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Topic: Greetings and sharing first steel purchase |
Nathan Retherford
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 10:42 am |
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Hello all,
I've been lurking here for a while and finally get to join the conversation. Last weekend I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to purchase my first steel and I jumped on it. My boss, who plays steel, wanted to buy a steel that was only being sold as a package deal with this Sho Bud and Randall Steel man. Long story short I fronted the cash and have my very first steel. I've been playing lap steel for a couple of years waiting for a good deal to come along. I'm not sure exactly what model the steel is. I am told it was a 6139 that had been modified by Sho Bud to be closer to their Pro model. Any ideas? The more I dig into Sho Bud identification the more daunting it seems! I'm a long time guitarist/drummer/collector of gear but I'm entirely new to the steel world. I'm excited to be a part of the forum and appreciate the resource this forum is. I've tried to read all the stickies. Hope I'm not violating any rules by posting all these pictures. Thanks for having me and looking forward to being a part of the group.
_________________
Hack of all trades
Bands:
Dire Gnome
Heavy Drifters |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 10:51 am
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I've got a 6139 but the undercarriage is a bit different from yours. Lovely guitar though.
Try posting in the thread that is a sticky at the top of the page - there's a chap on the forum who has access to the Sho~Bud factory records and may be able to give more info from the serial number (stamped into the wood and also the frame underneath at the tuner end). They usually have a paper label with the person who inspected it etc. |
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Kelcey ONeil
From:
Sevierville, TN
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 5:07 pm
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| That is indeed a 6139, probably about 1969 or so. It looks like it originally had one knee lever, and had the others added with later Sho-Bud parts. Just from the pics everything looks pretty good, looks like you got yourself a pretty good steel. |
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Joe Krumel
From:
Hermitage, Tn.
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 5:22 pm
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| Welcome to the friendly fray Nathan.looks like your ready to jump in! Enjoy the journey. |
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Mike DiAlesandro
From:
Kent, Ohio
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 5:29 pm Nice
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Not sure what the deal is, but behind the racks that the pedals operate, there should be brass barrel tuners for each rod.
I see they used a few fixed two hole pullers for some knee lever pulls, and they probably tune with nylon tuning nuts at the endplate, my best assumption
I am sure the Forum guys here will help you get her up and running, doesn't look like any major issues otherwise. |
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Nathan Retherford
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 27 Apr 2021 6:00 am
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Thanks for all the responses folks. I don't know much about how all the pedals and levers work but when I assembled and played it all of the mechanics are bending notes in tune to either half or full steps so everything seems to be fully functional. My time to experiment has been minimal lately so I'm sure I'll have lots of questions when I have time to really dive deep into it, haha! There are indeed several nylon tuning nuts at the endplate but I haven't had to adjust them yet. I've been a guitar tech for 10+ years and do all my own string changes/intonations/fret leveling/crowning etc. so I'm really excited to learn something new and get into the maintenance of these.
_________________
Hack of all trades
Bands:
Dire Gnome
Heavy Drifters |
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Dave Dube
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Posted 27 Apr 2021 3:49 pm
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Welcome Nathan.
The rack and barrel parts, your pedals and 2 knee levers won't make any sounds without barrels to push on. The rack moves the barrels which are fixed to the rods with set screws. You fine tune them by loosening the end out to expand or tightening to contract, which sets how much the rack will move the rod and therefore how far the string is pulled. Fortunately you have one on one of the pedals so you can experiment to see how they work.
psgparts.com makes them for $10 each. The part is currently out of stock, so you might make an inquiry at the web site about when they will be available.
here is the web page for the part. Each pedal will need 2. Usually knee levers have 2 also though that depends on what you want. You can probably get by with just 6 on the pedals for starters as you also have 2 knee levers with 2 hole pullers.
https://psgparts.com/Barrel-Adjuster-Tuning-100-101-005.htm
Jim Palenscar may have some. You can reach him at SteelGuitars@cox.net
Good luck and again, welcome. |
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Kelcey ONeil
From:
Sevierville, TN
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Posted 27 Apr 2021 4:30 pm
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Dave,
I’ve saw Sho Buds from this era that were modded with pull rods that have a 90 degree bend in the rack end so nylon tuners could be used at the end plate. This makes since as the later sho bud parts on it would have used nylon tuners as well. I’ve even saw nylon tuners and barrels on the same rod lol! The barrels on strings 4 and 5 for the C pedal and LKL would probably have to be tuned by hand under the guitar. If you really need some barrels, I think I have a few to spare. |
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Dave Dube
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Posted 27 Apr 2021 5:05 pm
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Kelcey,
Oh sure. I suppose anything is possible. I use a couple barrels for specific applications on pull release guitars that have bell cranks and tuning nuts too.
I just took note of the missing barrels as a previous post did and went on to provide info thinking it was needed. If I had read further I would have seen that Nathan said it all pulled when he tested. Duh.
Now that I look again I see that the A pedal rods end in the basket and do not extend like they would for rack and barrel. lol Should have caught that. My first guitar was rack and barrel--crossover.
Well good. I am glad Nathan can play right now.
Nathan: er...um...nevermind.   |
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Nathan Retherford
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 28 Apr 2021 12:54 pm
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That's okay Dave! It made me do some research to better understand the instrument so it was all in all educational for me and gave me some resources for parts sourcing so I very much appreciate you taking the time to reply and give me that info! I made a diagram of the effect of all the pedals. Is this typical of this style?
_________________
Hack of all trades
Bands:
Dire Gnome
Heavy Drifters |
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Dave Dube
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Posted 28 Apr 2021 2:50 pm
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Yes that is a typical copedent except that string 10 the low B is usually raised to C# on the A pedal too.
String 6 G# is sometimes lowered to f# instead of string 7 raised. Then a split is tuned so that you can get a G when B pedal and G lever are both used simultaneously.
I have no idea which is more common,
Last edited by Dave Dube on 29 Apr 2021 12:42 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Nathan Retherford
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 29 Apr 2021 5:52 am
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Thanks Dave! Just wanted to make sure the tunings are correct before I start learning on this platform.
_________________
Hack of all trades
Bands:
Dire Gnome
Heavy Drifters |
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