“The design of his Vibramute system, the neck, it’s very important that we preserve that design,” Will said. “The zero fret on that neck is of extreme importance. There are now better bridge designs that produce more tuning stability, and we want to im- prove in areas where we can that make the guitar more stable tuning-wise. We want to preserve the tone, but enhancing or improv- ing tuning stability, I believe, is something that the customers certainly want.” VINTAGE REVIVAL Under the new acquisition, Sho-Bud promises new offerings, including its Maverick II Pedal Steel Guitar which has a single-piece pulling mechanism, similar to that on its pedal steel predecessor The Permanent. The heritage behind the lines is what makes Sho-Bud and Mosrite a must-stock for retail- ers. For Dawn and Will, the knowledge passed down from their father and previous generations are embedded in the and uncle Harry Jackson mechanics of every instrument produced. “I think heritage always attracts buyers, but then when you put the guitar in your hands and you feel it, you grab that neck and you recognize this is something truly different,” Will said. “We’ve taken all that knowledge and the patents that were obtained through the years and experience in bending strings and our dad, David Jackson, has developed a line of components that also transpose over into the six string world, from pedal steels into the six string world.” Today’s players’ renewed appetite for vin- tage aesthetics and analog experiences has cre- ated a new market for brands like Mosrite. “We’ve noticed a growing consumption of anything vintage, such as music itself and the merchandise tied to vintage brands, especially with the younger crowd,” Dawn said. “Couple that with the excitement over the return of the Mosrite lineup, we believe we can help drive prospective customers to retailers. Our new components like the VibraTune tunable vibrato and our Drop-D Pro tuner products create a service opportunity for retailers in which they can quickly install these compo- nents on customers’ guitars.” MI
Sho-Bud’s Will and Dawn Jackson.
PRESERVING THE PAST With its acquisition of Mosrite Guitars, Sho-Bud enters a new era under the leadership of Fred Wait and Dawn and Will Jackson as they bridge two historically distinct but philosophically aligned legacies . — By Kimberly Kapela
L egacy in Nashville, Tennessee, never stands still. It keeps moving, changing and rein- venting itself. Sho-Bud, the pedal steel guitar company, helped shape the sound of American music with that same restless spirit, building on the groundwork Leo Fender and and Shot Jackson laid and pushing it somewhere new. Now, that spirit of reinvention enters a new phase with Sho-Bud’s 2024 acquisition of Mosrite Guitars. Under third-generation leadership from co-owners Dawn and Will Jackson, the move marks a new wave of heritage craftsmanship. It’s also a full-circle moment as founder, and Dawn and Will’s father, David Jackson, once collaborated with Mosrite’s founder Semie Moseley, linking the two brands long before this acquisition. PRESERVING HISTORY For Dawn and Will, bringing Mosrite into the Sho-Bud family was both a natural fit and the next logical step in the brand’s evolution. Moseley’s work, particularly the engineering
behind its Vibramute, represented the same drive to create tonal perfection that was in Sho-Bud’s earliest innovations. “The reason why Mosrite fits with the Sho-Bud brand is because Sho-Bud is known for that Nashville sound. It always had a very unique tone. Well, so did Mosrite,” Will said. “The Ventures and Ramones captured the essence of that Mosrite tone, and it’s that unique tone that we’re really after. It felt right to couple these two together because of their tones and boutique style.” “The inventiveness that they all shared, always chasing that perfect guitar tone and how to bend a string better, there were a lot of similarities in what Moseley was doing in that Bakersfield sound and our Nash- ville sound,” Dawn added. “We just want to continue that.” The Jacksons are clear about where innova- tion must step in. The architectural DNA of Mosrite, with its neck profile, the zero fret and the intricacies of the Vibramute, remains sacred.
16 I MUSIC INC. I MAY 2026
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