it came along when the square front body was introduced. As I stated before, during that period (mid to late ´70s) often parts were mixed, like on my Pro-II Custom - it has the old style two hole bellcranks with disc pullers and the beautiful teardrop knee levers, but double raise/double lower changers with fingers made of chrome plated pot metal

There were definitely Pro-III Customs that used the double raise/single lower changers with aluminium fingers (the ones right before) instead and it also seems to me that especially on the LDG that type of changer survived a little longer. From what I´ve seen so far, almost every combination was possible in those years.
Maybe that was why they called it "Custom"...

Regards, Joe H[This message was edited by Joe Henry on 29 February 2004 at 01:30 PM.]

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 29 Feb 2004 1:52 pm

I don't know much 'Bud-lore', but I had a Pro III for a couple of years - I busted about three of those things, replacing them each time with a better-quality substitute (courtesy of Ron Bennett).

Of course, they all broke at the worst-possible moment - even though I miss that guitar for it's aesthetic beauty, I was very relieved to get the Emmons that I replaced it with!

Steven Black · Post by **Steven Black** » 29 Feb 2004 1:52 pm

Hey William, I think you are right the first time that guitar does not like you, be cautious around it, is your life insurance paid up?. ever heard of full contact steel guitar playing? steveb carter D10 8+5.

Mike Richardson · Post by **Mike Richardson** » 29 Feb 2004 5:35 pm

I know the feeling.I don't think my Emmons likes me either.When I break a string I break a string and one end usually ends up in some part of my body,like my hands and face...I wonder if Smiley Roberts has this problem?

Emmons D-10 Lagrandell
Nashville 1000

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 29 Feb 2004 7:40 pm

I snapped a knee lever just like that on a Sho-Bud once. I've never done it on any other guitar. It was bad metal.

------------------
<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax