Clarence White's B Bender
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:47 am
B string bender guitar songs
from Sweetheart of the Rodeo album
session musician Lloyd Green on pedal steel guitar
Byrds Clarence White's guitar - lots of history in the video
b-bender-guitar-songs article
One man's build
The StringBender
Clarence White and Gene Parsons
During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string.
The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group
Love the Byrds "You ain't going nowhere" version of Dylan's songClarence White and Gene Parsons
During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string.
The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group
First show w/ Clarence White after Gram Parsons left the Byrds, intro by Hugh Hefner...a couple of classic 1967 Dylan tunes ("wheel" co-written by RIck Danko)
from Sweetheart of the Rodeo album
session musician Lloyd Green on pedal steel guitar
Byrds Clarence White's guitar - lots of history in the video
b-bender-guitar-songs article
One man's build