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 B-Bender Guys
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Jim Walker Member From: Florida Panhandle |
posted 03 November 2005 02:24 AM
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I just listened to the new Dwight Yokum tune "Blame The Vain". Cool B-bender licks on this track. I wonder if it's Pete Anderson? I've been aware for sometime that a lot of the newer country music is layden with string bender guitars. If you own a string bender... let me ask, Why did you buy one? ------------------ |
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Charles Davidson Member From: Alabama, USA |
posted 03 November 2005 04:16 AM
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I played guitar for appro.30 years before I discovered the steel about 15 years ago,have'nt played guitar since. But to the point,I had a B bender on my tele,It was called the Hip Shot.[not sure if they are still being produced]You did not have to alter your guitar in any way,unlike the Parsons bender,you could bend the b string and the g string sepreatly or together.It stayed in tune and no string breakage.At the time,in the 70's it sold for about a hundred bucks,and easy to install.If any of you tele pickers are thinking of useing a bender this is the ONE [If you can find one] |
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D Schubert Member From: Columbia, MO, USA |
posted 03 November 2005 06:50 AM
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In my case, it goes back to musical influences of Clarence White with the Byrds in the early 70's. In that era there were only prototype benders, then came the Parsons-White conversions with the big rout on the back of the guitar. Dave Borisoff's HipShot was developed later -- I bought one in the early 80's --and there are a number of alternate devices on the market today. The relatively stiff, long-throw action of the Parsons-White feels more like the A-pedal on a PSG. To me, it's more "musical" than most of the alternatives for that reason -- and that's what I play. It's a boxers-versus-briefs argument -- there ain't no best b-bender design. But Hipshot and Higgins are probably the least expensive. For info in depth, the Telecaster page (www.TDPRI.com) has a section devoted to b-benders. If that isn't enough info, the real bender fanatics can be found at the Clarence White Forum (www.clarencewhiteforum.com) [This message was edited by D Schubert on 03 November 2005 at 06:50 AM.] |
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Mike Perlowin Member From: Los Angeles CA |
posted 03 November 2005 09:06 AM
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My tele has a home made B-Bender that my father designed amd made in the late 70s. It's not quite as smooth as the Parsons, but required far less routing. It actually works very well. Of course, the degree to which it bends the string is tunable, but so is the amount of tension it requires. Too stiff, and it doesn't work well, not stiff enough an the weight of the guitar will activate it and pull the guitar out of tune. Dad worked on several of my guitars for me. He was not a musician, but a woodworker and jeweler. He passed away 2 years ago at the age of 90. Shoertly after the bender was installed, I was hired to play in a disco band. (I got the gig by virtue of living down the street from the bandleader) I found that the bender in conjunction with a wah wah pedal worked very well in that context. [This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 03 November 2005 at 09:52 PM.] |
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Jerry Hayes Member From: Virginia Beach, Va. |
posted 03 November 2005 10:09 AM
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The bender work on Dwight Yoakum's latest stuff is by Keith Gattis. Keith's also one helluva country singer in his own right and had a great CD on his own out a few years ago. He also makes B-Bender guitars himself and picks the fire out of 'em too. As far as to why I have one myself, I got my first when I was living/working/playing in the Los Angeles area some years ago mainly because of seeing them used (Bigsby Palm Pedals) by Al Bruno and Boomer Castleman. I used a HipShot also for over 20 years and now mainly use a Parsons/White style bender on my main Telecaster. I also have a HipShot on a Strat, and a Bigsby on an Ibanez Artist...JH in Va. ------------------ [This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 03 November 2005 at 10:12 AM.] |
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James Sission Member From: Sugar Land,Texas USA |
posted 03 November 2005 02:32 PM
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I use a bender and a volume pedal on Tele. The reason I did it was that I could make steel licks, for fills especially, and they sounded pretty good. I liked the ablity to make the steel sounds on slow songs, but the bands around here are very hesitant to hire a steel player. So I just did the best I could to add a flavor to the band with it.....James |
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scott murray Member From: Orange Park, FL |
posted 03 November 2005 03:51 PM
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just one reason. this guy:  |
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Mike Perlowin Member From: Los Angeles CA |
posted 03 November 2005 05:13 PM
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Appropos of the subject, I should mention that Hipshot's owner and president, Dave Borisoff, is himself a fine pedal steel guitarist. Dave also plays banjo and dobro. |
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Tim Harr Member From: East Peoria, Illinois |
posted 03 November 2005 09:17 PM
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I started playing a B bender in 1987. I play the bender as second nature now but I rarely find myself imitating a pedal steel though. Been playing Pedal Steel for 15 yrs so I don't have to fake it on a B bender I use the B bender a lot for chordal things. It makes for a real nice dom7th to dom 9th chord. Also, it can give you a very nice 7th#9 chord when you fret a 7thb9 chord and engage the B string whole step bend. I have a lot of experience with B benders...I have often thought of producing a B bender instructional product. Thanks! TH |
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Michael Johnstone Member From: Sylmar,Ca. USA |
posted 04 November 2005 12:44 AM
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Around the same time I got serious on steel(1974),I had a 2 lever Bigsby palm pedal rig on a standard guitar. I never got real comfortable with it because it got in the way of my blocking and picking hand position. After I got about 3 or 4 years of gigging on steel under my belt,I realized how pointless the stringbender deal was for me so I abandoned it altogether. By coincidence,I was engineering at a recording session just today here in L.A. and there were two guys - Bill Horn and Philip Norris - with identical fairly new single cutaway Martin flattops with Parsons/White B-benders in them. They played ok and the gadgets worked like they're supposed to but it was odd to hear and play those licks on an acoustic. -MJ- |
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Jim Walker Member From: Florida Panhandle |
posted 04 November 2005 08:32 AM
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I would have to say Jimmy Olander from Diamond Rio was my first inspiration to give string bending a try. It was still another 5 years before I bought my 1997 Parsons / Green Fender Telecaster. I was really just learning to play a little lead at the time. I thought the bender would help keep me interested and add to what I hoped to someday be as a musician. For a very long time I was the only cat around the local scenes playing a b-bender which gave me unique status and allowed me to gain better employment even before my skills had improved much. Inturn I was able to play with better players which really kicked my playing into high gear. I'm greatful for my string bender. Without it I might have ended up a karaoke singer LOL. ------------------ |
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Jim Walker Member From: Florida Panhandle |
posted 04 November 2005 08:33 AM
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Props to Keith Gattis. ------------------ |
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Roger Rettig Member From: NAPLES, FL |
posted 04 November 2005 10:15 AM
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The very first B-bender I heard was Clarence White on the Everly Brothers track, 'I'm On My Way Back Home Again' from 1968 - after that I couldn't WAIT to get my hands on one. Then there was CW (again) on 'Drugstore Truck Driving Man', and my conversion was complete. It's been intergral to my playing style ever since. I soon saw it as something distinct from PSG, more an influence on one's playing. I'm currently playing my favourite guitar - a G&L ASAT Classic with a Glaser Bender - in a production of 'Jesus Christ, Superstar'; I doubt that Lloyd-Webber heard any B-bender in his original concept, but I think it works pretty well! The best exponents af the art are, for me, CW and Jimmy Olander. RR |
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Jim Sliff Member From: Hermosa Beach California, USA |
posted 04 November 2005 05:08 PM
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I'm another who got into bending because of Clarence. I had the pleasure of seeing him live many times and meeting him, talking about guitars, amps, music stores...all kinds of stuff. Incredible player and a wonderfully nice man. One sometimes overlooked player (and my #2 favorite) is Bob Warford, who got put together the second of the shoulder-strap benders on a guitar he got from Clarence (the one Clarence played on Sweethearts and other albums before he joined the Byrds). Bob's a lawyer now, but still plays actively - we get together and play periodically. He's another scary player... Both those guys were/are very musical benders, as opposed to the "on-off" switch Nashville bender guys. Most of the modern b-bending seems to have nothing but hot licks in mind. Y-a-w-n. I have a semi-clone of Clarence's guitar built by the Stringpull guitar shop, a T.V. jones Tele with a Parsons-White, an unknown-maker double bender, and several Higgins benders (including one on a Variax and one on a D-28). Until my hand problems B-bending was my main thing, along with doubling on electric and upright bass. Now the guitars and bass sit and I try...and try...to learn steel. |
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Mike Perlowin Member From: Los Angeles CA |
posted 04 November 2005 08:51 PM
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BTW, I have a hipshot bender on my 12 string. It works just fine. It pulls the 2 strings every so slightly out of tune with each other, just enough to give a little bit of a chorus effect. I found that I got so heavily into the use of benders (my tele has a palm pedal on the G string as well as the B bender) that I started relying on them way too much. They went from being a tool to being a crutch. In recent years I've been spending a lot more time on my benderless guitars, just to get back to playing normally. BTW, there are some passages on my recording of Afternoon Of a Faun that were done with the B-bender. The MP3 of the tune can be found on my web site. www.mikeperlowin.com [This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 04 November 2005 at 08:53 PM.] |
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