One day, I'm going to go into a guitar shop and they'll actually have one of those Fender Nashville teles that ship with these stock so I can try it out. Until then, all I have is hope and YouTube. :(
@barkatthemoon81 the nashville Parsons/ Green string bender teles are not as good as the real parsons/white string benders. G and L make better guitars than Fender do so get a G and L and then get Gene to install one for you .
@4JayeP nope. a whammy bar LOWERS the pitch of ALL strings with one move as far as the player wants to depress the arm. this device RAISES the pitch of ONE string the distance of one whole tone...completely different device. if you can play those licks he demonstrates with a whammy bar, i'll give you a million bucks.
great to get a handle on the history. Thanks. Do massive moustaches help when playing Heavens music or is it just you and Jeff? Play some stuff now and again. My ears are hungry.
I have a Gregory White string B bender. There is no visable route and the bender comes out behind the neck plate.Gene was the original genius behind this awesome tech advancement.He has to get all the credit.
A brilliant invention, copied by many others. Being a monster BYRDS fan, I am still mourning the loss of Clarence White....the sound of his and Roger's guitars working against each other live was spiritual!!!!!
not impossible with a tremolo bar, but most tremolos effect all the strings. If you have a "b" tremolo bar, it'd probably sound the same. Then again the b-bender is calibrated for 1 full step, no more no less. Also, the spring action holds the guitar up, you gotta pull it to bend the note.
Anyone here happen to know about these Fender B-Bender guitars, can you easily put the B string back inside the original hole og is it ruined after implementing the B-Bender.
I've seen that the B string goes through a new hole now(the Bender hole of course) and then up through the original harness for the B string, what I am wondering is: If i decided to remove the B string from the bender and just run it in the original B string harness is that possible?
@TheHansFredriksen I have a parsons /white Bender: yes you can just string up a string Bender fitted tele as per usual or use the pull hub behind the bridge. The thing is if your string bender is installed by Mr gene Parsons it won't activate unless you want it to. That spring is just the right tension.
@bareknuckles2u yep!!! it has cost me over USD$ 3,500 to get the whole thing done my Mr Parsons. I bought a G and L ASAT classic just for this purpose and sent it to California from Australia where I live !!!. Now am I crazy or what ?
I saw Marty Stuart a little over a month ago, and he has the original B-Bender (which Clarence owned), and the stuff that he was playing on it blew me away, cause he was really working that fretboard, and the sound quality was amazing... and it's 40-odd years old (which amazes me most)
oh yes, my next guitar is a g & l tele classic which I will post to this man. His web site is great, and you can get the inventor to install his invention. If that isn't too cool for school then nothing is.
id love to own one of these someday. anybody know what chords hes playing between 4:25 and 4:30? i cannot figure it out since the resolution is so lowbit. even without the bending those are pretty chords; it sounds vaguely familiar, very late byrds-ish, gof figure...
i just passed on a 2001 b-bender nashville tele for 500 bucks.... fuck. i didn't really know what 'b-bender' meant, so i just said, "i already own 3 teles...no thanks." in all honesty, i don't know what i'd do with it, but still, ya know?
Not quite the whole story, If you check out pics of Clarence Whites tele your will see it is nearly twice as thick as a normal tele, this was because it basically had another (thinner) tele body glued/attached to the back of it with the B bender mech in it.
Guys - I gotta tell ya, this is an awesome video. Many years ago, I also got one installed on my Tele. However, I"M A LEFTIE. And Gene was able to install a B- as well as a G-bender!! Gene, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!! You did a WONDERFUL JOB!!
@MrDunkJunk I did customize the Bigsby tremolo you know (but I didn't cost more than a 120$)... normally you can't pull it up but I made a 2 point system that basicly works like a Floyd Rose and I can imagine that sending out your tele to a masterguitarbuilder or repairman to carve out the body and fit a B-bender would cost you a lot more than that.
@MrDunkJunk Why not carve out a whole body? There's other ways to achieve that basic sound, but by creating the Bender, Clarence and Gene created a universe. Every Bender player since pays a direct homage to Parsons, White, and a bolt of inspiration. Clarence lives. I think that's a sentiment Paul Bigsby would certainly appreciate.
@adioslounge The P/W bender allows counterpoint where we can lower one string while raising another (nearly impossible to do with just finger bending). Additionally when you have both a B-Bender and a G-Bender you can do counter point on the B & G strings with just the Benders. Lastly these Benders are can be preset to a specific interval. But the simple answer is that the Parsons/White Benders allow a player to play things which simply cannot be played with finger-bending alone.
@MrDunkJunkThere are several reason why some much prefer the Parsons/White String-bender. The P/W bender uses the strap which keeps your left hand and wrist free to play in the manner which all of us learn to do. I have used wrist pressure to operate various tremolos and the Fender and Bigsby tremolos tend to de-tune multiple strings at un even rates and they cannot (easily) be set up to re-tune only one string.
@MrDunkJunk Many players don't like the look of the Bigsby on a Tele though. ON a bigger guitar like the Les, it looks great, but personally I don't think it looks good on a Tele. You do and that's great, but that's the reason for a B Bender. Everyone has different tastes.
@MrDunkJunk if you think a tremolo bridge and a bender do the same thing, I don't know what to say... the bender pulls ONE string while the others stay the same. And it pulls it to a certain precise pitch. I'm at a loss here...
@bigsamable1 That actually brings up a good point. Clarence was doing bends with just his fingers ... check out a lot of his pre-bender studio work between 1966-68 ... but he wanted a device that played a specific sound during certain chord positions. Hence, the bender. Donahue's playing is akin to what Clarence was doing in this pre-bender period, which was a continuation of what hotshots like James Burton had already discovered. A truly awesome sound.
yes, this is true. the solo on "Time Between" (Byrds, "Younger Than Yesterday") is pre-bender work, i think... certainly, it's playable without a B-bender (i can kinda do it, but not without some swearing and pain in the finger tips!) ...
i can definitely see why White wanted the bender making!
That's a beautiful piece of history. Almost as beautiful as that 'tache. Thanks for that....always been an admirer of the Tele. The love just got a little deeper
Gene is the greatest guy and a consummate gearheadand mechanical wizard...used to drop by my Italian motorbike shop in Portland Or with pictures of his custom Norton...
Gene is a great guy...got to know hime years ago and he put benders in several guitars for me...he's a master machinist...his shop has some incredibe machines,from his Dad,i believe....his Dad is the guy on the cover of Easy Rider....
Thank you so very much for showing how the B Bender works. I have seen many videos that showed the B-Bender in use but your video was the best. You are a true genius.
I had drove up to Casper to have Gene throw one in my Tele... got it back... and it was perfect craftsmanship.. this guy is the nicest! They should have his picture in those guitar handbook... an innovator!
i idolized this guys drumming,,in the byrds,,as well as clarence whites great guitar playing,,try as i may,,could never get my right hand to go as fast as his on the cymbol ride works..amazing!
Okay. But did Fender produce any tele models based on Clarence's (Parsons) invention? Or is the only guitar around the one Marty still uses. Which other notable players used this model.
Can you "lock" this device when you just want to use the guitar "straight"... does it have a parking position? - I have wanted one of these since about '73 and could just about afford one now.
Meh. While this is cool and useful, it's hardly awesome. No, awesome is watching Adrian Legg twist the Keith tuner pegs on all 6 strings as he's playing. If you think this is "awesome", seeing Adrian Legg will make you wet your pants.
The "nut" is the grooved piece that guides the strings from the string winders to the fret board. Pulling the string over the nut refers to pulling the string out of the groove in the nut.
Thanks! That's it. I'm so used to playing a Les Paul I didn't know that there was quite a bit of room to do bends behind the nut on Fender-style headstocks.
Like I said in my first post his exact words are "he would pull the string over the nut and chime" which contributed to the confusion.
hit the b harmonic at the 12th fret on the 2nd string. now push the string , the b string , behind the nut , down ,towards the truss rod cover, that is a trick Jeff beck does on his teles.
It's sad how radio stations never played or gave much if any credit to the later Byrds' material or ingenuity. Until now I'd never heard about the string bender that Clarence White used. After the "Younger Than Yesterday" album, the dimwit programmers don't seem to want to admit anything else existed. No wonder the net and downloading became so popular. You can bi-pass idiot radio programmers and actual educate and entertain yourself.
Something really special and once in a lifetime was happening in California in the late 60s that brought true geniuses of bluegrass, country and rock together, spawning some of the best bands and music of the last 40 years -perhaps ever - in American music, and Gene was right in the middle of it. Thanks so much for posting this. There is no greater musical loss to my generation than Clarence White, and we are just beginning to understand the full impact he had in the short time he was here.
Good call, Banjo. I totally agree about SoCal in the late '60s. I think it was the full (and final) flowering of the postwar population boom. Thousands of great pickers and players came to (and thru) SoCal from the south and southwest during and after WWII. It wouldn't happen today, but that culture evolved for a good 25 years largely out of mainstream view, developing organically without much in the way of mainstream concession. One of the great locales of the 20th century, for sure.
What amazes, 'Bama, is that you can draw a straight line from The Dillards to the Burrito Bros, The Country Boys to the Byrds, and From Bernie Leadon to any of about 15 different folk, country, bluegrass, rock albums. I once read that Dean Webb of the Dillards did the harmony arrangement for the Byrds cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man". No place but California could these things have happened, I think. Thanks for your post.
Oops, didn't realize I was signed in as Bama. I think you can draw that line backwards as well, from the Dillards and Country Boys to Rick Nelson, James Burton, Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, The Collins Kids, and Town Hall Party. Keep going back and you start hitting the first generation of transplants: Bob Wills & the TX Playboys, Spade Cooley, Tex Ritter, and the Hollywood Barn Dance. And then parallel to all this was Buck Owens, Don Rich, and the rise of the Bakersfield Sound. Awesomeness.
@adioslounge Don't forget the Gosdin Brothers either! Vern and his brother were playing bluegrass in California in the 60's. Chris Hillman would join them when he wasn't playing with the Byrds.
they say guitarists woud come from far and wide and line up just scratch their heads while glimpsing old clarence playing with the b bender... nobody could tell what the hell he was doing... what a fluid guitar genius he was... very innovative garage creation for the guitar... thanks for the post
Wisegeorge, thanks for posting the Caspar video. He's awesome. I saw him a few times playing with Toni Price, where it was him, Champ Hood (RIP), and Scrappy Jud Newcomb all on acoustic. Talk about a badass guitar summit.
Great story, So that's how the magic trick is done.
An inspiring story on many levels, Musical innovation, mechanical innovation, team work , helping a brother out, perserverance, this is one great video. "Oh my God, we are past the point of no return." "Yes you are."
Clarence played a B Bender on "Pinto Pony" by Paul Siebel on Jack Knife Gypsy.
1046rzac 3 days ago
I am getting mine back from gene this month , Jan. '12.
:-)
taariqtaariq 3 weeks ago
One day, I'm going to go into a guitar shop and they'll actually have one of those Fender Nashville teles that ship with these stock so I can try it out. Until then, all I have is hope and YouTube. :(
barkatthemoon81 4 weeks ago
@barkatthemoon81 the nashville Parsons/ Green string bender teles are not as good as the real parsons/white string benders. G and L make better guitars than Fender do so get a G and L and then get Gene to install one for you .
taariqtaariq 2 days ago
What knuckle-head would dislike this!?
GuitarosaurusRex 1 month ago
I seriously can not wait to get one of these guitars.
TempestaRiggs 2 months ago
@TempestaRiggs I got one this week. It is effing brilliant!
taariqtaariq 2 days ago
Just get a whammy bar.
4JayeP 2 months ago
@4JayeP You might be missing the point.
ChienJaune01 1 month ago
@4JayeP nope. a whammy bar LOWERS the pitch of ALL strings with one move as far as the player wants to depress the arm. this device RAISES the pitch of ONE string the distance of one whole tone...completely different device. if you can play those licks he demonstrates with a whammy bar, i'll give you a million bucks.
Putaspellonyou 1 month ago
I never understood the b-bender but after watching this video, I really don't understand it....
TheBubbles9 2 months ago
ehi Mr Parson you are a legend of telecaster...from sardinia-good luck.For me this guitar e country music is a dream
massimo52185 4 months ago
What a cool guy.
GeorgieWise 5 months ago
I 'm getting one from Gene soon!
taariqtaariq 5 months ago
I want .... an E-bender ... and a D-bender ...
DoubleDz2k11 5 months ago
great to get a handle on the history. Thanks. Do massive moustaches help when playing Heavens music or is it just you and Jeff? Play some stuff now and again. My ears are hungry.
Rikk303 6 months ago
I have a Gregory White string B bender. There is no visable route and the bender comes out behind the neck plate.Gene was the original genius behind this awesome tech advancement.He has to get all the credit.
GregDrayGregDray 6 months ago
A brilliant invention, copied by many others. Being a monster BYRDS fan, I am still mourning the loss of Clarence White....the sound of his and Roger's guitars working against each other live was spiritual!!!!!
F100ScottyG 6 months ago
this guy is brilliant, what a drummer man
mikeydeansmith 6 months ago
not impossible with a tremolo bar, but most tremolos effect all the strings. If you have a "b" tremolo bar, it'd probably sound the same. Then again the b-bender is calibrated for 1 full step, no more no less. Also, the spring action holds the guitar up, you gotta pull it to bend the note.
fugitiveinkblot 8 months ago
Anyone here happen to know about these Fender B-Bender guitars, can you easily put the B string back inside the original hole og is it ruined after implementing the B-Bender.
I've seen that the B string goes through a new hole now(the Bender hole of course) and then up through the original harness for the B string, what I am wondering is: If i decided to remove the B string from the bender and just run it in the original B string harness is that possible?
TheHansFredriksen 10 months ago
@TheHansFredriksen I have a parsons /white Bender: yes you can just string up a string Bender fitted tele as per usual or use the pull hub behind the bridge. The thing is if your string bender is installed by Mr gene Parsons it won't activate unless you want it to. That spring is just the right tension.
taariqtaariq 2 days ago
Cool, but they are soooooo expensive!
bareknuckles2u 10 months ago
@bareknuckles2u yep!!! it has cost me over USD$ 3,500 to get the whole thing done my Mr Parsons. I bought a G and L ASAT classic just for this purpose and sent it to California from Australia where I live !!!. Now am I crazy or what ?
taariqtaariq 3 weeks ago
Doesn't the weight of the guitar hanging from a strap when your standing up pull the b-bender though?
Nekroguitar 10 months ago
@Nekroguitar The spring is strong enough, it holds it firmly in the "unbent" position.
ruffestneckaround 9 months ago
@Nekroguitar thats what I wanna know as well !!
slash129 8 months ago
@Nekroguitar NO, that is what is good about it.The man is a brilliant inventor and craftsman.
taariqtaariq 2 days ago
I saw Marty Stuart a little over a month ago, and he has the original B-Bender (which Clarence owned), and the stuff that he was playing on it blew me away, cause he was really working that fretboard, and the sound quality was amazing... and it's 40-odd years old (which amazes me most)
martyfan11 10 months ago
Very informative, it's always good to know this kind of stuff even if you don't own such a device.
radiohm3 11 months ago
now THATS a moustache
nicudeemus15 11 months ago 2
Awesome!!!
whocares1694 11 months ago
i admire you wise man :) THX
alaeleo 11 months ago
Bitchin stache bro.
surgeyX 1 year ago
what song is he playing @ 4:22? its awesome----
transmissionjimmy69 1 year ago
My biggest regret about watching this video is the fact that I want a Tele with a B-bender now.
VanHalenLedZeppelin7 1 year ago
@VanHalenLedZeppelin7
oh yes, my next guitar is a g & l tele classic which I will post to this man. His web site is great, and you can get the inventor to install his invention. If that isn't too cool for school then nothing is.
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
floyd rose telecaster,
oh yeah
DennChooch 1 year ago
WOW I love the outro lick when the video ends - very classy
SonicAge2003 1 year ago
This just might be the best video in YouTube, because mustache......
jodex96 1 year ago
id love to own one of these someday. anybody know what chords hes playing between 4:25 and 4:30? i cannot figure it out since the resolution is so lowbit. even without the bending those are pretty chords; it sounds vaguely familiar, very late byrds-ish, gof figure...
Putaspellonyou 1 year ago
@Putaspellonyou "jamaica say you will", Byrdamaniax
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
@taariqtaariq or ' willin' ' from Gene's first solo LP.
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
@Putaspellonyou: jamaica say you will/ Byrdamaniax?
taariqtaariq 5 months ago
i just passed on a 2001 b-bender nashville tele for 500 bucks.... fuck. i didn't really know what 'b-bender' meant, so i just said, "i already own 3 teles...no thanks." in all honesty, i don't know what i'd do with it, but still, ya know?
somebodyjones2 1 year ago
@somebodyjones2 :DUDE, you are making me weep!
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
@taariqtaariq i know. i'm kicking myself. lol
somebodyjones2 1 year ago
i honestly didn't hear a word he said, i was too busy watching his mustache 0_0
Rikkerry25 1 year ago
Not quite the whole story, If you check out pics of Clarence Whites tele your will see it is nearly twice as thick as a normal tele, this was because it basically had another (thinner) tele body glued/attached to the back of it with the B bender mech in it.
ferraridinoman 1 year ago
you carry your lunch in that thing?? hell of a snot catcher.
diversityC 1 year ago
Sooooooo Cool
TheReighnart 1 year ago
how hard is the lever? say i was jumping up and down while playing, that would accidently pull down the lever? just curious. i might purchase one
t0psecretshit 1 year ago
that's sweet, he lets his cat nap on his face...
whitemtntn 1 year ago
Guys - I gotta tell ya, this is an awesome video. Many years ago, I also got one installed on my Tele. However, I"M A LEFTIE. And Gene was able to install a B- as well as a G-bender!! Gene, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!! You did a WONDERFUL JOB!!
MrSyCoe 1 year ago 2
awesome my friend
9910941482 1 year ago
genius
sangramsinghmalik 1 year ago
genius
sangramsinghmalik 1 year ago
thats is not an ol guy with a mustache as much as a mustache with a an ol guy
idrathernotthannever 1 year ago 13
Comment removed
MrDunkJunk 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk I did customize the Bigsby tremolo you know (but I didn't cost more than a 120$)... normally you can't pull it up but I made a 2 point system that basicly works like a Floyd Rose and I can imagine that sending out your tele to a masterguitarbuilder or repairman to carve out the body and fit a B-bender would cost you a lot more than that.
MrDunkJunk 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk
nearly 1600 clams , that is Gene's price.
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk Why not carve out a whole body? There's other ways to achieve that basic sound, but by creating the Bender, Clarence and Gene created a universe. Every Bender player since pays a direct homage to Parsons, White, and a bolt of inspiration. Clarence lives. I think that's a sentiment Paul Bigsby would certainly appreciate.
adioslounge 1 year ago
@adioslounge The P/W bender allows counterpoint where we can lower one string while raising another (nearly impossible to do with just finger bending). Additionally when you have both a B-Bender and a G-Bender you can do counter point on the B & G strings with just the Benders. Lastly these Benders are can be preset to a specific interval. But the simple answer is that the Parsons/White Benders allow a player to play things which simply cannot be played with finger-bending alone.
coleguitars 1 year ago 3
@coleguitars I'm in nerdvana. Thanks!
adioslounge 1 year ago
Comment removed
MrDunkJunk 1 year ago 2
@MrDunkJunk Jimmy Page has a B bender fitted to a Les Paul and It doesnt seem to have affected his tone
hogknackers 1 year ago
@hogknackers Pagey has a Gene Parsons fitted B Bender in his Telecaster too.
taariqtaariq 3 weeks ago
@MrDunkJunkThere are several reason why some much prefer the Parsons/White String-bender. The P/W bender uses the strap which keeps your left hand and wrist free to play in the manner which all of us learn to do. I have used wrist pressure to operate various tremolos and the Fender and Bigsby tremolos tend to de-tune multiple strings at un even rates and they cannot (easily) be set up to re-tune only one string.
coleguitars 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk Many players don't like the look of the Bigsby on a Tele though. ON a bigger guitar like the Les, it looks great, but personally I don't think it looks good on a Tele. You do and that's great, but that's the reason for a B Bender. Everyone has different tastes.
rockinredneck57 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk if you think a tremolo bridge and a bender do the same thing, I don't know what to say... the bender pulls ONE string while the others stay the same. And it pulls it to a certain precise pitch. I'm at a loss here...
pat976 1 year ago
@MrDunkJunk it's impossible to get those notes with a tremolo. impossible.
jdmccallen28 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@MrDunkJunk @MrDunkJunk it's impossible to get those notes with a tremolo. impossible.
jdmccallen28 11 months ago
Agora entendi. No minuto 5 ele explica que é ligado na porra das bolas.
alucinant 1 year ago
sounds like what jerry donahue does with just his fingers.
bigsamable1 1 year ago
@bigsamable1 That actually brings up a good point. Clarence was doing bends with just his fingers ... check out a lot of his pre-bender studio work between 1966-68 ... but he wanted a device that played a specific sound during certain chord positions. Hence, the bender. Donahue's playing is akin to what Clarence was doing in this pre-bender period, which was a continuation of what hotshots like James Burton had already discovered. A truly awesome sound.
adioslounge 1 year ago 6
@adioslounge
yes, this is true. the solo on "Time Between" (Byrds, "Younger Than Yesterday") is pre-bender work, i think... certainly, it's playable without a B-bender (i can kinda do it, but not without some swearing and pain in the finger tips!) ...
i can definitely see why White wanted the bender making!
psychobollox 1 year ago
@bigsamable1 A car
a car
MY KINGDOM FOR A CAR!
jdmfonte 3 months ago
I love this. I'd read about it, of course, but this is way better!
anglicanbeachparty 1 year ago
COOL
moeger 1 year ago
Very Beautiful
MrJTMagnum23 1 year ago
My dreams have come true!
MrJTMagnum23 1 year ago
very informative
MrJTMagnum23 1 year ago
That's a beautiful piece of history. Almost as beautiful as that 'tache. Thanks for that....always been an admirer of the Tele. The love just got a little deeper
Rikk303 1 year ago
Gene is the greatest guy and a consummate gearheadand mechanical wizard...used to drop by my Italian motorbike shop in Portland Or with pictures of his custom Norton...
thufirhiwatt 1 year ago
That's so cool man.
supatavi 1 year ago
That part starting at 4:23 sounds so good.
BulletWithYerName 1 year ago
yeah lol
sheeplikesganja 1 year ago
Gene is a great guy...got to know hime years ago and he put benders in several guitars for me...he's a master machinist...his shop has some incredibe machines,from his Dad,i believe....his Dad is the guy on the cover of Easy Rider....
drsquane 1 year ago 2
Excelent, genious.
guitarristaspyos 1 year ago
It's what he plays the at the end from 6:11 on that really sells it for me...
comatoo 2 years ago 4
His mustache makes black holes with its awesomeness.
broadblik 2 years ago 46
Simply amazing. Ah, the capabilities of human ingenuity.
Eyewash03 2 years ago
Way cool vid. Thanx!
skydogz1 2 years ago 2
Jimmy Page used one for a few tunes....Ten Years gone Live...and Zeps country tune Hot Dog
Also on his Outrider album and Tours with The Firm
Maguirearch 2 years ago
That mustache is insane.
metalcore929 2 years ago 32
i think i might try and make one
lilham10809 2 years ago
thanks for the explanation... the great playing just makes me want one more!
papalasagna 2 years ago 2
Thank you so very much for showing how the B Bender works. I have seen many videos that showed the B-Bender in use but your video was the best. You are a true genius.
photocatcher 2 years ago 3
genius
back2thefutre 2 years ago
I had drove up to Casper to have Gene throw one in my Tele... got it back... and it was perfect craftsmanship.. this guy is the nicest! They should have his picture in those guitar handbook... an innovator!
Sucker4a6String 2 years ago 3
@Sucker4a6String I am getting mine back from Gene next month .
taariqtaariq 3 weeks ago
genius
blaster2012 2 years ago
That's slick as shit.
I want one now.
BulletWithYerName 2 years ago
Simply beautiful.
codip426440 2 years ago
this is jimmy page playing a b bender live
watch?v=v16CxX_2qec
pancakekiller91 2 years ago
i idolized this guys drumming,,in the byrds,,as well as clarence whites great guitar playing,,try as i may,,could never get my right hand to go as fast as his on the cymbol ride works..amazing!
woody409 2 years ago
Was that a riff he just wrote at the end or is it part of a song? It's amazingly perfect.
codip426440 2 years ago
Does it remind you of "Weed, Whites, and Wine?" I think I hear that there
peterpterodactyl 2 years ago
A bit, but not enough to a whole song.
codip426440 2 years ago
is he tuned on open g or just standard?
tudorvaipan 2 years ago
thats really cool.
dontobeay 2 years ago
Does not Marty Stuart own this tele? He has one just like it. Maybe a later model?
Curious
mosrite60 2 years ago
Marty bought Clarence's guitar. Notice the additional thickness of that guitars body.
johnkiene 2 years ago
Okay. But did Fender produce any tele models based on Clarence's (Parsons) invention? Or is the only guitar around the one Marty still uses. Which other notable players used this model.
mosrite60 2 years ago
Jimmy Page has one
JeremyMoar 2 years ago
I was just thinking about that, while watching this video. From what I've
heard, Marty has Clarence's guitar.
CadillacL 2 years ago
Thats right Marty Stewart has the original.
RossM3838 2 years ago
I thought so. What a guitar.
CadillacL 2 years ago
Can you "lock" this device when you just want to use the guitar "straight"... does it have a parking position? - I have wanted one of these since about '73 and could just about afford one now.
incongra 2 years ago
the guitar is normal until you push the neck down; no prob.
johnkiene 2 years ago
thanks.
incongra 2 years ago
Fantastic! Great Invention in the hands of a very talented musician
1RichardGary 2 years ago
Genius creation.
WithTheLightsOut 2 years ago
I think Jimmy Page has one of these guitars and did a lot of playing with it in the 70s and 80s in his home studio?
LBrilliante 2 years ago
The original guitar is owned by Marty Stuart. He still plays it sometimes.
kbj76 2 years ago
He plays this guitar in all of his shows. I talked to him after his show just recently.
pickyricky1 2 years ago
Sheer genius!
roadrulz 2 years ago
awesome, this is like behind nut bends, but whilst you still play... thats bloody awesome...
nikitacawton 2 years ago
Meh. While this is cool and useful, it's hardly awesome. No, awesome is watching Adrian Legg twist the Keith tuner pegs on all 6 strings as he's playing. If you think this is "awesome", seeing Adrian Legg will make you wet your pants.
jspartacus 2 years ago
definitly one of the most interesting guitars iv ever seen
robs70986987 2 years ago
thats awesome
robs70986987 2 years ago
What's he talking about in the beginning when he says that Clarence "would pull the string over the nut and chime"?
M55ikael 2 years ago
He's using the word chime to refer to a harmonic, I'd say.
smbstressfest 2 years ago
Yeah, I figured that much. It's the pulling the string over the nut that got me stumped.
M55ikael 2 years ago
The "nut" is the grooved piece that guides the strings from the string winders to the fret board. Pulling the string over the nut refers to pulling the string out of the groove in the nut.
kaysandesses 2 years ago
Seriously, I know what a nut is. I just never heard of a technique where you pull the string off the nut and play harmonics. Have you?
M55ikael 2 years ago
Sorry M55ikael. I've never heard of that technique either, but I also am not an accomplished guitar player.
kaysandesses 2 years ago
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>Sorry M55ikael. I've never heard of that technique either, >but I also am not an accomplished guitar player.
Jerry Donahue is The Master of this. Search "Jerry Donahue" here on You Tube.
mobilecwp 2 years ago
>>I just never heard of a technique where you pull the string off the nut and play harmonics.
You sure you have that right? And not that you play the harmonic and then do a behind the nut bend? Clarence does that quite a bit.
NMHighPlains 2 years ago
Thanks! That's it. I'm so used to playing a Les Paul I didn't know that there was quite a bit of room to do bends behind the nut on Fender-style headstocks.
Like I said in my first post his exact words are "he would pull the string over the nut and chime" which contributed to the confusion.
M55ikael 2 years ago
@M55ikael
hit the b harmonic at the 12th fret on the 2nd string. now push the string , the b string , behind the nut , down ,towards the truss rod cover, that is a trick Jeff beck does on his teles.
taariqtaariq 1 year ago
nice video!
Ibik 2 years ago
It's sad how radio stations never played or gave much if any credit to the later Byrds' material or ingenuity. Until now I'd never heard about the string bender that Clarence White used. After the "Younger Than Yesterday" album, the dimwit programmers don't seem to want to admit anything else existed. No wonder the net and downloading became so popular. You can bi-pass idiot radio programmers and actual educate and entertain yourself.
bandcouver 2 years ago 6
That is so cool.
Jebbi1956 2 years ago
That's Yankee ingenuity,folks.
tomthefunky 2 years ago
It's no German engineering with Mexican know-how, but it's pretty good.
aladambama 2 years ago
What a fine inventer, machinist and a fine, fine steady driving drummer in the later Byrds. Great presentation!
tboltjohn 2 years ago
Done Rich rules! Check your email, Adios. thanks!
banjoist123 2 years ago
He's almost as good as his brother Don (sorry for the typo)
banjoist123 2 years ago
Something really special and once in a lifetime was happening in California in the late 60s that brought true geniuses of bluegrass, country and rock together, spawning some of the best bands and music of the last 40 years -perhaps ever - in American music, and Gene was right in the middle of it. Thanks so much for posting this. There is no greater musical loss to my generation than Clarence White, and we are just beginning to understand the full impact he had in the short time he was here.
banjoist123 2 years ago
Good call, Banjo. I totally agree about SoCal in the late '60s. I think it was the full (and final) flowering of the postwar population boom. Thousands of great pickers and players came to (and thru) SoCal from the south and southwest during and after WWII. It wouldn't happen today, but that culture evolved for a good 25 years largely out of mainstream view, developing organically without much in the way of mainstream concession. One of the great locales of the 20th century, for sure.
aladambama 2 years ago
What amazes, 'Bama, is that you can draw a straight line from The Dillards to the Burrito Bros, The Country Boys to the Byrds, and From Bernie Leadon to any of about 15 different folk, country, bluegrass, rock albums. I once read that Dean Webb of the Dillards did the harmony arrangement for the Byrds cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man". No place but California could these things have happened, I think. Thanks for your post.
Jim
banjoist123 2 years ago
Oops, didn't realize I was signed in as Bama. I think you can draw that line backwards as well, from the Dillards and Country Boys to Rick Nelson, James Burton, Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, The Collins Kids, and Town Hall Party. Keep going back and you start hitting the first generation of transplants: Bob Wills & the TX Playboys, Spade Cooley, Tex Ritter, and the Hollywood Barn Dance. And then parallel to all this was Buck Owens, Don Rich, and the rise of the Bakersfield Sound. Awesomeness.
adioslounge 2 years ago
@adioslounge Don't forget the Gosdin Brothers either! Vern and his brother were playing bluegrass in California in the 60's. Chris Hillman would join them when he wasn't playing with the Byrds.
rockinredneck57 1 year ago
Thank God for Gene Parsons..... That is just the coolest thing ever!
ludwigvan66 2 years ago
Man, Gene Parsons! He is an inventor!
Byrds1967 2 years ago
what a wonderful video...I and a lady from china, a bassist , watched this together....bought back good memories to me
MrBruceBarham 2 years ago
they say guitarists woud come from far and wide and line up just scratch their heads while glimpsing old clarence playing with the b bender... nobody could tell what the hell he was doing... what a fluid guitar genius he was... very innovative garage creation for the guitar... thanks for the post
stumptacular 2 years ago
this would be the only reason i would get a tele. this is really neat
Temptation777 3 years ago
Wow,that is so cool!
mcbump 3 years ago
Wisegeorge, thanks for posting the Caspar video. He's awesome. I saw him a few times playing with Toni Price, where it was him, Champ Hood (RIP), and Scrappy Jud Newcomb all on acoustic. Talk about a badass guitar summit.
adioslounge 3 years ago
Great story, So that's how the magic trick is done.
An inspiring story on many levels, Musical innovation, mechanical innovation, team work , helping a brother out, perserverance, this is one great video. "Oh my God, we are past the point of no return." "Yes you are."
LOL
biggascaddy 3 years ago 3
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amazing amazing amazing
prospectnyc 3 years ago 2
this guy has the best moustash ever!
rossycee08 3 years ago 3
I love it! I have one of the ones that he made with b and high e benders. Sweet guitar. Thanx to a great innovator!
brhibler1 3 years ago
What a great idea they had. Now that we know the mechanism it seems easy, but imagine if you had to come with such a device. Awesome mechanism.
lalbruiz 3 years ago
WHOA! That's wicked.XDDD
stringsandspectacles 3 years ago
I know this guy! He's my friends grandpa!
OniDemonProduction 3 years ago 2
That's awesome. Tell your friend that his grandpa kicks ass. Heh.
adioslounge 3 years ago
That I will
OniDemonProduction 3 years ago
Holy crap.....so THAT's how Clarence made his guitar sound like that!
Fania54 3 years ago
Sweet I want one.
333jas 3 years ago
man , I must get one of those guitars!!! I 'm just hooked.
taariqtaariq 3 years ago
guys like gene parson should live for ever, thanx for post this, amazing !!!!
PACARTNEY 3 years ago 6
Brilliant!
johnnyjolijt 3 years ago
Very interesting...One of the most informative posts I've ever seen...Thanks a lot
dagetage 3 years ago
Fabulous post, I surely appreciate this!!
TheGregWoodBand 3 years ago