B-Benders - Missing History of the Evans Pullstring - ASK ZAC 15 

Great Zac! Thank you very much, because this was a masterly lesson to the introduction of B-Bender playing. You have brought me back a long-cherished wish, so that I seriously want to get a good B-Bender tele. Your licks are a feast for the ears and a solid foundation to start with. All the best and good health from a big fan.

Just saw a utube of the Everly Brothers doing 'Mama Tried" with Bob Warford just ripping it on the B- Bender ..... Awesome !!!

In one of the greatest days of my life, I stopped by the Parsons Street Gibson facility in 1982, before everything got moved from Kalamazoo to Nashville and the original facility was sold to the folks who became Heritage Instruments. Since they were essentially closed for taking inventory, I was offered, and blessed with, a tour of the place. A the end, I picked up a few parts I wanted. When I asked about possibly getting a Bigsby spring, I was informed that they didn't carry them, but the BIgsby factory was just the other side of the highway. I scooted over and who should greet me but Ted McCarty himself, who was now long retired from Gibson and running BIgsby. He gave me a tour of the place and started pulling boxes of shiny new devices off the shelf to show me. One of them was a gold-plated 3-lever palm pedal. I had never seen anything like it. While it doesn't have the adjustability of a B-Bender, it does provide string-specific pitch bending, for up to 3-strings. I didn't snag one of them, but I did get Ted's business card, which is framed in my office. More recently, I spent part of an afternoon with Joey Landreth, who has a 3-lever palm pedal on his Mulecaster. He handed me the guitar to try out, but the guy uses a .019-to-063 string set, and I'm just a mere mortal. So I couldn't tell you what it's like to use one of those contraptions. At 2018 Summer NAMM, I was introduced to a product I thought was pretty special and had a delightful long chat with the inventor/developer, Steve Savage. It is a retrofit for a standard Stratocaster vibrato arm that permits all the usual pitch-bending on the back and forth axis, but adjusts volume on the up-down axis (towards and away from the controls). Move the arm towards the control knobs and the volume increases smoothly. I mention it because I found it really easy to start producing pedal-steel swells. The only thing missing is the ability to bend specific strings, rather than an all-6 pitch-bend. Worth checking out: www.truvtrem.com/ But thanks for a really informative video. I learned a lot.

Here's some history you might or might not be aware of. Back in the late '60s some of us out here in the northwest were trying to play the Owens and Haggard stuff and needing those "bending" sounds. In the early days, before light gauge strings were commonly available, we'd move all the strings over one notch and put a banjo string on in place of the little E. That made it a whole lot easier to get those bends. And then, a piece of 1/8" brazing rod bent 90 degrees through half of a small hinge on the back of the neck almost behind the nut allowed the rod to lay lengthwise along the the back of the neck. We shaped the other end of the rod to come under the neck and up and over and down to the B string, which was threaded through a tiny hole in the end of the rod. The lever arm along the back of the neck allowed you to use your thumb and bend that string, thus raising the note. No stops or adjustments, just your ears and musical sensitivity. Worked pretty good but did get in the way somewhat. Thanks for the memories!

I have a friend who loves trains. I care nothing about trains, but I could listen to him talk about them for hours because I love that he loves them. It's the same with you and B-benders. I don't care for them, but I like listening to you talk about them.

Marty Stewart has Clarence White’s B-Bender tele. He’s a beast with it.

I remember being at a NAMM show years ago. It was when Ricky and Ray Flack were all the rage. I had heard about benders because of Clarence White and Bernie Leadon but I was living in a house with a steel player. They were not big on guitar players playing steel licks. I was with a great luthier named Chris Camp who works out of San Diego now. Chris was an old Nashville repair guy back in the day and I think he and Joe had worked together at a place called the old Nashville Picken Parlor years before. We bump into Joe downstairs and he and Chris were like long lost Brothers. He introduces me to Joe, and I go speechless. He is such a treasure, and to meet him was something I will never forget. What a sweet guy.Great Namm memory. Have not had many since. Its like a high School reunion for my friends these last few years but we always have fun. On Thursdays only.

I’ve been playing/practicing with great frequency for 3 years (rarely for the previous 10 years). I first learned about the bender concept when paying attention to Jimmy Olander’s playing. Then I learned Fender had made some and was sad they no longer did. Watched them come up on Reverb occasionally. I finally found one at a good price, made an offer and it was accepted. It was a well cared for player from Texas with Danny Gatton pickups. Originals included too. I love the guitar. It sounds beautiful and I’m trying to learn to play it competently....I’ll get there eventually. I bought it at the right time - crazily, asking prices have doubled on those benders in 2 years!

Hey Zac, I've been a fan of your Truetone interviews for a while and recently discovered Ask Zac. All the binging of guitar related content has sort of lit the fire to pick my guitars back up after a 20+ year stretch of rarely playing. You are a part of that inspiration.

When I was first getting into guitar (early 90's) I saw a homemade tele in a music store. It had a B-bender that was very much Parsons/White inspired, but then it had a leather cushion armrest in the body that pushed in for the G-bender. I was turned off because it had too many humbuckers and mini toogle switches. Also the Leather pad had the makers initials carved in it. R was the first initial. I forget the last one. Always regretted not buying that $600 guitar.

I remember that Albert video. I was working in a guitar store at the time and I drove my work mates crazy because I had it on constantly whereas they all wanted to watch Brian May or Tony Iommi! :-)

And Clarence gets run over in a parking lot carrying his gear. Marty does a great job using his guitar on Mr. Spaceman. My favorite is still... You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.

From one Bender fanatic to another...great video! Lots of history I was not aware of so thanks for that. Clarence was the first B-bender player I was aware of but Marty Stuart was my "gateway drug" to actually buying one. Thanks again for all the great info and stop by my YT channel sometime if you want to hear more bender. Keep the videos coming and Keep it Bent!

I had a Tele with a Parsons/White double bender set up, but I'm a rock player, and I truly didn't know what I was doing, so it came and went in less than a year. I probably could only only handle a B bender at most anyway, so it was overkill, with straplocks and lanyards attached to belt loops!! LOL I jumped in too deep too quick. I would love to get a plain old B bender guitar now though! Excellent history lesson here! I guess I thought Clarence and Gene started it, like a lot of people, but you schooled me! Haha! The Glaser system you've got looks awesome! Thanks for a great video.

Another brilliant show Zac! Informative, laid-back and full of wonderful stories. All the best, K

A guitarists that used to play in my local designed the mckenzie string puller. I remember hearing him play all the steel bends. He did start up his own company but never knew what happened to it.

I'm really enjoying all your content Zac! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Love Benders. I used to listen to Clarence (still do) but never knew he used a bender but it made me practice bends relentlessly. So that was great for me in the end but when I realized that it was a mechanism I had to have one .I went with Hipshot very easy to install no router. Love it.The binding on your Black Tele looks sharp!(.I had the Albert Lee VHS but I just watched it overandover because it was too advanced for me at the time(now too!lol)

Awesome, always wondered how they worked. I love the humble understated style of your channel, it’s refreshing.

This is 19:04 of the most crucial content on RU-vid. Zac, you blew my mind. I always thought the B-Bender thing was limited to Parsons-White and Hipshot. Then, because of RU-vid, I heard about the Glaser benders: G and B. But to hear that this has been a thing for so many decades is awesome. It makes sense though. The same way musicians have been tweaking amplifiers, clothing, probably food. Creative people must create.

I've always thought the Parsons approach was overly engineered. As a banjo player, little cams or even Scruggs tuners accomplish this task so much more efficiently, but, of course, you have to take your left hand off the neck. I'm experimenting with using the truss rod pocket to run a rod through to the peghead to bend the strings there, and the actuating lever would be much like your guitar here. Parsons had to essentially glue another telecaster to the back to house all this stuff that today looks kind of steam punkish. That guitar must way a ton, but Marty Stuart doesn't seem to mind. (He paid Clarence's widow just over 1k for it. It will be in the CM hall of fame someday.)

Nice and thorough explanation of the B-bender history. Your depth of knowledge is astonishing! I think that many guitar players harbor a wish to have the harmonic richness of a pedal steel. Years ago, I bought a Hipshot bender (with a missing part) for $12 from a shop that didn't know what it was. I got the missing part from Hipshot and installed the mechanism on a cheap Tele. It worked fine, but I found that trying to keep track of my right and left hands was enough for me. ;) I sold the Tele for a reasonable price along with the bender to a guy who knew how to use it. We were both pleased. Since I play mostly rhythm guitar anyway while I sing, it was the best decision all around. Kindly keep the videos coming.

Olander always comes to mind first with me. Never could figure out how he made the sounds like he did. First time I saw him live I said okay got it. I would like to make one myself. Really enjoy your channel!

Several years ago I bought a brand new Fender B bender. Black and it is still perfect.

Jimmy Page was likely inspired by country pedal steel players to have one installed in a refinished '58 Telecaster body in 1976 to use on probably the last two Led Zeppelin albums and throughout the 80s w/The Firm as well as The Honeydrippers 'Sea Of Love' remake...great video!

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you Zac

Great stories! I'm an old Clarence fan, and didn't know about these other bender players.

Love your channel I always learn something new

thanks Zac! Always enjoyable

Im late to this video, but thanks to you and the video you did of the pink paisley guitar and showing the glaser b bender installation process, I'll be taking my telecaster to him to be installed while I'm on vacation in Nashville in a few weeks.....I've never played one, but i have a feeling it's going to be a lot of fun to play!

Just today -- I watched a Marty video before this -- i learned about B-Benders. How did I not know before?

Very insightful!

Another great video on another great subject that often is a bit elusive. I really enjoyed this topic & your tact for delivering it. Having worked to hone my B & G bending skills manually. Meaning without a mechanical bender device, I have found it a challenge to shift to a B bender equipped guitar. Reason being is that I have gotten used to doing it one way & now need to remember that I have this neat tool at my fingertips. Would you ever install a bender in a vintage Tele or would that be sacrilegious?

Thank you for filling me in on bender history I thought I knew. I was misinformed. I personally think the Parsons-White bender takes out too much wood from the body. I saw Clarence with The Byrds at American University in D.C in 1972 at the gymnasium. I stood directly in front of him, and could not figure out how he did those bends. Many years later I constructed a lightweight Tele style guitar with the Hipshot B-G-DropD bender, which is OK except that ya' gotta stand up if you want to bend the B string. I was glad to hear you mention the Glaser double bender which suggests a B-G bender. I am going to contact Glaser to see if those are available. Thank you again for all the info. that I feel is invaluable. I have subscribed. KC

Great history of the bender Zac..thanks so much

I knew that B benders existed but I've never owned, played or even seen one. Down here in Australia if you can actually find something slightly obscure it'll be taxed to the hilt and almost cost prohibitive. I'd really like to actually find one and play it and see if it's worth the extra $$ I know it'll cost. Great video Zac; it really made me want to find one of these and make some pedal steel type sounds which is what they were mad for I guess. All the best !!

My B-bender was a bent key to a corned beef can behind the bridge saddle, between the screw and string. You bend with the palm of your hand. I didn't know there were so many different benders out there, but now I know. Thanks Zac!

I think Jimmy Olander is my favorite bender player. I think he had a G and B bender. His licks are basically impossible without them.

Pal had B bender Tele. & a Les Paul goldtop with G bender.

I asked and Zac answered (with 19 mn long video) ! Isn't life good ?

I went to church with Dean Porter and his wife Christine. My wife's mammaw was best friends with Christine since childhood. In my first year of college i took a series of appalachian music/history of country courses. I barely knew of what Dean had accomplished at the time. I was a bit of a rocker back then. And this is pre-internet days. Only since Dean has passed did i truly come to realize all he did. We took him and his wife, along with my future wife's granparents out to eat one afternoon and I had the App. music class shortly thereafter. So, i asked him if he wanted to go with me and he agreed and we all went. As soon as we walked in the instructor noticed Dean and asked if he would speak to the class and he did. I never got to hear him play due to, i believe, rhumatoid arthritis. I never did hear him ever mention the benders he worked. I can't believe how much i didn't know. Dean was a good man and I didn't know him for more than a few years but I'll never forget the Mayor of Bear Creek! Thanks Zac, it's been a pleasure to think back on those times today.

Hi Zac , Great studie of the b bender l learned a lot of things a big thank you for that. Bob Warford played a gig with Linda Ronstadt it's on RU-vid "silver treads and golden needles". He also did sessions for Micheal Nesmith .Phil Bough ,sure you know, had set of pedals that bent the strings on his music man .amazing stuff. A big thank you from an old picker from England. So much misinformation out there, great to get the cold hard facts.

Great bender video Zac! I have a g & l will Ray guitar and bender is cool to me ..have yet to get a fender b bender guitar..thanks for the bending tips!

Great episode. When I suggested an episode on B benders I was wholly under the impression that Clarence White was the progenitor. Now I've got a few more guys to dig into and I am thinking about having one put in one of my Teles. I love the tonality it lends to those 9th chords.Thanks Zac. Always a good hang. Stay safe up there in Music City. We're all in this together.

Man, your videos are so informative and just feels like sitting in your upstairs room hanging out. Thanks for what you do. I love the sound of a G-bender a bit more than the B-bender. Which do you prefer?

Cool stuff and a great looking Tele. Also intrigued by that Skaggs album for years. The mandocaster he used some even had a bender and the great Ray Flacke stuff was awesome too. I'll end up with a bender sooner or later. I bend the B all the time with my finger while holding other stuff. Can only go so far w/o the unit though.

Joe South and Freddy Weller also had some of the early Dave Evans guitars

Awesome history/ I actually knew nothing of anything pre-Parson & White. Country musicians were always very innovative, from the Bender to the fuzz tone and wah wah

In addition to the Hipshot, I thought you might mention the Bigsby string Enders as well. I bought a G and B bender and installed it on my Squier Classic Vibe. Love the sound, but I was spending too much time playing around with it on gigs instead of playing the songs, so I removed it. Also, it has fixed palm pedals so it blocked me from palm muting, a technique I use a lot more than the benders.

Thanks for the informative video. I think I’d prefer the one on your beautiful black tele.

Great job Zack! Loved reliving the history of the Bender. At some point I should share a story with you about Joe and I crashing the Everly's rehearsal at SIR when Albert was playing with them to show him a new DBL Bender Strat Joe made for me. Cheers!

I live near Pittsburgh, Pa. That "McVay" guy has his little shop right in town. I went in to get guitar strings, and he showed me several of Brad Paisley's guitars he had yet to work on.

Zac - you should talk about Phil Baugh sometime...kinda related to this topic. Great episode!

I love benders, gonna install one in an old guitar

Thoroughly enjoying your channel/series, in particular this episode. Did Fender ever offer a bender as an option? Also, your example with the A raising the C# to D# reminded me of the Zep tune Dancing Days.

Zac. How bout doing one on your gear ? I for one would Love to see your collection and hear why and where and all that.

Clarence's guitar is amazing. I got to spend about 5 minutes with it. (it's in my profile picture.). It's a long and pretty heavy throw. I enjoy my Hipshot on my #1 Tele that I didn't want to hack up. A Forrest Lee is in my future.

Thanks for the history lesson, Zac! I love that stuff. Back in the mid 90’s when I started coming to Nashville to run the guitar stores and guitar shows, I ran a cross a Tele at Corner Music that had an unusual bender system on it. From what I remember, it had 2-3 cables that ran from the bridge to a box on the floor with pedal steel pedals on it. Evidently, they didn’t have it set up right because, it didn’t work. I’m not sure if it was something some company that did it, or if it was just somebody’s home brew. Have you ever heard of anything like that?

I got a Hipshot in the late eightees…NO ONE had one …now everyone does ! Always combined with a volume pedal ala Jerry Donahue…

This was a fantastic video. Thank you. I almost bought one recently. Btw, that’s a pretty Tele you got there. Is it a Fender?

Ive beem tossing around having one installed on my American Deluxe Guess Ya kinda made my mimd up for me Gotta Have it

Lucky straps, New Zealand. Good stuff.

Hi Zac. What about the relationship of the bender to the D-Tuner invented and used by Earl Scruggs, then Bill Keith and others. According to Keith the first pedal added to steel guitars influenced Earl to get that sound. (Webb Pierce's "Slowly"?) Smitty Irvin used beer can openers for his cams!

Interesting...I thought Hipshot could be mentioned since it is the most affordable and flexible system around ?

That wuz really cool... and some nifty licks. Thanx Zac, thanks so much. Hello from Koreatown, Los Angeles... Are you in Nashville or there abouts? (just wild guessing) Cheers mang

Marty Stuart owns Clarence's tele now it's an interesting watch if you look up how he came to own it

I love this page! Question for you Zac. What would be the determining factor on why someone would want a B-Bender rather than a G-Bender. I have been wanting to put a Glaser bender system in my tele, but didn't know if I wanted it set up with the G or the B string. Thoughts?

I know it's always been more chic to trash him because he had the herculean task of replacing Mick Taylor, but Ronnie Wood is a terrific player and his use of a bender was what made me want one. He definitely uses a bender more with the stones, but his stuff with the faces, on the first 4 or 5 Rod Stewart solo albums, and on his own solo albums is really overlooked in my opinion. His playing with the faces and Rod is actually what made me buy my first slide when I was 12 or 13 too. And it's his first two solo albums are my favorites of the whole bunch. His first two solo albums especially. Those really impressed me because they have that sorta steely dan/la-session-player sheen but because it's ronnie wood they're a lot more jam oriented and genre wise a lot more soul, rnb, and rock and roll influenced than the jazz and traditional pop influenced music of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Anyways, I don't know how this got from how I stumbled onto the b-bender to raving about Ronnie Wood but I do know I am seriously impressed with his ability to groove in any genre from country and blues to funk and disco.

Hey mate extremely informative and lots of names for me to lookup.I'm a kiwi living in the Southern Hemisphere of Auckland New Zealand so where would I get a B bender like the one your using

Great video, Zac! The guitar in this video....what is it? Thanks again!

Thanks, I have done a fair amount of research on the various benders but never looked into the history of it past the default Parsons/White story. When I heard the story of Clarence being killed outside a bar/gig in Lancaster Ca., I felt a slight twinge - I don't live too far from where that historical tragedy took place. Have you had any experience with the lever style benders that attach to the bridge? What do you think of them? I'm really concerned about being dangerously close to buying one of the new Fender Brent Mason Glazer Bender reproduction models. At first glance, it could be considered a little expensive but after having researched benders for some time now I think the price might be in line with all that is built into that guitar. Thanks again for this video, great stuff. EDIT: I forgot to ask if you have seen the bender that had cables attached to it from foot pedals like a PSG?

How much weight does the Glaser bender add to the guitar? Thanks!

Well nuts...now I have to figure out how to get my hands on one of these.

Looking for a main telecaster, does the b bender have any negatives? Why have a separate bbender guitar when you can just use the other strap button if you dont want it

when you remove wood, it may make it sound "resonate" better, just depends. ive seen it both ways :-)

Do you know which bender Page used? What do you think of his use of the b-bender?

The video I watched with Gene Parsons talking about his B Bender sounded like he invented it. Were they not aware of the previous b benders?

Hey zac awesome video!! I just saw a video that came out a few weeks ago of rob Scallon getting a b bender made by Chapman guitars!! I would love for you to see it and give your honest opinion on the video

Ace Show Zac, Have Fender ever produced one as stock or custom shop ?

So there is a video of chet playing with Jerry Reed on RU-vid. They are both playing teles and chet is playing a black maple board tele with a early b bender Any idea about that guitar???

You missed the Gibson Music CitynJr. By Glaser B Bender. I have one, they are great...

The wood removed for an Evans Pullstring does NOT diminish the guitar! See this about my designing and building a unique Evans Pullstring: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pMD7tKtoSpk.html

It sounds like a B-Bender lick on the lead break on Shania Twain's song "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" Was that played by Brent Mason?

Oh and don't forget the great Frank Recard. what a great player. Is Bob Warford still around?

I want to put a bender in my Brad Paisley guitar. any suggestions? I have built my own guitars...

You can go on and on about such and such a player had a b bender device prior to the parsons/white bender. However just like the invention and origins of the electric pick up there will always be people who dabble with such things and sometimes quite successfully . However the hard facts are very simple , Gene Parsons took Clarences musings on a device which would to a degree produce a pedal steel type effect and made it into a viable unit. This unit could be factory produced and Gene duly obtained a patent for the invention , nobody has ever challenged that and as such defeats all other arguments . Anything else is just conjecture , bit like who first played country rock.

This concept hits me right between the dyslexia! can't work out what's going on... which is a bit frustrating ! Stoopid question for you Zac...it called ask Zac after all... so...there's a sort of lever...you push ? or you pull? or both? with your...RIGHT hand ? you just touch it and. off it goes? does this bend for you ..then it returns to some start position? ready to go again....immediately? shortly ...?is it mechanical,? ...digital? can you keep wiggling it constantly? Linda Rondstantly...? is it self explanatory once you have one in your possession... If I buy that sexy black paisley print Harley Benton Tele...about £150 roughly how much more than the price of the guitar would fitting a B BENDER cost...? Who would be able and willing to fit one in the U.K.? Do you know the beautiful looking guitar of which I speak? I think I could learn a lot of the inner workings of the electric guitar in general and specifically Teles... I could master soldering, wiring pick ups, the different types . but also graphtec...tusq nuts...upgrading tuners... I've yet to even intonate a guitar...never dressed up a fret to go out ! Is it a daft concept to add a B Bender...when I don't know what they do? That's 2 years of my asking Zac in one fell swoop..! Zac returns to his lamp/ bottle...the one with oriental cushions and carpets and n bongs ...like some Jean genie love shack

I thought I knew the story of the B. But I was the B. 😊

I had that Albert Lee Guitar lesson videos on vhs

Love your Dano. in the market for a black double bound if interested in ever selling

The problem with most benders is you have five strings that are string thru and a B or G string that is not.

Zac, have you ever seen or heard of a Shaw bender?

Hi Zac - you probably left this one out because it is so far out there - guitarz.blogspot.com/2014/02/1971-gibson-les-paul-custom-with-msa.html I came across it while I was down the rabbit hole looking at such things. Thought someone might get a kick out of it.

Great video, Zac! You have such an encyclopedic knowledge of country music and guitar, thanks for sharing. As a tinkerer myself, these different mechanisms are fascinating. Especially liked hearing the sample of licks. Hey, I finished the video on building the ‘68 deluxe reverb cabinet. Following your and JD Simo’s example I put an old Vintage 30 into it for the playing you hear. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P3AqKJRJXfw.html

I made my B-bender. You had to wait to raise money to buy one? You're not hungry enough.

Clarence White’s B-Bender tele is two Tele body's, the back body is shelled out to make room for the the hardware. There is a Marty Stuart vidio out there where Marty Stuart talks about the Parson's bender. Great video Zac.

I really like your Vids. Great history and techniques BUT after 5 minutes in I still do not know what a B-bender sounds like. Must be a subtle sound as I cannot remember hearing any song that sounded like it had something like what I IMAGINE a B-bender would sound like. Sorry.

glaser now charges $5000+ for a standard B Bender

Why does everyone spend ages yapping about nothing before they even start. Can’t be bothered.

You look like the real life version of Fred Flintstone.