Sho-Bud Steel Guitars Relaunches, A Family Business Once Again

Tone: it’s the Holy Grail for musicians, and it’s the cornerstone of Sho-Bud, the iconic pedal steel guitar company founded in 1955 by Harold “Shot” Jackson and Buddy Emmons. When Emmons moved on, Jackson, with sons Harry and David, continued handcrafting instruments integral to the sound of country music.

In the early 1980s, Sho-Bud was acquired by Fred Gretsch. In 2005, after twenty years away from the business, Shot Jackson’s sons, David and Harry Jackson, joined by David’s daughter, Dawn Jackson, resumed building instruments. As Jackson Steel Guitar Company, they introduced new pedal steel, lap steel, resonator, and slide guitars.

In December 2024, the third generation of Jacksons, siblings and co-CEOs Dawn and Will, reacquired the company name and family legacy. “We knew that the name carried a lot of weight,” says Dawn Jackson. “It’s our heritage, and we wanted to bring it back while Dad and Harry were still building.”

“I want to acknowledge Fred Gretsch, his wife, Dinah, his family, and his team,” says Will Jackson. “A lot of people approached him to acquire the Sho-Bud name over the years, and he didn’t do it. He saved it for us. We very much appreciate what he did in terms of preserving the name, keeping it intact, and not selling it to someone else. We’ll be eternally grateful to him for that.”

Sho-Bud relaunched this year with new and classic gear, plus several projects across platforms and generations. The reach stretches from traditionalists devoted to the classic instruments they saw on the Opry stage, to young musicians incorporating steel in everything from country to metal.

Central to all of this, of course, are the instruments, which include the high-level, traditional, maple cabinet Pro V; bender-equipped, stand-up SlideKing LS lap steel; and best-selling Maverick II.

“It’s not the Maverick of old,” says Will Jackson of the Maverick II. “The original Maverick was designed to be a low-cost, entry-level, beginner guitar. With the Maverick II, our objective was to build one of the sweetest-sounding guitars. We developed a front and rear extruded aluminum panel that has a hard rock maple soundboard that sits between them. On top of that, the one-piece aluminum neck now binds the key head and tail plate together.

“When you sandwich all that together, this particular guitar, as Dawn describes it, cuts through all the other noise. It’s distinctive, it’s clear, it rings and resonates. It has that Nashville sound because we still utilize the exact same pickup design that Shot developed back in the ’50s. When you marry that to this modern design cabinet, it is incredible. The Maverick II definitely stands out in terms of its tonal qualities. It’s pretty much unmatched. It’s quite an advancement in terms of pedal steel guitar technology.”

Sho-Bud plans a reissue of the signature Lloyd Green model, the LDG, which the Jacksons describe as “a continuation of the original classic design,” and a limited-edition LDG, cut with modern components and updated mechanisms, each one signed by Lloyd Green, David Jackson, and Harry Jackson. Other reissues will follow, including Jimmy Day’s Blue Darlin’.

Sho-Bud co-CEOs and siblings Will Jackson and Dawn Jackson.

 

“Relaunch,” in Sho-Bud vernacular, is all about name recognition, product reputation, and upholding a decades-old legacy. “We built steels for the past twenty-five years under the name Jackson Steel Guitars,” says Dawn Jackson. “So the relaunch, for us, circles around the Sho-Bud name.

“What’s happened in the months since we secured the name again, the outpouring of support from the guitar industry in general, has been overwhelming,” she says. “That lends itself to the weight this brand carried around the world, and how throughout the years of its ‘dormancy,’ it maintained a true following, and not only from older generations. Younger people love the brand too. When we mention Sho-Bud, every door is open. So that’s really the relaunch. We maintained building these amazing instruments during our Jackson Steel era, but the [Sho-Bud] brand itself has the leverage and momentum behind it.”

“A lot of people have asked, ‘Is this just a rebranding of Jackson Steel Guitars?’ Definitely not,” says Will Jackson. “We’ve been sitting on a few patents that we’ve obtained over the last couple of years. They’ve got about fifteen years or so left on them while we fine-tune these components.”

Those components include a tunable vibrato, on-the-fly D Drop, The EDGE® multi-bending system, and Core-Over™ strings, all of which they’ve introduced to Sho-Bud artists with positive response.

“When a traditional, fretted-instrument guitarist is, say, holding a chord, when they use an old-school vibrato — let’s say a Bigsby, for example — when they hit that thing, all those strings are falling out of tune,” says Will Jackson. “Our tunable vibrato doesn’t destroy the chord. When they’re holding a chord and they go down, all those strings fall in tune now.

“We’ve got a Drop D tuner that allows an artist, again on a fretted instrument, to simply roll their E down to a D while they’re playing. They don’t have to take their fretting hand off and adjust anything on the key head. They don’t have to stop and tinker around with their picking hand to adjust anything. They’re able to use the palm, the heel, of their hand, roll it right down to a D, and roll it right back up to an E. So it’s very novel, very easy to use.

“With our Core-Over strings, we take the winding off up to where it passes the bridge and on the pickup side of the nut, so it’s just the core of the string going across those two touch points. It create incredible amounts of sustain. The sound profile of the string is much rounder, bigger, fuller. It’s amazing.”

(L to R) Kyle Ince, Bob Sheehan, Slash, Ted Stern, Andrea Whitt, Skunk Baxter, Dawn Jackson, Pavel, Hexx Henderson, Mark Tucker, Rocco DeLuca, and Will Jackson pose for a group photo at the Sho-Bud Showcase Live at the Desert 5 Spot in Los Angeles.

 

On April 24, in Hollywood, the company celebrated the return of Sho-Bud Showcase Live, national concerts spotlighting steel-centric artists in all genres. The series kickoff, Sho-Bud’s first live event in over forty years, included, among its many participants, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Robert Randolph,
Andrea Whitt, Rocco DeLuca,
Hexx Henderson, Hatfield Rain, Shooter Jennings, and Slash.

Sho-Bud Music is a record label and publishing company originally established by Dawn Jackson to release an album by her band, the aforementioned Hatfield Rain. “Around that time, I started working with Dad and Harry on Jackson Steel and never did anything with the [album] mixes,” she says. “It’s getting ready to come out after all this time, so I’m super-excited.” Along with that recording, Sho-Bud Music is promoting other Sho-Bud artists.

Coming soon is Shot Jackson’s Sho-Bud Showcase radio program, which will now become a podcast featuring music, interviews, and over 150 digitized reels from the original 1970s and early 1980s WSM broadcasts. “We have all the reels and we’re going to start releasing them,” says Dawn Jackson. “The podcast will also include interviews with today’s Sho-Bud artists and, of course, our dad and Harry.”

Harold “Shot” Jackson built Sho-Bud on a foundation of superior instruments, customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Those values remain at the core of Dawn and Will Jackson’s goals, whether putting instruments in the hands of internationally renowned musicians or newcomers learning their way around pedal steel.

Sho-Bud CEO Dawn Jackson poses with Slash and a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.

 

“These instruments are not like traditional fretted instruments,” says Will Jackson. “Fretted instruments don’t have moving parts per se. But these do. Because they have those linkages and mechanical pulling mechanisms, as they’re used, they wear. Anytime you make a change to these instruments, you have to be careful, because in the interest of trying to maximize performance or life on one end, you can impact tone on the other end, and that is something we can’t sacrifice.

“Sho-Bud has always been known for that Nashville sound, the tone that we got. The story I recall as a kid was Shot sitting there on a pickup-winding machine, which was made out of an old sewing machine motor. He had apple bushels next to his workbench. He would wind a pickup, plug it in, and if it gave him the tone he was after, performed the way he wanted it to, it went in the keeper bushel. If it didn’t, it went into the discard bushel.

“That is how our family has built these things. There are no Rhodes Scholars over here or MIT graduates in engineering. These guys developed these instruments through pure trial and error and using their ears to develop that tone. Again, we can’t sacrifice mechanical advantages over tone. Some guitar companies do, but we cannot do that. For us, it is about tone, tone, tone. We live and die by that.”

“We’ve always maintained the tradition and look of our guitars — the beautiful cabinets, our certain inlays, the finishes,” says Dawn Jackson, “but aesthetics are second. Tone has always been number one for us.”

“These instruments require maintenance,” says Will Jackson. “If there is a nut, a screw, a bolt, it will get turned by someone. When these things leave the shop, they’re set perfectly. People will start adjusting things, and that’s what they’re for. You need to fine-tune things ergonomically to make it fit. But, because these things can be very sensitive, sometimes they overdo it, or they have trouble chasing the tuning back to where they wanted it.

“We are here to support them in terms of Zoom calls, where they can show us exactly what they’re doing, what the instrument is doing, or what it’s not doing that they would like it to do. We can help walk them through that, using a blend of modern technology to help them fine-tune some of these traditional instruments. We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for them to keep these guitars maintained.”

As a family-owned and operated company, versus a multi-department corporation, the Jacksons are front and center when phones ring, texts chime, and emails arrive – no call centers, AI assistants, or being transferred through a half-dozen departments and hold times. They field calls, walk customers through setups, stay active via social media, keep up with forums, provide instructional videos, and cherish human-to-human relationships.

Slash plays a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.

 

“Will and I have been a team since we were kids playing football in the backyard,” says Dawn Jackson. “We really believe in team efforts, and that’s why we’re so big on using the words ‘Team Sho-Bud.’ The dynamics between us, our father, and our uncle – we’re all creators and passionate about the things we do.

“We have the same objective in mind, which is to maintain our family heritage,” she says. “I am so proud that Sho-Bud is still a family business, and that people love and respect that. We work together, play off of each other, and it just works and works well.”

“I’m proud of my family – our dad, our uncle – for the sacrifices they made over the years to build these instruments, and to deliver the tone and the sounds that everyone enjoys,” says Will Jackson. “I’m very proud of the work they put into this, and of Dawn for rolling up her sleeves and helping them. I’m proud of the way Sho-Bud has evolved. It’s fun to be a part of the rebirth of Sho-Bud. These instruments, these new components, are going to be total game changers. I’m very proud to represent these products and wear the old brand. It’s exciting times.”


All Photos: Ashley Marie Myers, courtesy of Sho-Bud. Lead and alternate images: Slash plays a Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar.

Yamaha’s Groundbreaking Second-Generation TransAcoustic Guitar

Yamaha Guitars knew they were breaking ground – and raising eyebrows – when they debuted their TransAcoustic Guitar at the 2016 winter NAMM and Musikmesse trade shows. The original TransAcoustic Guitar turned heads immediately, thanks to its innovative technology and, of course, the quality acoustic guitar body and sound that musicians have long associated with the Yamaha name.

Fast-forward eight years and Yamaha has introduced the second-generation TAG3 C, a completely new model offering advanced features and more options. With Bluetooth capability, a built-in looper, a rechargeable battery with a five- to eight-year life, iOS and Android compatibility, and a plethora of controls and effects — reverb, chorus, delay, its TAG Remote app, and more — the TAG3 C is a workhorse, opening new avenues for artistry at all levels. It’s also a beauty, with its dreadnought body, solid Sitka spruce top, and solid mahogany back and sides.

The TAG3 C was designed for guitarists and, in a sense, by guitarists. When the first generation entered the marketplace, Yamaha’s Product Manager, Shingo Ekuni, was hands-on with customer reviews and interviews – what they liked, needed, and ultimately wanted. “We concluded that we needed more capabilities for creative players,” he says, “for the person who is proactively doing their practice at home or creating songs at home.”

This presented the challenge of creating a high-tech yet user-friendly guitar that sparks interest in tech-minded musicians without alienating traditionalists. “From my perspective as a player, and with most of my friends also being musicians, guitar players can be very particular about their sound,” says Yamaha’s Marketing Manager, Brandon Soriano. “They want the level of control. One person might prefer a plate reverb while another prefers a hall. They might want a very specific decay time or tone, and the same thing goes for chorus or delay. At the same time, guitar players don’t want a lot of barriers to actually playing the guitar. They don’t want an overly complicated user interface and experience. The way the TAG3 C is structured, you get all of the control over the specific sounds you want in the app, but when it comes to actually using the guitar, it’s a very simple interface.”

A cursory glance at the TAG3 C might cause one to scoff, “Second-generation guitar, TikTok-generation players.” But – curmudgeons rejoice! – this is not the case. No interest in apps? No worries. “You don’t need internet to use the guitar,” says Soriano. “You don’t have to connect it to Wi-Fi. And it doesn’t require the app to run. Straight out of the box, without downloading the app or anything, you can turn the guitar on, effects will already be dialed in, and you can use all the functionality.

“If you want to use the Bluetooth audio, of course you need to connect your phone or another Bluetooth output device. And if you want to get into the parameters of the effects, like changing from a plate reverb to a hall, that’s where you start using the app. But you can fully use the guitar without using the app.”

“Something really great with this guitar is the quality strictly as an acoustic guitar,” he adds. “It’s built to Yamaha standards, which, as we all know, are very solid, rigorous, and high level. Even if you were to take out all the technology, I would still love it just as an acoustic guitar. I think that’s going to add to people wanting to pick it up.”

“Nowadays, with our mobile devices, the ‘smart’ devices, with tools for guitarists, everybody is using the tuner, the metronome, [from] the very basic stuff to more complex and connected devices,” says Ekuni. “Customers are happy to accept new technology for a new type of product. Parallel with that, the TAG3 C is an authentic acoustic guitar, but the technology can expand the possibility of acoustic guitar playing.”

“We are in a technological age, and it’s all around everybody all the time,” Soriano agrees. “There is a little more open-mindedness to innovation, even in commonly traditional circles like bluegrass, for example. Customers also want to know that their money is well spent and that they can be confident in their purchase from a quality standpoint, durability, sound, playability, all those things. Those are some of the main pillars of Yamaha — delivering the best quality for the money at any price point, from the $400 guitars to the $4,000 guitars.”


This content brought to you in partnership with BGS sponsor Yamaha Guitars. Discover more about Yamaha Guitars and the TAG3 C here.

Photos courtesy of Yamaha Guitars. 

Root 66: Blank Range’s Roadside Favorites

Name: Blank Range
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Latest Project: Vista Bent

Pizza: Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut. We got in right before the original owners sold the place. We can assume the Apizza just wasn't the same after it changed hands. We took down the whole pie at a brisk but not quite shameful pace and, as we were climbing back in the van, several members were heard saying, "That was the best pizza I've ever had." Bold claims, Sally's backed it up.

Truck Stop: Czech Stop. Nothing says SXSW like a 13-hour haul to West, Texas, for Czech Stop's sweet and savory kolaches. We were so excited to fill our empty stomachs with said treats last year that we almost backed our van over John Moreland while trying to peel into a parking spot. Either he failed to notice how close our vehicle came to barreling over him or he was walking through the parking lot high on kolaches and just wasn't phased. Either way, we're really sorry for our reckless behavior and promise to be more cautious next year.

Coffeehouse: Any place in Portland or Seattle that looks like they take coffee real serious. We don't get that thick-ass, syrup-ass mud in Tennessee, so whenever we make it out to the Northwest, we grab everything we can.

 

Man a #HotShot would get me through this Monday… • • • #HotShot of #HotShots by @wrenneevans

A photo posted by ______ Range (@blankrange) on

Dive Bar: The Brass Rail in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Where do I even start? The Brass Rail is not only one of the best dive bars, but it's also one of the best venues in America — a real bastion of culture and the center of a scene. From what I can tell, everyone in Ft. Wayne that's artistically inclined will end up at the Brass Rail on any given night of the week. It's just where people go. Whether that be the poet/comedian "Nitwit" who gave us his CD filled with aggressively filthy limericks interspersed with smooth '70s rock and banjo scrags, or Ben, the tambourine-wielding "front man" of Heaven's Gateway drugs, rarely seen without his pinstriped tights on. They're all there, they all want to hang. Because everyone heads there anyway, there's always been an audience for us, even when nobody had any clue who we were. This place sells more PBR than anywhere else in the Midwest. That's not hyperbole; that's what the owner stated as fact. It's probably because they serve it in 32 oz mason jars for $2. We played here on one of our first tours when we could barely get on a house show. Our friend got us on the bill and we had such weird, wonderful time that we've made it a stop ever since. One time, there was a party after the show where he made dozens of pork chop sandwiches nobody ate. One time, Grant pulled on the back door so hard he ripped the handle clean off. When he brought it up to the bar, ashamed, the bartender gave him a smile, a laugh, and another PBR. This place rules. John Ross rules. You should go to the Brass Rail.

Record Store: Ragged Records in Davenport, Iowa. One of the best used collections I've seen. They've got tons of obscure and/or hard to find records in the rock 'n roll, psychedelic, and folk regions. One of the few places I've found that will actually have copies of the classics behind the name placard, not just Kinks '80s records or four copies of Bob Dylan's Saved. There's also a great vintage store in the same building called Trash Can Annie's, great stop all around

Bookstore: There was a spot right next to House of TARG in Ottawa where I found Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. I'd been looking for that for a long time and could never find it anywhere in the States. Great used collection, but because they had Borges, it sticks out in my mind.

Gear Shop: Heyday Music in Asheville, North Carolina, has some great stuff. Mostly vintage and weird, great amps and an eclectic guitar and vintage keyboard collection. It’s also right next to a great record store and the Moog Synthesizer factory. You can definitely spend some time on that stretch, especially if any member of your party takes interest in head shops, as they are plentiful in Asheville

Backstage Hang: Saturn in Birmingham, Alabama. We're actually headed to play the Saturn tonight as I write this. Best green room we've ever been seen. There's a pool table, record player, ample sleeping space where bands can crash after the show, stocked fridge, and just all-around great hangs. The owners have toured a lot and they really know how to make a band comfortable on the road.

Highway Stretch: The finger of Idaho a little east of Couer D'Alene on I-90. The road winds around a giant lake passing through beautiful, deciduous tree covered mountains. We love taking time to drive on Highway 1 and going through Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, stick out. Too many to name, we really get into the scenery.

Day Off Activity: We like to play disc golf, when we remember to bring the discs in the van. Camping has also become something we aim for on days off, especially when we're out West. In September, we showed up at a park in the middle of the night and all the campsites were full so we parked at the end of the camping area and laid our sleeping bags out under the stars. We didn't notice the flags and spray paint on the ground, but quickly realized we were sleeping in the middle of a cross country race course when throngs of middle school kids came running by.

Tour Hobby: We always try to hit vintage shops, record shops, and bookstores, if we have time to kill. We also get into going to parks. We spend portions of time coming up with alliterative names for coffee, specific to location (I.e. Montana mud, Seattle syrup, etc.)

Driving Album: Marquee Moon by Television. I feel like this changes a lot. Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel was one for a while.

Root 66: The Congress’s Roadside Favorites

Name: The Congress
Hometown: Richmond, VA
Latest Project: The Game (September 9, 2016)

Tacos: Patzcuaro in Denver, CO and Guisados in Los Angeles, CA

Gear Shop: Music Emporium on Bardstown in Louisville KY. We found this amazing tweed bassman clone amplifier there (built by their repair tech) that has been our main guitar amp, keyboard amp, even a bass amp at times, and it is used on all of our records. Larry Gant, if you're out there, thank you!

Record Store: Wax Trax in Denver, CO. (Half of guitarist Scott Lane’s record collection is from poaching their dollar bin.)

 

Capping off this PA/DC run at @musikfest tonight.

A photo posted by The Congress (@thecongress) on

Driving Album: Phil Collins — Serious Hits… Live!

Backstage Hang: Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO.

Book Store: Chop Suey in Richmond, VA

 

Scoping Niagara Falls before we play the Rochester International Jazz Festival tonight

A photo posted by The Congress (@thecongress) on

Highway Stretch: Highway 101 through Redwood National/State Park

Tour Hobby: Making up our own — sometimes offensive — lyrics to famous songs for anything from general communication to show announcements.

Car Game: We have a game we invented called Turd Ferguson. We wrote several pages of very complicated rules (the "Constitution") over the course of a couple years. It's not really worth explaining beyond mentioning that it is played with sets of vintage Trivial Pursuit cards from the '80s, and there's a daily double-esque thing called the "Hot Round." Everyone sings the Hot Round theme song together when it happens. Also, we have to mention our game Kevin Bank'em, which is played by connecting two famous people in the style of the Kevin Bacon game — but you have to "bank" off of Kevin Bacon as a connection on the way.

 

Just some dudes laughing on a porch, photo @joey_wharton

A photo posted by The Congress (@thecongress) on

Music Festival: High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA

Airport: We've spent enough time at DIA to call it a home.

Day Off Activity: Chris Speasmaker (keys) and Jon Meadows (bass) are avid tour golfers.


Photo credit: William David Lawrence