****Rare Sho~Bud Fingertip D10****

[Ken Byng]

I have been approached by an elderly gent in Portsmouth who has this guitar for sale. He bought it some 40 years ago, and after trying to learn to play it, put it back in its case and put it in his mother's attic. Not the best place to store a pedal steel, as the extreme temperatures up there are detrimental to any musical instrument. He contacted me to give an appraisal on its value. I told him that the guitar is rare, but needs a strip down and a full refurb. The guitar is from the 1960's and it is an 8 + 4 model. I haven't got the serial number unfortunately. I can say that Bobbe Seymour in Nashville was always on the lookout for these guitars as they are tone machines. Lloyd Green used a Fingertip Sho~Bud on his earlier recordings.

The bad bits: There are many bar dings on the top of the cabinet.
Pedal 5 has a nipple from a carburettor on it which is bigger than the standard size on pedals from that era. Hence the pedal rod connector won't fit the nipple. The pedal rod for pedal 5 is still in the guitar's case.
The nut rollers are seized and need taking off and lubricating.
The changer fingers and the fingertip tuners need removing, polishing and lubrication.
The levers need to have stops installed.
Really, it's a complete strip down, repaint and re-lacquer of the body and all of the bright work needs a thorough polish. The decals need to be replaced as they were damaged by the heat in the attic. It is a Sho~Bud Madison decal on the left of the cabinet and an unknown decal to go on the right side. Jeff Surratt from Nashville may keep them in stock. The strings on both neck are rusty as hell and need replacing.

I took some photos of the guitar at the owner's flat, and they are laid out below. Anyone interested in the guitar should contact the owner by phone (please PM me for the owner's name and phone number). He wants £1000 for the guitar as it currently stands.











Please note - more photos to follow.

[Ken Byng]

[Danny Mitchell]

Ken, what an incredible find. I only know of one man, who shall remain nameless, who could bring this back from the otherside. I mean, Bob's salvaged so many a lost soul.
Do you know why they had the name, 'Fingertip' at all? Just curious.
Your photographs make me think of those TV appeals, where you see a poor, 3 legged, skinny, donkey, with a voiceover saying, "for just £2 a month you can help Old Neddy, live a full and happy life".
Maybe someone should start The PSG Sanctuary, for neglected steels.

[Ken Byng]

Thanks Danny. Yes Bob could definitely breathe life into this old beauty. The fingertip term is because instead of using nylon tuners and a tuner wrench, prior to that Sho~Bud used a tuning mechanism using fingers. If you look carefully you will see small hooks connecting the pull rods to the changer fingers, a la Emmons push pull. Buddy Charleton used a fingertip Sho~Bud in his glory day as well as Lloyd.

The era of the 60's is considered by many to be the best tone that Lloyd ever had, and includes the Panther Hall recording and his instrumental recordings on Chart Records. Here's a photo of Lloyd's 'Lightning' fingertip guitar partway through a refurb process.

Last edited by Ken Byng on Fri Apr 08, 2022 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Danny Mitchell]

Thanks for that info, Ken. I absolutely love that live recording of Lloyd's.

[Ken Byng]

[Ken Byng]

[Ken Byng]

My final post as there has been a lot of interest in this guitar. This diagram of the way that the Fingertip guitar works may be of interest to those who have an interest in vintage steel guitar mechanics.

[David Hartley]

I’m wondering what that multi-pin socket is on the underside…?

[Ken Byng]

I wondered about that too. It looks like a socket for a valve to me.

I've had a couple of PMs asking me if I know the year of this guitar. Unfortunately I didn't have time to hunt for the serial number on this guitar, but it must be on there somewhere. However the period when the Fingertip guitar was built was between 1963 and 1967. Permanents and Fingertips were regarded as special custom builds. Permanents had their pullers welded to the cross rods, hence the name Permanent.

There is a great thread on the USA Steel Forum about the Fingertip guitar. https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... =fingertip

Staggeringly, Bobbe Seymour, who worked at the Sho~Bud factory during the period that the Fingertips were made, reckoned that there were only about 100 of the model ever built. So, the guitar above is mighty rare and well worth renovating.