B-Bend Tele?

[Richard1212]

Never saw one of these. Some kinda giant aparatus in the back with B string attatched.
Whats the purpose?

[murff625]

Originally Posted by Richard1212

Never saw one of these. Some kinda giant aparatus in the back with B string attatched.
Whats the purpose?

It's a device that only bends the B string and is usually used to generate pedal steel guitar voicings on guitar by raising the pitch of the B string a whole tone. It allows a person to bend a note inside of chord. Mine is permanently installed in my Tele and is activated by pulling down slightly on the neck of the guitar. Here are a couple of sound clips/videos where I've used one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p17b3vnKN2g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei8CtoEWrXA

[Richard1212]

Wow! I like that. Very Very nice playing. Enjoyed listening very much!

[surfoverb]

B-Benders are great...Im putting one on a MIM 60s Tele

[slack]

Maybe check out the B-Bender forum here?
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/b-bender-forum/

[mellecaster]

Guys like Pics.

[surfoverb]

how much does one charge to install a parsons? And how much weight does it add? Ive got a 7lbs tele and an 8lbs , id rather do the 8lbs one if its not too heavy.

[tele_jas]

Here's a "local" guy (for me) that does them. Looks less evasive, but does the same thing. http://bnwbenders.com/

I just picked up one of his older body's today... It's a G-bender. Now the task of saving and getting parts for it (neck, pickups, electronics, ect..).

[HOBBSTER01]

Originally Posted by surfoverb

how much does one charge to install a parsons? And how much weight does it add? Ive got a 7lbs tele and an 8lbs , id rather do the 8lbs one if its not too heavy.

I personally recommend Forrest Lee Jr.
Fast turn around superb workmanship.
Sales@ForrestCustomGuitars.com

[Dogbear]

Try this bender demo out.... This is Marty Stuart playing "Clarence', the guitar of the late great unsurpassed Clarence White....



Also trying listening to some of Clarence's stuff, he was and continues to be the master of this style of guitar even though he died in 1973. The solo starts at 1:50 and not many out there can play it. BTW, both Brian Friend (BrianF in this forum) and Bill Bores do exceptional bender installs.

[J. Hayes]

it seems to me that "Clarence" isn't a long throw bender anymore. It looks like it's been changed to a "short throw" bender which to me makes good sense anyway. Any thoughts, do you think it's been changed?....JH in Va.

[Tele wacker]

I don't have any pics of my B-bender but I'm pretty sure it's a '68 or '69 Tele and Gene Parsons installed the B-bender way back there. The B-bender serial number is 0123. I emailed Gene and he said he started with serial number 0101 so mine was one of the earlier ones. I love mine and will try my best to keep it 'til I die.

I need to figure out how to post a pic.

[telex76]

Originally Posted by Tele wacker

I don't have any pics of my B-bender but I'm pretty sure it's a '68 or '69 Tele and Gene Parsons installed the B-bender way back there. The B-bender serial number is 0123. I emailed Gene and he said he started with serial number 0101 so mine was one of the earlier ones. I love mine and will try my best to keep it 'til I die.

I need to figure out how to post a pic.

You have to go advanced to post a pic. If you've got the picture saved to your desktop you can just attach it to your post.

[ForrestLeeJr]

Originally Posted by J. Hayes

it seems to me that "Clarence" isn't a long throw bender anymore. It looks like it's been changed to a "short throw" bender which to me makes good sense anyway. Any thoughts, do you think it's been changed?....JH in Va.

I've been trying to tell people that for years. What most think is a long throw is a medium... a long throw is useless to me as I like to play a bit faster than 40 bpm... lol

Joe Glasure's benders are short throw... all I've tried, fast but not as much control. but regardless, if you want a longer throw, put strap locks on it... it'll be longer, and easier to pull. Even a spacer can lengthen the throw.

So everybody out there with a Fender Bender and strap locks...
One thing I've been doing to help out the Fender Bender guys is weighting the guitar (drilling numerous holes like a bee hive under the pick gaurd to save some weight. I just had another in my shop that was 10 lbs... seems like that are all 9.5 to 11 lbs.

I added a G Bender to a Fender P/G once... that was a tough job.
Another suggestion if you want a slightly closer throw... do like John Bohlinger and screw your strap directly to the bender... and put the strap button on as a washer to hold the strap on. techinically its the ultimate strap lock too... and its free.

[Tele-Monster]

Originally Posted by J. Hayes

it seems to me that "Clarence" isn't a long throw bender anymore. It looks like it's been changed to a "short throw" bender which to me makes good sense anyway. Any thoughts, do you think it's been changed?....JH in Va.

I got to play Clarence a few months back and I did think the throe was a bit longer than the P/W benders I've tried.

[Silverface]

Jerry - looking at the Marty video, at about 1:37 I could clearly track the length of the pull, and it appears to match up with my prototype Nashville West (for those who don't know, the Nashville West line made by Mike "Stringpull" Nihen were the first accurate throw-length copies...and have some other details Clarence had, like the Red Rhodes Velvet Hammer pickups and wiring harness...of that original '54. I think originally there were 43 made, but I recall Mike possibly making one or two more. Among many bender players they are a "bucket list" guitar).

The original went through several mutations when Clarence had it, but the throw never changed - it's 1 1/4" measured at the strap connection. Stock PW's are 5/8", Gene's "long throw" (developed after Mike's copy of the original's pull, but sort of a compromise) is 3/4"; Glasers are about 1/2", Higgins Peg Benders 1/4-3/8", Parsons-Greens 1/2-5/8", Bores either 5/8" or 1 1/4" (Bill supplied many parts for long-throw conversions when Gene...actually his ex-wife Meridian...cut off supplies to long-throw converters), B&W makes them either with a requested length or adjustable and Evans Pullstrings have 9 settings from 5/8" to 1 1/4" that you can change yourself in 10 minutes or so.

FWIW the second shoulder-strap bender made, Bob Warford's (that he played extensively in the studio and on tour with The Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman and others) is just a hair under 1/2", which surprises a lot of players who think you can't get slow, "drifting" bends out of a short-throw. It's also the Tele Clarence played on Byrds albums as a studio player before joining (and before a bender was installed)

Anyway - it doesn't look to me like there's been a throw length change on the original; it would be quite a complicated process anyway, and other than the E bender (self-installed by Marty and an admitted mistake), moving the low Keith tuner from the A to the E string and refrets Marty's reportedly left it alone.

Regarding throw length and style - Forrest is right (with a little exaggeration) about long vs short - long throw players seem to gravitate to a west coast Clarence/Warford/Leadon/Perkins style, with more slow, off-beat and speed changing (where you either pause and/or speed up in the middle of a bend) bends; many short-throw players, especially those with Glasers-types, play a faster Nashville speed-picker style. So (as Forrest notes) many "long throw" players are actually playing a "mid throw" (3/4-1") and have no idea the original one is so long. ALL of them are good in their own way.

[Dogbear]

Excellent post Silverface.......

So everybody out there with a Fender Bender and strap locks...
One thing I've been doing to help out the Fender Bender guys is weighting the guitar (drilling numerous holes like a bee hive under the pick gaurd to save some weight. I just had another in my shop that was 10 lbs... seems like that are all 9.5 to 11 lbs.

Forrest, try replacing the steel back plate with an polished aluminum one from Hipshot..... You can get rid of about 11 oz without drilling unnecessary holes in the guitar body and if you still want to do that just add the reduced weights together.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/b-bender-...nder-diet.html