B string benders????

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

There was a guy who played for Tommy Cash. He was the world's greatest imitator of pedal steel on a regular guitar by an infinite margin IMHO. I saw him at Ponderosa Park with the Tommy Cash show opening for Ernest Tubb. This guy was doing chromatic E9th riffs and pedal pulls and had the Sho-Bud tone nailed. If you closed your eyes, you heard pedal steel played better than many road players were doing at the time. Buddy Charleton stared agape at this guy the whole show from one of the side curtains. Not sure but his first name might have been Wayne. On top of this he played Orange Blossum Special on a guitar using a bow.

John Booth · From: Columbus Ohio, USA

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Diamond Rio's lead guitarist Jimmy Olander uses a B-Bender on his Fender Telecaster. A great example of the sound would be on Diamond Rio's song "Mama Don't Forget To Pray For Me" before the chorus after the second verse. It sounds like a steel lick that usually ends a song.

Steve Hinson · From: Hendersonville Tn USA

Wayne Gray was the guitar player you saw with TC,Greg...a wonderful guitar player and a very nice man.

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

Brett, Jimmy O's guitar is more like an Esquire as it only has a bridge pickup. Also he uses a Glaser B and G bender and uses them very tasty... Listen to "Meet in the Middle" for a good example of his work....JH in Va.
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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

If you ever want to get into "acoustic" guitar bending there are several options you can go with.. Richard Bowden (Pinkard & Bowden fame) makes some nice devices. I have the one for the Ovation guitar which you simply take the strings off, set it behind the bridge and put the strings back through and it's ready to go except you have to have a new B string. He also makes one for a "pinned" bridge acoustic that has a screw which goes down into the B string pin hole and attaches with a wing nut, you can intall one in 5 minutes.. Here's a shot of my Ovation bender from Bowden...

Or you can use a Bigsby Palm Pedal (if you can find one..... See photo...JH in Va.

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Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

James Taylor · From: United Kingdom

Well, well some amazing stuff in this little debate and it has certainly opened my eyes. I never knew of any of this . JAMES TAYLOR

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

It seems a lot of it goes to the hands the guitar is in. When I played with a band we had a gig one night and the house band asked me to set in with them after our show. The guy who ran the show has 2 sons who were great guitar players in their own right. He came on stage and started singing George Jones' He Stopped Loving Her Today. The son playing lead guitar had a Fender with a B bender and a volume pedal. It was confusing trying to figure out if sound was me on my MSA or the guitar player and his Fender. I would not want to play in a band with a Guitar with a Bender.

Robert Bergland · From: Austin, TX

So, I want to install a Parson/green on a Tele myself, but the only kits I’m finding are the hipshot ones. I would really like the chrome one that says parsons/green. Does anyone know where I can procure one? The lucite cover ones are super cool too, but I feel like those are demo models?

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

This thread is 9 years old, so keep all the comments in perspective.

Regarding the Parsons Green vs the Hipshot PG, it appears that only Hipshot was licensed to offer the PG kit. There is a slight difference, the PG has a Chrome string tower while the HIPSHOT has a Brass string tower. When I had the Fender PG guitar many years back, I acquired the brass tower from Hipshot and installed it in the Fender PG system. You may find a Fender PG system on EBAY or REVERB, or maybe contact Gene Parsons directly.

These days I only play a B Bender, one is the custom installed Forrest Lee jr system in a very fine 08 Fender Tele, and the other other is the Glaser system which is in the Fender Brent Mason Tele.

Many years back I did settle on the B Pull over the G Pull, it just seemed to fit my style of playing. That 08 Tele with the FL jr system it pretty much my go-to guitar for every gig. I have gone into the G pull world a few times, its extremely effective, but I kept reverting back to the B Pull, which is where I reside.

There's is an original tune on my website titled "B Simple" its in one of the music players. Its played on the 08 with the FL Jr system

Have fun !
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Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years

CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I have long since concluded that they got it right first time in the 1960s, just pulling the B.

It emphatically does not replicate steel, but does allow movement within an otherwise static chord.

Then, of course, one can ape the signature PSG licks and the bender can sound like your A pedal. My preference is for altering chords with it.

I have played benders since the late-'70s. My Glaser-equipped '08 Thinskin, along with my Super 400, would be carried first to safety if we had a fire. Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Barry Yasika · From: Bethlehem, Pa.

I was fortunate enough to see Roy Buchanan back in the seventies when his somewhat diminished notoriety was at it's peak. I was pretty much a guitar pup who loved blues and country type things. I watched Roy play a chord and then bend whatever given string he chose to bend into a kind of steel guitar colored sound. A lot of his solo's he did, in mixed major and pentatonic scales and his style really did give a lot of steel referral type roots. A good example would be his instrumental rendition of "Sweet Dreams".

I also "films" of Danny Gatton the same type thing, though sadly I never got to see him play. But, I guess once I heard those two guys doing what they were doing and doing it so well, I saw little need for a B string bender. Truth be told, I always wanted one regardless.

Then Albert Lee came along and kind of redefined the world of the Telecasters sound. After hearing him play, I could see no reason at all for a B bender.

I suppose there could always be someone out there (even now) who does for the B bender what Hendrix did for the Whammy bar. So when I look at it from that respect, I think there's still untapped potential in the B bender. Then again.........I kinda feel the same way about most any instrumental tool.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Barry Yasika · From: Bethlehem, Pa.

Dave, I stand corrected on Albert Lee's use of the B Bender. I saw one of his show's in Sellersville Pa. playing the Ernie Ball. I thought I remembered seeing a whammy bar on that guitar but never occurred to me that he may have have a B bender as well (does he?). His use of it is certainly seamless, at least to my auditory perception and there never seems to be any intention on his part to mimic a steel guitar. Either way I guess we live and learn and I appreciate the information.

Now I really want one Smile

but my age has caught up to me, making this a exercise of futility at this point. I forgot to mention, I actually tried using a Bigsby Palm Pedal but found it clumsy and a kind of an interference on the guitar's intonation. For me, (not everyone) it seemed more trouble than it was worth. Interesting post to read through!!

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

There are some folks that can emulate a B bender with fingers, but folks like me don't have that kind of dexterity. The bender, for me, helps tremendously.

Here is a good video of Marty and Gene on benders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr6dQlv-CYo
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Bowman SD10 push pull 3x5, Modified Hudson PedalBro, Sarno Tonic preamp, Evans FET 500. with Altec 418B, Standel Custom 15, '67 Showman with D-130F in cabinet, Ganz Straight Ahead, custom Wolfe 6 string dobro, '52 Gibson Century 6.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Dave Mudgett:

I'm in complete accord. Albert is one of the leading exponents of bender-playing. Here he is in the '70s with The Crickets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AtrSHu6x7w

I have also been catching up with Clarence's early stuff - 1968, with The Byrds and the Everlys; marvelous, but not pedal-steel-like, more 'inspired by' steel guitar.

Apologies if this has been posted before, but here are D&P along with Bob Warford.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCVEbopu9DY

I just had my own Thin-Skin Tele (with the Glaser unit) upgraded to locking-machine heads. Dave at Gator Music here in Naples did a good job, but his lack of familiarity with the Glaser mechanics meant that it came back lowering my B string a half-step!!

All is well now: it's quite a knack hooking the ball-end under the pull-mechanism.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Barry:

Albert does have tremolo arms on his MusicMan guitars and I have a vague memory of trying an early Silhouette MM in which he'd had a bender installed.

Mostly, though, any bender you hear him play is on one of his Teles or, in the case of the Dave Edmunds Rockpile video, his hybrid: a butcher's block body with the Dave Evans unit and a Stratocaster neck.

The transfer had been disfigured and, as a result, he called it his 'St.Atocaster'. Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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D Schubert · From: Columbia, MO, USA

I've had a Parsons-White unit in a red tele body since 1991. Have other bender guitars as well, and used a hipshot prior to 1991. It's a good musical tool, especially when you know when to NOT use it. If all my guitars were gone, and I was starting fresh I'm not sure that I'd seek out another one, but I've sure relied on the ones I've got many times for that handful of "secret" licks and phrases.
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GFI Expo S-10PE, Sho-Bud 6139, Fender 2x8 Stringmaster, Supro consoles, Dobro. And more.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I agree - it's another voice.

I certainly don't have one on my Super 400, so I'm far from addicted to them. Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

In the late nineties, I built a Tele from scratch, using a Parsons-White bender that I somehow managed to persuade a licensed installer to sell me for the equivalent of around 400 bucks. It worked perfectly, but I wasn't a good enough guitarist to use it properly (even less so these days).

In the end I sold it with a decent profit, so no harm done. Would be fun to build another one now, but the bender prices have skyrocketed in later years.

Solid cherry body, modified Gotoh bridge, locking Schallers...

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

I've had a couple of Gene's acoustic benders, just got one installed in my Gallagher OM. We did a couple of David Dart OM's that have acoustic Parsons benders that Gene installed. Sold both of them to Jim Irsay for his collection.

You get funny looks at bluegrass jams when engaging the bender:

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Bowman SD10 push pull 3x5, Modified Hudson PedalBro, Sarno Tonic preamp, Evans FET 500. with Altec 418B, Standel Custom 15, '67 Showman with D-130F in cabinet, Ganz Straight Ahead, custom Wolfe 6 string dobro, '52 Gibson Century 6.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Lee wrote:

"You get funny looks at bluegrass jams when engaging the bender..."

In John Wayne's words (as Rooster Cogburn):

"I bet you do, sonny!"

Seriously, that looks a thoroughly professional job! May I ask how costly such a conversion might be?

I'm not tempted to submit my latest (and greatest) 000-28 to the process, but my older one, maybe!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Roger: It is a great tool on acoustic guitars. Gene builds and installs them himself from the soundhole (like building a ship in a bottle).

Here is the link to Gene's website: https://stringbender.com/acoustic.php

Thanks
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Bowman SD10 push pull 3x5, Modified Hudson PedalBro, Sarno Tonic preamp, Evans FET 500. with Altec 418B, Standel Custom 15, '67 Showman with D-130F in cabinet, Ganz Straight Ahead, custom Wolfe 6 string dobro, '52 Gibson Century 6.

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