Historic Bender Pics

BrianF · December 16th, 2006, 09:01 PM

I thought that a thread posting pics of famous and historic B Benders would be of interest..

Here's a link to the grandaddy of them all... Clarence White's famous 1956 B Bender Telecaster... The first one ever made...made by Gene Parsons..now owned by Marty Stuart...
http://www.pbase.com/jroy/inside_cla...tes_telecaster

BrianF · December 16th, 2006, 09:02 PM

Here's Bob Warford's B Bender Tele... this was originally owned by Clarence White and used by Clarence on the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo... before a B Bender was installed. Bob acquired the Tele from Clarence in a trade for a Roy Noble Dreadnaught acoustic. Bob and his Dad built this bender from scratch from plans they got from Gene Parsons.

As such...this is the 2nd B Bender Tele ever made... a 1954 Tele with a early 60's Strat neck ...headstock re-shaped into a Tele... neck and frets shave super thin and flat by Semi Mosely. This Tele at one time belonged to Buck Owens prior to Clarence owning it.. The black sparkle pickguard is extremely unique. It is some sort of counter top material and sparkles bringhtly under stage lights. Clarence had this pickgaurd...and at one time (for a short time)was on his sunburst 1956 bender Tele.

Bob used this Tele on Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel" album..on tracks like "Willin" ans "Dark end of the Street"... as well as albums such as Chris Hillman's "Desert Rose", and Herb Pedersens' "Easy Ride"...among many others...Everly Brothers, Robb Strandlund etc

and some pics of the the insides of Bob's Tele...

BrianF · December 16th, 2006, 09:03 PM

Here's Bob playing it at a Clarence White forum jam a couple of years ago...(with Drake Harris looking on)

Here's another interesting bender...completely custom built onto the back of Murray Cullen's 1969 Telecaster (Mur on the TDPRI and Clarence White forum).. by Gene Parsons.. this is a one of kind Parsons build... He had it over at my shop one day when I was routing the neck pup for a Strat for him..

eddiewagner · December 17th, 2006, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianF

Clarence White's famous 1956 B Bender Telecaster... The first one ever made...made by Gene Parsons..now owned by Marty Stuart...

what a machine. how rough that looks and everything homegrown. wish i had the magazine with that article.

byrdbrain · December 17th, 2006, 08:49 AM

Thank you very much, Brian, for great pics and info.
Greatly appreciated.

Don Miller · December 17th, 2006, 04:56 PM

Those are gret pictures, Brian...didnt those pics of Bob Warfords tele come off of some Japanese website <G>..I know..they are from one of the CWf jams..

Mur's new bender looks interesting...like an updated version of the original..the connection points and pulls etc must be similar. ...is that a prototype of a new design?..Can that be made to pull multiple strings?

Id like to see some detail shots of Murs clockworks bender....

BrianF · December 18th, 2006, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Miller

Those are gret pictures, Brian...didnt those pics of Bob WEarfords tele come off of some Japanese website <G>..I know..they are from one of the CWf jams......

They were taken by Jim Sliff (aka Silverface on the TDPRI and Clarence White forum) at a Clarence White forum jam (several of us got to play this Tele too that day...thanks Bob!). They were posted by Jim on the CW forum and "mysteriously" showed up on some Japanese site quite awhile afterwards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Miller

Mur's new bender looks interesting...like an updated version of the original..the connection points and pulls etc must be similar. ...is that a prototype of a new design?..Can that be made to pull multiple strings?

Don...this actually Mur's first Parsons-made custom bender..he's had it longer than the 'clock' or the 'burst' bender Tele's. It can only bend 1 string. To me it lools like a super high quality precision machined version of a Parsons Green except mounted to the back of the guitar..(which he prefers over routed versions).. It has ability to adjust spring tension and throw. I guess come to think of it...it is also like CW's original in that the pull finger pulls like a pedal steel...ie using a pendulum / fulcrum puller. Parsons Green is like that too... The only ones that aren;t are the contemporary Parsons/White's that have the bender pull hub that rotates on an axis...which is a different mechanism altogether.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Miller

I'd like to see some detail shots of Mur's clockworks bender

Yes...that is the one that is truly a work of art by Gene Parsons... a natural progression from this one. We'll see pix someday hopefully.

davidge1 · December 18th, 2006, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianF

Here's Bob Warford's B Bender Tele... this was originally owned by Clarence White and used by Clarence on the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo... before a B Bender was installed.

Brian, does that mean that all of Clarence White's playing on Sweetheart of the Rodeo was done without a b bender?

These pics are fascinating, by the way. I didn't know that Clarence White's b bender was mounted to the back of his guitar with extra wood added around it. Is the guitar very heavy?

Don Miller · December 18th, 2006, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Brian, does that mean that all of Clarence White's playing on Sweetheart of the Rodeo was done without a b bender?

I dont know if Brian is on line at the moment...but no..theres no b bender on Sweetheart. The first recording with it was Dr. Byrds,,,late 1968. The Playboy after Dark video is one of the eariest appearences of the B bender..and I think that was October 1968(?)...allegedly the B bender was being designed and installed while "Sweetheart " was recorded..and the White tele was Clarence's #1...until the burst got the bender installed.

A few folks around here have played-held the original bender and I expect they can comment on the weight..also Mur has a burst replica of the original guitar...down to the Fender 400 parts....I have a Nashville west..which has the bender in a body rout but also has the thickened body (its actually like a body and 1/2)..and the additional rim does add a slight amount of weight.

davidge1 · December 18th, 2006, 04:50 PM

Thanks, Don...

I thought that the Nashville West album was prior to Sweetheart of the Rodeo...was he also not using a b bender on this live recording?

Dan R · December 18th, 2006, 05:29 PM

Thanks, that is really cool stuff. The first time I'd heard of the Parsons/White b-bender guitar, I was astonished. I thought, "What a crazy contraption. You mean they carve up a guitar to do that?" Then I heard what CW and others could do with them. A friend mine owns a Nashville tele with the bender done by Larry at Music One. I picked it up one time and it was very interesting. I'm rambling here. Once again, thanks to all for posting the informative and interesting info on the famous b-benders.

Dan R

Don Miller · December 18th, 2006, 06:13 PM

Nope..."Nashville West" is no bender as well...Im sure one of the Byrds sites has the exact chronology but I think that somewhat before the time of "Sweetheart"..1967 maybe?

I think that shows how he incorporated the bender into his style,,,he was messing with time and doing multiple string bends and bouncing off low open strings and harmonics long before the stringbender...and..more trivia..the band on the Nashville west CD was "The Reasons"...and the club was Nashville West..altho over time that name was attached to the band as well.

Nashville West was also the name Mike Nihlen used for his clones of Clarence's guitar...he built 42 of them before he stopped...

davidge1 · December 18th, 2006, 06:50 PM

That really shows what a genius he was... I had assumed that much of his style on that recording came from the B bender.

My questions probably sound silly to someone more familiar with his playing, but I heard Nashville West for the first time only recently (after having played music for over 20 years). I've never been more impressed by anyone's playing, ever. It's one of the most incredible things I've ever heard.

I have another question for you ...was he using open tunings and/or a capo on that recording?

BrianF · December 18th, 2006, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidge1

I have another question for you ...was he using open tunings and/or a capo on that recording?

Hi David...

Nope...it's all straight tuning. No capo...no Bender on Nashville West...Clarence used light gauge strings, played with a light touch and CRANKED his amps... His playing in any of his genre's is unsurpassed... IMHO...

Visit the Clarence White forum ...search throgh some of the threads and there's some cool mp3 links in there..

davidge1 · December 18th, 2006, 08:28 PM

Thanks, Brian!

I visited that site ... it looks like there's a lot of information there.

December 16th, 2006, 09:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,155 7 Photos	Historic Bender Pics I thought that a thread posting pics of famous and historic B Benders would be of interest.. Here's a link to the grandaddy of them all... Clarence White's famous 1956 B Bender Telecaster... The first one ever made...made by Gene Parsons..now owned by Marty Stuart... http://www.pbase.com/jroy/inside_cla...tes_telecaster

December 17th, 2006, 08:49 AM	#5 (permalink)
byrdbrain Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sweden Age: 50 Posts: 1,416 4 Photos	Thank you very much, Brian, for great pics and info. Greatly appreciated. __________________ In vino securitas

December 17th, 2006, 04:56 PM	#6 (permalink)
Don Miller Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Anchorage, Alaska Age: 57 Posts: 593 14 Photos	Those are gret pictures, Brian...didnt those pics of Bob Warfords tele come off of some Japanese website <G>..I know..they are from one of the CWf jams.. Mur's new bender looks interesting...like an updated version of the original..the connection points and pulls etc must be similar. ...is that a prototype of a new design?..Can that be made to pull multiple strings? Id like to see some detail shots of Murs clockworks bender.... Last edited by Don Miller; December 18th, 2006 at 03:06 AM.

December 16th, 2006, 09:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,155 7 Photos	Here's Bob Warford's B Bender Tele... this was originally owned by Clarence White and used by Clarence on the Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo... before a B Bender was installed. Bob acquired the Tele from Clarence in a trade for a Roy Noble Dreadnaught acoustic. Bob and his Dad built this bender from scratch from plans they got from Gene Parsons. As such...this is the 2nd B Bender Tele ever made... a 1954 Tele with a early 60's Strat neck ...headstock re-shaped into a Tele... neck and frets shave super thin and flat by Semi Mosely. This Tele at one time belonged to Buck Owens prior to Clarence owning it.. The black sparkle pickguard is extremely unique. It is some sort of counter top material and sparkles bringhtly under stage lights. Clarence had this pickgaurd...and at one time (for a short time)was on his sunburst 1956 bender Tele. Bob used this Tele on Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel" album..on tracks like "Willin" ans "Dark end of the Street"... as well as albums such as Chris Hillman's "Desert Rose", and Herb Pedersens' "Easy Ride"...among many others...Everly Brothers, Robb Strandlund etc and some pics of the the insides of Bob's Tele...

December 16th, 2006, 09:03 PM	#3 (permalink)
BrianF Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Carlsbad, Ca Posts: 2,155 7 Photos	Here's Bob playing it at a Clarence White forum jam a couple of years ago...(with Drake Harris looking on) Here's another interesting bender...completely custom built onto the back of Murray Cullen's 1969 Telecaster (Mur on the TDPRI and Clarence White forum).. by Gene Parsons.. this is a one of kind Parsons build... He had it over at my shop one day when I was routing the neck pup for a Strat for him..

December 18th, 2006, 04:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
davidge1 Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: USA Posts: 980	Thanks, Don... I thought that the Nashville West album was prior to Sweetheart of the Rodeo...was he also not using a b bender on this live recording?

December 18th, 2006, 05:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
Dan R Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Charleston, SC Age: 50 Posts: 893	Thanks, that is really cool stuff. The first time I'd heard of the Parsons/White b-bender guitar, I was astonished. I thought, "What a crazy contraption. You mean they carve up a guitar to do that?" Then I heard what CW and others could do with them. A friend mine owns a Nashville tele with the bender done by Larry at Music One. I picked it up one time and it was very interesting. I'm rambling here. Once again, thanks to all for posting the informative and interesting info on the famous b-benders. Dan R

December 18th, 2006, 06:13 PM	#12 (permalink)
Don Miller Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Anchorage, Alaska Age: 57 Posts: 593 14 Photos	Nope..."Nashville West" is no bender as well...Im sure one of the Byrds sites has the exact chronology but I think that somewhat before the time of "Sweetheart"..1967 maybe? I think that shows how he incorporated the bender into his style,,,he was messing with time and doing multiple string bends and bouncing off low open strings and harmonics long before the stringbender...and..more trivia..the band on the Nashville west CD was "The Reasons"...and the club was Nashville West..altho over time that name was attached to the band as well. Nashville West was also the name Mike Nihlen used for his clones of Clarence's guitar...he built 42 of them before he stopped...

December 18th, 2006, 06:50 PM	#13 (permalink)
davidge1 Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: USA Posts: 980	That really shows what a genius he was... I had assumed that much of his style on that recording came from the B bender. My questions probably sound silly to someone more familiar with his playing, but I heard Nashville West for the first time only recently (after having played music for over 20 years). I've never been more impressed by anyone's playing, ever. It's one of the most incredible things I've ever heard. I have another question for you ...was he using open tunings and/or a capo on that recording?

December 18th, 2006, 08:28 PM	#15 (permalink)
davidge1 Tele-Holic Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: USA Posts: 980	Thanks, Brian! I visited that site ... it looks like there's a lot of information there.