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Bud Ross and Clan [message #20] Tue, 11 April 2000 11:30 Anonymous Wanted to update everyone..had a great visit with Bud on the phone last night and also with Andy today. Bud was gracious as ever providing a solid hour of history and stories...I was desparately wishing for a tape recorder and was taking notes as best I could. Most important he and Andy have both said that we should plan to hold our get together wherever is most convenient for us and they will be there! Andy suggests that if we choose Nashville he has a number of close contacts where he could arrange maybe a club and stage for our jam session, and would be able to help with other contacts for us. I told him about BCs thoughts on coming to Chanute, and he said that was fine, but not to do it just to be conventient to them..they would be happy to hop a plane wherever works for the group. Bud suggested I call his first wife Carolyn who has the greatest love for the kustom company and still has a lot of old pictures that she might make available to our site. He told me the story behind the naughy kats..Uniroyal had come out with them and he brought one home to the kids around '67....the kids loved it and went crazy over it so they decided to start making them out of the scrap zodiac material..they made them a little different..I'll have to get the details from Carolyn...she wound up leading an entire department with 3 or 4 full time employees just making the kats!. In summer of 68 they did a big show at the Hilton in Chicago (I think)...as a gimmick they rented one of the motel rooms and filled it completely up with kat dolls...thousands of them..they would spill out if you opened the door...Fire Marshall didn't care much for it and so it turned into a free for all give away...a side note they hired a band to play that event...a group called the Exceptions with some singer named Peter Cetera later to become Aurora and then our beloved Chicago Want more...?..ok..how about the story as Bud was just gettin started..goes back toArpil of '63 Bud had made 3 amps and drove them to a place where Conway Twitty was playing...he had convince Conway to try his new amps...put the bassist (Joe Lewis?) on one, and Conway on the other...20 minutes into it..Conways amp blows..oh boy...so he loaded up the spare unit..20 minutes...amp blows..oh boy..so he plugs him into the second channel of the bassman's kustom...amp blows...so he refunds Conways money, borrows $50 from Conway to get back home and stayed in touch as he learned about solid state amps and who to trust to help design and buikd them...5 years later he's flying Conway in the Kustom Lear jet as year end '67 showed a whopping $1.7 million in sales with a net profit of $500k... Most importantly he wanted to tell me about SMokey...and I will have to get details from Carolyn and hopefully some pics. He played a most important roll in kustom from '65 on. Bud (I hope I get this right) had been returning from a trade show and was unloading the Uhaul when this black guy walks up and starts talking to him..asks him if he needs any help..says he's bored since retireing from a trucking/moving company...he was 69 yrs old then. He would be at work by 6:00am...doing whatever needed to be done and was there til the day was over..long days back then...he was an icon in that town and held the respect of the workers on "that side of the tracks" so he was instrumental in labor relations during those turbulent times as the NAACP would come to call. Smokey remained with Kustom even after Bud sold it. Close to 80 years old Smokey was then hired by Bud to work with him at Birdview Satelitte...a board member one day made the mistake of asking Bud why he kept that old guy around and Bud informed him that as long as Bud was boss, Smokey would work for him...he then proceeded to the accounting department where he asked the clerk how much they were paying smokey..around $1,000 a month...Bud instructed them to double it. I apologize for not having more detail or perhaps getting somethings wrong here...I urged Bud to get online and post himself and I've asked Andy to do the same. I will be sure to get more details from them and Carolyn and hope that they will write for us. I would suggest that we plan on some speaking time for Bud when we meet and somebody better bring some tape to that one. Want some more...Bud does still have one piece of gear...an old 2x12 blue cab...his older son Stan made it when he was all of 8 years old?...came into the shop and worked on it himself.Andy has one of the first guitars. The family remains good friends as each have remarried. Andy and Rhonda are working with Bud in his latest adventure which offers a mulit level marketing plann using a credit card like card to have people purchase online using internet shopping carts...if they use your card number you get credit for the purchase dollars...there's more to it..but you get the idea. Radar detectors, CObalt boats, Kustom, Ross, Krossroads, Edgerton, an acoustic amp, Birdview satelites, radar detectors, internet e-commerce...I think my admiration is well placed...thank you Bud for all you've done and for being so gracious with your time towards one crazy kustom nut. I've told him about all of us, what a great group of folks we have and how the gear still gets used and enjoyed so much. oh and btw...I've got a 2x10 combo now...I should be much more civilized...for a while... ya'll Play Loud!....ET! Report message to a moderator

Re: Bud Ross and Clan [message #22 is a reply to message #20] Tue, 11 April 2000 18:01 BC Messages: 583 Registered: March 2000 Location: Kentucky Senior Member How about this? This is great and extremely exciting. Gets the blood flowing through my tuck and roll heart. I am crazy to learn more......info from the MAN himself. Thanks ET......and thank you Bud Ross! BC Report message to a moderator

Re: Bud Ross and Clan [message #23 is a reply to message #20] Tue, 11 April 2000 19:15 KustomDan Messages: 42 Registered: January 2000 Member ET, Many thanks to you for sharing your conversation with Bud, many thanks to Bud for his willingness to visit with us through you and to share memories. I hope we can continue learn more from him about him, the efforts to bring Kustom to the market and the stories behind some of his more unique amps. A thanks to Andy for his contacting me as well about Buds continued fondness for the Kustoms he created. Dan ---Owner, VintageKustom.com Report message to a moderator

Re: Bud Ross and Clan [message #26 is a reply to message #20] Tue, 11 April 2000 22:36 Anonymous Now we know why these amps are still so great... They were built not manufactured! Tuck & roll forever! Foxy Report message to a moderator

Re: Bud Ross and Clan [message #51 is a reply to message #23] Mon, 22 May 2000 20:25 Anonymous Great story!....ET was my first contact from a thread on Yahoo. What can I say? Everyone who posted before me said it all. One small detail regarding Peter Cetera. The kat was also the bass player as well as the singer. Not easy stuff to do with much of Chicago's music. And on a personal note, as of today, May 22, 2000, I am Officially & Kompletely KUSTOMIZED again! The BIG RIG is Komplete. Tchoo Doo Do!!!!!! Art Kulak Report message to a moderator

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