Who's got an early Parsons-White?

[FWesley]

Anyone else out there with an 70's or early 80's P/W b- bender? I bought mine from Gene in the fall of 1977. It's number 65.

[TeleTubby]

I've got #21. Can't remember the date off hand- I'll post it when I get home tonight.



Here you go- 50 years old and still ready to rock, or roll, or twang, or cry!

[JohnnyAtomic]

number 72

[FWesley]

Wow - Teletubby, that's a real relic! That is the earliest one I know of. What did you have that one installed on? Are you the original owner? Looks like someone might have played it abit! Pretty cool looking, reminds me of Bill Kirchens tele.

Originally Posted by JohnnyAtomic

number 72

What's #72 mounted on?

[JohnnyAtomic]

this one, it's a 68. i've owned it several years now.

[Ramblin Ray]

#30 here--modified by Gene to a long stroke about 10 yrs. ago.

[FWesley]

Originally Posted by Ramblin' Ray

#30 here--modified by Gene to a long stroke about 10 yrs. ago.

Ramblin Ray - I saw your post on the Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue forum. Originally posted as slack's "66 tele find" I was suprised to see some other early benders being mentioned.
http://www.tdpri.com/viewtopic.php?t...ghlight=bender
Out of the 112 numbered B-benders, we now know about 1,21,25,30,32,65 and 72. Only 105 more left .

[FWesley]

Originally Posted by JohnnyAtomic

this one, it's a 68. i've owned it several years now.

That's how I wish my Tele would look, I've got the later original 70's (I think it's a 75 or 76) thick skin poly coat on it, not as nice as that see through blonde. Great pictures!

[TeleTubby]

Thanks to all who answered, or posted pics- great looking bunch o' Teles. Let's keep that list growing!



#21 is installed on a '54 body (with all certainty, one of the very last blackguard Teles made) and '56 neck- the original probably gave out somewhere along its long journey. This guitar was owned by Larry Flowers, and played in his group by himself and (I believe?) Bernie Leadon, on occasion. From the middle '60s to '75, it was played by a virtual who's who of the budding SoCal country rock scene. John Beland purchased this one from Larry after John's was stolen on tour. John had the binding added, painted it brown, and arranged for Gene to put the bender in. John also started collecting the autographs of all he played with on it. No way of knowing how many gigs it's played, how many recordings it's featured on, or even how many times you've heard it before and not realized it! I consider myself only the current carekeeper, as I'm lucky enough to just squeeze an occasional lick out of this; licks and notes that all the previous talent played into it.

[slack]

I've got number #25, on a 66 Tele:



And it's currently but a stone's throw from Nudie's old shop (referencing the sticker on TeleTubby's).

More pics here.

.

[Nevada Smith]

Hi Johnny,
Beautiful tele of course. I think I would like a third pick-up also. What type of pick-ups are in yours?

[JohnnyAtomic]

stock 68 pickup in bridge, and stock 68 neck pickup in middle position. both lindy rewound. old gibson minihum in neck.
johnny atomic

[Zac]

In the 70's there was a limited run of Tokai's that came factory standard with a Gene Parsons installed b-bender. I had one years ago and foolishly traded it away. It was a 3 color sunburst bound tele with a recessed chrome engraved cover plate. Oh the pain. Zac

[JohnnyAtomic]

In the 70's there was a limited run of Tokai's that came factory standard with a Gene Parsons installed b-bender.

yeah, i've been looking for one of those for quite a while.

johnny atomic

[claudel]

Hi

I'm new to the board.

I have "Froggy" which was once a '66 Esquire.

The only Fender parts left on it as far as I can tell are the body and the 4 way switch.



It was upgraded a few years back with Bardens & Vintique hardware.

Recently I sold the Esquire rosewood board neck and installed a USACG maple neck.

It also has Parsons-White B-Bender #11

I'm thinking about a "G" string bender too, but I'm not sure which one...

Claude

[Telepicker]

It's a '78 tele - Gene installed this one in Sept. 1978. My brother out in Colorado has #23 - it's a '76 Fender tele with the Clarence White setup - velvet hammers, etc. Cool to see some others still out there. When did Gene Parsons stop putting a number on them?

Tom

[Freddy Fender]

#21 as mentioned above now resides with me. Man, I love the sound of this axe. I need to get some new frets on it and a new switch, but other than that ... just plug in and it sounds good ..

[FWesley]

Wow - very cool! - You guys need to post some pictures!!!

Now we've got:

1,11,21,23,25,30,32,65,72 and 93

Originally Posted by Telepicker

When did Gene Parsons stop putting a number on them?

Maybe we can figure that out. - If Sept 1978 Gene did #93, mine was #65 from just about a year earlier, than he was doing approx. 28/yr. - 112 was the last serialized according to Gene's website, so maybe (if my math is right and sales didn't spike) approx. May 1979.


Hey Claude, any chance you could post a picture of the stamping on the aluminum backplate so we can see what it looks like? That's the earliest one we've found so far.

Welcome to the club - Frank :D

[claudel]

Originally Posted by FWesley

Hey Claude, any chance you could post a picture of the stamping on the aluminum backplate so we can see what it looks like? That's the earliest one we've found so far.

Welcome to the club - Frank :D

Thanks for the welcome

Here's a shot of the back plate




Claude

[claudel]

How 'bout a New Year's bump for this thread.... 8)

Anybody else?

[telebender]

I was just looking over this old thread and it reminded me of a gig I was playing in El Cerrito (bay area) in '77 or '78. I was playing with Rye Whiskey at the It Club. At the time, benders were really rare and very few people knew about them. There was this guy that came every weekend to hear us play. During a break I told him about my b-bender. His reponse was "and all this time I thought you were a good guitar player".

I've had mine since '76 and it has worked flawlessly since Gene put it in. Only thing original on my tele are the pickguard and wood.

Dave

[FWesley]

Originally Posted by telebender

I was just looking over this old thread and it reminded me of a gig I was playing in El Cerrito (bay area) in '77 or '78. I was playing with Rye Whiskey at the It Club. At the time, benders were really rare and very few people knew about them. There was this guy that came every weekend to hear us play. During a break I told him about my b-bender. His reponse was "and all this time I thought you were a good guitar player".

I've had mine since '76 and it has worked flawlessly since Gene put it in. Only thing original on my tele are the pickguard and wood.

Dave, I must have missed this when you posted it awhile ago. Good story! I was living out in Mill Valley/Albany CA in 77-78, vaguely remember the club in El Cerrito.
Did you drive up the coast to Genes or send via post?

- Frank

[FWesley]

Well- Genes web site said there were 112 numbered Teles. Buzzy Levine said the one on his Lark Steet Music website is SN 0156.

Lark Street #0156

[shot8un]

Hi all,

I have one of the very early Tokais breezysounds
(from 79 I'm told) with the P/W pull string fitted, it is a double bound tb/sburst tele with a maple 1p neck/fingerboard, I upgraded the pickups to Semour Duncans years ago but i have recently retired it as its been my main tele for about 10 years and its looking like a bit of a relic... Just bought a Nasville tele with P/G bender on it.
I'll post some pix when I get web space sorted.

Shot8

[Doc62049]

I have a 1978 tele with a P-W installed by Gene, with no SN on it. I ordered it and Gene built sent it to me while I was stationed in Germany in early 1980. White, maple neck, changed to a black pickguard, Schaller tuners, 4-way switch and velvet hammers.

[claudel]

Any noobs or semi-noobs with numbered PW's that want to share?

Since my last post in the thread I swapped the Bardens for a Don Mare bridge pickup and CS Nocaster neck pickup, which I like much better.




#11

[Ramblin Ray]

#30 here. Like alot of you guys, not much original on my '67--the body wood, a few screws etc. Still trying to find the ideal neck--the R/W board original neck twisted years ago. I've had a Warmoth on there for about 15 yrs., and it needs a re-fret real bad. I bought a MusiKraft but haven't mounted it yet. Would love to just find a good '52 RI neck for it. Hopefully I can get a digital camera soon and post some pictures. BTW, how do you like your USA neck? Even though you didn't reshape the headstock, it looks pretty good as is.

[claudel]

I *really* like the USACG neck that I got. It has a great profile. I like the gentle compound radius a lot. The frets were playable right out of the box and USACG is very easy to deal with.

I originally specced the "Flame Maple" option but after they cut the neck they didn't think it was flamey enough so they refunded the upcharge without me asking.

I didn't bother trying to recut the headstock. It looks fine as is to me too.

[Twangbanger]

Mine's a rare one. I talked to Gene and there's no number on it, but he remembers doing it in the 70's, because of the high "e" bender. So mine is mystery #?
To add to it, I have the chrome back plate and it has the String Bender logo and the US Pat 3,512,443
The tele is a mystery as well, the best I can figure, it's a 58-60. Bridge top and through loader and jack are original. The binding was replaced during the refinish after the bender was installed. I've seen a few pics of original ash Tele Custom's, so I'm not giving up on this one.

[telesavant]

Nice Tele Twangbanger!!; Here's my oldest: #0137E3, circa 1981. That's when I got it, and I think the guy I got it from just had it installed in this '71 Tele. That would date it around '81. Not completely sure though.

[Twangbanger]

Dang, I was told there's only a few double b and e benders. Guess you have one of the others. My cover plate looks just like yours, but just has the String Bender logo.

So do you use the e bender any? I just gt mine so I'm learning the b licks. I might string it up with the e string pretty soon and try some on it.

[telesavant]

Originally Posted by Twangbanger

Dang, I was told there's only a few double b and e benders. Guess you have one of the others. My cover plate looks just like yours, but just has the String Bender logo.

So do you use the e bender any? I just gt mine so I'm learning the b licks. I might string it up with the e string pretty soon and try some on it.

It's hard to use , but there are some nice things you can do with it. Here's one: suspension to c major to c6th. (3rd finger-5th fret, 4th string), (4th finger-5th fret, 3rd string), (1st finger-3rd fret, 2nd string), (1st finger-3rd fret, 1st string). Just use those 4 strings. Open is the suspension, front strap lever employed -c chord, front and rear strap lever employed -c6th chord. Let me know how this sounds. There are many more tricks to be had with this beast!! Pull this off and your steel player will, no doubt, have to change his pants!!

[Twangbanger]

I tried that lick and it sounds awesome. I need a lighter spring on it though, it takes allot of force to bend it.

[Twangbanger]

Haha!
I was so determined to find out more info on my tele, that I took it apart today and looked harder. No date code under the bridge pup, had to sand off the shielding paint. Then in the neck pocket I found some Daphne blue paint in the screw holes and in the corners of the pocket. So that dates it to 60-65. As far as the binding, addition when the guitar was refinished.

But like I've read on the provide site about vintage Fenders, it's very rare to have a ash tele with a solid color in the 60's. They used alder then. This could have been a pre 60's blue finished tele in ash. Or could have been a fender refinish of a 50's guitar. But over all, IT ROCKS!

[byrdman]

Hey Guys......a newbie here. I just came across number 44. It's a fairly beat up '71 Tele. The plate on the back says number 44, made in 1977. Any ideas how much I should be looking to pay for it?

Thanks in advance,
Graham

[claudel]

How 'bout another bump for this thread....


Any new oldies?