Lot Essay
THE PARSONS/WHITE PULL-STRING AND THE FENDER TELECASTER B-BENDER
In 1968 Bakersfield band-mates and session players Clarence White and Gene Parsons were in search of how to produce the plaintive tones of the pedal steel guitar on a Fender Telecaster. Though both accomplished musicians, playing pedal steel was not in their lexicon. Multi-instrumentalist Parsons was also a talented machinist and, with guitar virtuoso White, set about designing a mechanism that could be retrofitted onto White's 1954 Telecaster. What transpired was a system of spring-loaded levers fitted into the body of the guitar which were activated at the upper strap button. When the player flexed the guitar downward putting pressure at the strap button, a shoe at the B string behind the bridge was activated, pulling the string. It would allow White to bend the B string up a full step to reach a C#.
With the tragic passing of Clarence White in 1973, Parsons continued to make improvements to the design, renaming it the Parson/White StringBender. After personally manufacturing and installing hundreds of the units, in 1989 he teamed with Californian musician Meridian Green with the aim of increasing production. In 1995 Parsons and Green partnered with the Fender Custom Shop to produce a limited-edition Clarence White signature Telecaster. Within a year Fender released the American Standard B-Bender Telecaster to its product line.
Whilst the late Clarence White is considered the master of the Telecaster B-Bender, there is a long list of the artists who have employed the B-Bender, most notably Nashville's Marty Stuart, who possesses White's original StringBender. Artists outside the realm of country-rock who have incorporated the device to great success are Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, and Albert Lee.
It is possible that the new release of the B-Bender by Fender in 1995 prompted Jeff Beck to commission J.W. Black of the Fender Custom Shop to make him two, one that year and one the following year - the second, with its Stratocaster neck, embodying a prototype (see the following lot). Whilst Beck undoubtedly will have played and tried the guitars in his home studio, they were not taken on the road and were not used on any of his released recordings.
In 1968 Bakersfield band-mates and session players Clarence White and Gene Parsons were in search of how to produce the plaintive tones of the pedal steel guitar on a Fender Telecaster. Though both accomplished musicians, playing pedal steel was not in their lexicon. Multi-instrumentalist Parsons was also a talented machinist and, with guitar virtuoso White, set about designing a mechanism that could be retrofitted onto White's 1954 Telecaster. What transpired was a system of spring-loaded levers fitted into the body of the guitar which were activated at the upper strap button. When the player flexed the guitar downward putting pressure at the strap button, a shoe at the B string behind the bridge was activated, pulling the string. It would allow White to bend the B string up a full step to reach a C#.
With the tragic passing of Clarence White in 1973, Parsons continued to make improvements to the design, renaming it the Parson/White StringBender. After personally manufacturing and installing hundreds of the units, in 1989 he teamed with Californian musician Meridian Green with the aim of increasing production. In 1995 Parsons and Green partnered with the Fender Custom Shop to produce a limited-edition Clarence White signature Telecaster. Within a year Fender released the American Standard B-Bender Telecaster to its product line.
Whilst the late Clarence White is considered the master of the Telecaster B-Bender, there is a long list of the artists who have employed the B-Bender, most notably Nashville's Marty Stuart, who possesses White's original StringBender. Artists outside the realm of country-rock who have incorporated the device to great success are Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, and Albert Lee.
It is possible that the new release of the B-Bender by Fender in 1995 prompted Jeff Beck to commission J.W. Black of the Fender Custom Shop to make him two, one that year and one the following year - the second, with its Stratocaster neck, embodying a prototype (see the following lot). Whilst Beck undoubtedly will have played and tried the guitars in his home studio, they were not taken on the road and were not used on any of his released recordings.