Sho-Bud Maverick as a non-pedal

[Marc Weller]

Group,

I've been looking for a single eight with 3/8 string spacing (a Fender Custom would be perfect or perhaps a Cougar). Anyway, I saw this Sho-bud Maverick on e-bay and it is a beautiful looking instrument. A single ten which does not have any pedals or levers. Any thoughts on using this as a non-pedal instrument ?? Anybody know what the string spacing is on these things?

MW

[Doug Beaumier]

Generally, 10 string pedal steels do not make good non-pedal steels because the strings are too close for bar slants (on 2 adjacent strings). I played many Mavericks back in the 80's (belonging to my students) and as I remember, the string spacing is the normal spacing for a 10 string pedal steel... close as compared to 6 or 8 string non-pedal instruments.

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www.dougbsteel.com

[George Keoki Lake]

Marc....I have a Sho-Bud 10 string frypan which is actually the same body of the original Sho-Bud "Limited (?) Edition" JB
8 string frypan. Shot turned these out to the dismay of JB who had been given assurances from Shot the mould would be destroyed after 250 of the JB's were made. Anyway, the string spacing is 3/16" and I feel it is not really a comfortable guitar to play...manageable, but not comfortable. The Sho-Bud 10 string frypan has a better pickup than the JB model and also the tuning gears are far superior. I have a JB short neck 8 frypan to compare it with. Personally, I prefer 8 string "lap" guitars.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by George Keoki Lake on 15 November 2000 at 08:48 PM.]</p></FONT>

[Tele]

Sho-Buds D-9 from late 50s to early 60s have a nice and comfortable string spacing. I really love to play mine. They are hard to find, but if you could track one down it really will surprises you. Plus, the sound is great.

Andy

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ShoBud Gallery

[Marc Weller]

Thanks for all of the info guys.

MW

[Bobby Lee]

I used to use mine without pedals. I cut some aluminum tubing to the right length for legs for stand-up playing. I was playing rock-a-billy at the time, and it was perfect for that.

The string spacing on a Maverick is too close to do bar slants on adjacent strings, though. It wouldn't be good for traditional Hawaiian songs.

[Ed Mooney]

I had a Maverick that was awful sounding (to my ear) until I changed the pickup to a George L's PF-1. It sounded like a real instrument after that. EJMjr