Bud Isaacs

Norman Hamlet was just a kid when he heard this strange but wonderful sound during a Grand Ole Opry radio program. He was told the sound came from a Hawaiian Guitar, which was a term used before the more popular name of Steel Guitar was adopted. His father purchased one for him at a music store in Visalia, California. Norman soon found some school friends to play with and they formed a band. A few years later Norman formed a band in Grand Junction, which played seven nights a week and he had a television program five days a week during the day.

Bud Isaacs designed a line of pedal steel guitars, teaming with fellow country music performer Shot Jackson to form the Sho-Bud Company. In his pursuit to create and develop new sounds for the instrument, Bud went to Paul A Bigsby to request a custom pedal steel guitar. The Bigsby became Bud’s main instrument in the heyday of his career as a recording artist in the 1950s. He played the Bigsby on stage at the Grand Ole Opry and recorded a long string of hits with the instrument including the widely influential “Slowly” with singer Webb Pierce. Bud married famed yodeler Geri Mapes w