Check out this primitive bender.......

[J. Hayes]

Here's a couple of shots of a primitive B-bender that I've had for a while now. A friend of mine saw an add for these in a guitar magazine and bought two of 'em a gave me one. they were only around $25 at the time. Looking close you'll see that it attaches to the headstock by the hold down nut for the low E string tuner.
The nylon line running through the thing has three small holes in it so you can run the B string through the line depending on the width of your headstock. These can be used on a Fender or a three on a side headstock. You can see the threaded piece on the bottom. That's what you tune the pull with.
On the loop on the top you attach a small chain which goes up to your guitar strap near the shoulder much like a Higgins Peg Bender does. When you push down on your guitar neck, the string is pulled sideways for the bend.
You need to lubricate your nut slot with graphite or some other lubricant before installing the bender. I was very surprised at how well it actually worked and how well it stayed in tune. I even had it on an acoustic dreadnought guitar for a while.
The psuedo Tele (Fame Mastercaster) it's on now is a guitar I keep tuned a whole tone flat so on this guitar it's actually an A bender.........JH in Va.

[aznrambo481]

that's pretty cool! when I saw it I thought you pull the strings with your finger

[J. Hayes]

what someone can make with a little brass plate, some copper tubing, and some nylon line..........JH in Va.

[w0odman]

know where I could buy one? Brand name?

[bender-freak]

i found one of those on Evil-Bay a few years ago for 10 bucks, thought ...why not..??....it laid around here for some months and as i never got around to installing it on anything, i gave it to fellow member john s in Australia...dunno if he ever put it on anything or not....they look to me to be along the same line as a Higgins peg-head setup, but maybe there is some difference.....main reason i never tried to use it is i never could use a strap coming from the headstock on a guitar; all my bender-Teles except for my P/G Tele have the strap button placed in the middle of the neck-plate...non bender guitars that i use have the strap button placed there, also..just what i got used to a long time ago....

anyway, cool little device....would snag another one "just to have it"...if one should come along....

[Hatchetjack]

Hey Jerry, I didn't know you still had that thing! I think they were made by Ray Hutto. He was selling them in the early 90's and had models to fit electric and acoustic guitars. The mechanism was activated by running a cord attached to your guitar strap that ran down to the nylon loop on the "bender." All you had to do was push down on the guitar neck to activate it.What was nice about it was that it required no changes to your guitar and could be removed without any damage. THe only modification required was to drill a hole in you guitar strap to attach the cord to. The whole thing was quite clever and reasonably priced.
Jack

[J. Hayes]

of course you remember I got it from you. I remember you had one on a white Strat I believe and the damn thing worked pretty well. Do you still have yours?..........JH in Va.

[JohnnyAtomic]

Yep, had one of those. worked pretty well, required a different movement than the parsons. more of a "forward" movement (like jabbing the neck of the guitar into the air", instead of a "downward" movement.

[sequencepro]

Originally Posted by Hatchetjack

Hey Jerry, I didn't know you still had that thing! I think they were made by Ray Hutto. He was selling them in the early 90's and had models to fit electric and acoustic guitars. The mechanism was activated by running a cord attached to your guitar strap that ran down to the nylon loop on the "bender." All you had to do was push down on the guitar neck to activate it.What was nice about it was that it required no changes to your guitar and could be removed without any damage. THe only modification required was to drill a hole in you guitar strap to attach the cord to. The whole thing was quite clever and reasonably priced.
Jack

Luthier/Inventor Ray Hutto is a friend of mine. He's still an active guitar tech (and an all round nice guy) who resides in Augusta Ga. Unfortunately, he no longer markets his Innovative String Bender or his String Bender Instructional Video, (featuring Ray and his son, Wes Hutto, an excellent Tele player who was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident a few years ago. I had the pleasure of working some country gigs with Wes, where he often amazed us while putting his dad's invention to good use.)
The bender in your photo looks SIMILAR, but larger, and much "rougher" than the Hutto String Benders I saw Ray selling, which didn't extend below the botom of the headstock, and had a much higher quality finish. If yours is a "Hutto", maybe it's an earlier model than the ones I saw, or a prototype. I'll ask Ray to check this thread.
Ray's String Bender wasn't fancy, it just worked.... Kinda like the original telecasters!
FYI, Ray's dad was the luthier that made all those Hutto mandolins that "bluegrassers" are so crazy about. Music is definitely in the Hutto genes!

[teletwin]

I want one