Chester
This is the story of
Chester Rhodes.
A backroad driving,
honky tonk player down in Alabama.
This 1973 Sho-bud 6139 has seen more gigs than blackberries eaten by a southern gobbler.
I picked it up from Chester’s daughter long after he passed.
We decided to meet at her church in Duluth with other church members present. It was late and dark and it felt safe for her. She didn’t want to sell it unless she knew it was going to the right place.
When I first opened the case I got that funny feeling this one was special.
Very beat up.
Pieced together and had plenty of corrosion. Looked way better in the pictures I saw.
We talked as I set it up.
Attaching the pedals proved difficult.
The brackets to attach the legs were gone. The electronics didn’t work.
You name it…
Before
After
But once I got it uneasily on all 4 legs and a few spins of the volume knob I was able to squeak out a little rendition of Steel Guitar Rag. Which brought her great joy and tears to her eyes.
She then told me Chester played that song a lot.
It was the first song I could think of that didn’t need any pedal changes. Because that just wasn’t happening at the time.
So we chatted and played around for about an hour or so before calling it a night,
and agreeing that it would be fixed up.
She also made me promise
it wouldn’t become a parts guitar.
It was a lot of work. It had very short rods with some home made extensions. It had been sitting for way too long. Nothing wanted to actuate.
The tuners were stuck.
One leg was bent.
Two of the three pedals were cropped.
I completely tore it down to start fresh.
It was much more work than I anticipated. Everything was gummed up and corroded. I started by soaking the metal component in the parts washer. Then cleaning by hand.
Before
After
Before
After
A lot of parts still needed finishing touches.
The end plates took a long time to polish. I wanted to balance the originality and patina so I didn’t go with a full mirror finish.
I wanted to keep the hints
and clues of Chester
and his travels.
It finally started to come together.
The cabinet polished up very well.
The pickup was strong but the sealed pots were dirty and scratchy.
I drilled a small hole in each so I could spray cleaner in them. Worked great after that.
I sealed up the holes afterwards.
The crudely made lift kit was worn out. There were four brass rings to lift the legs.
I utilized two of them to keep some of the innovation and spirit there. I did have some extra parts that were period correct and also longer pedal rods that worked perfect so I swapped them out.
It had about a half inch lift when I was done.
While working on it I was chatting with his daughter via texts after I brought it home.
She told me about how he was running around Alabama with “The Bib County Bootleggers”, an aptly named band from a dry county.
Sounded like he was a bit of a wild man.
Cruising around back roads playing any joint he could. I figure that’s why the fretboard was so marked up. Probably from packing a few suds in the case for the next gig.
It finally came back together but took awhile to settle in.
I brought it to a couple gigs.
The first one went okay but it needed some more adjustments as things were settling in.
The next gig went great.
Everything came together and it played and sounded great.
I wasn’t quite ready to let go myself but it was time for someone else to have it as a new sidekick.
So I offered it up.
It didn’t take long to find a new home with Dave Mehling, a Minnesota based songwriter, performer and educator.
He has a wide range of musical styles which he combines with great lyrics.
He also has lots of other cool gear and needed to add a pedal steel to the collection for expanding his expressions.
Dave sent a picture of it in his studio next to a really cool, old folding organ that Chaplains would travel with for funeral services.
Here’s a couple of links to his tunes and a cool review about him:
https://www.icehousempls.com/events/2021/10/13/dave-mehling-cassette-release
https://davemehling.bandcamp.com/music
