B string benders????

[Roger Rettig]

Happy Christmas, Tony!

I too enjoy my bender for movement within chords. The single note stuff can be absorbing, but enhancing chords is even more so for me.

And yes: the movement goes both ways so don't ignore the 'release' options.

[Tony Prior]

Happy Christmas, Tony!

I too enjoy my bender for movement within chords. The single note stuff can be absorbing, but enhancing chords is even more so for me.

And yes: the movement goes both ways so don't ignore the 'release' options.

Merry Christmas Roger, I pray you are well.

Funny side note true story. Years back a friend and his wife were over for dinner. Pat, my friend, is also a multi-instrumentalist, including guitar.
I picked up my Fender B Bender, he immediately said, "OH - its got a Cheater on it " referring to the B Puller. So, I started playing triads and pulling/releasing the B inside the triads. He looked at me and said , "Hey- wait a minute, stop- what was that " ? I said and showed him pulling the B and releasing it inside triads. He took the guitar from me and wouldn't put it down, we had to yell at him to come eat dinner !

[Bruce Moore]

One of my favorite guitarist who played a B-bender Tele was Clarence White. Here is an example of his various licks -live in San Francisco in 1969 (I wish I had been there). Listening to this makes me smile, laugh and tear up, just hearing how good he was when he went all in. This is humbling, with so many different skills being applied by both hands and the bender - this would be a worthy study if someone wanted to try - please post if you do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWSIfk30o-A

[Lee Rider]

One of my favorite guitarist who played a B-bender Tele was Clarence White. Here is an example of his various licks -live in San Francisco in 1969 (I wish I had been there). Listening to this makes me smile, laugh and tear up, just hearing how good he was when he went all in. This is humbling, with so many different skills being applied by both hands and the bender - this would be a worthy study if someone wanted to try - please post if you do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWSIfk30o-A

Clarence was amazing! I play music just about every week with Gene Parsons who did the first StringBender for Clarence and played in the Byrds with him. Gene said Clarence almost never played a lead the same way twice, often times heading into the weeds so thick that Gene did not think he could come out on the other end but he always did.

[BJ Burbach]

I use mini guitars for slide because the short scales make it fast. I love the Squier mini's because they are very well built and cheep! $50 used. They are 23" scale , which is a real sweet spot for me. I change out the nut and have used Certanos, Rolling's and Doozys. Rolling benders won't give you a pedal sound easily, but good for a quick wrist pull. Certanos work OK, but are a bit stiff, because I use heavier strings on average. I absolutely love a Doozy on a Squier mini, because the touch is so light. My Fav is an ESP LTD EC-mini with a Doozy. It's short at 20", but it's amazing. Especially because you can lower a string too. I use it for B11; L>H 49 38 32 24p 19 15.. TUSQ nut makes it run smooth and even put a String Butler on it.
So to use a Certano on a Squier, you need to put a duo sonic bridge on it. I would like it better for thinner strings. A little dab of oil on the saddle helps.
Squier mini, I use GHS lap E strings for D and GHS for C6.
All this said, I mostly play on my lap now, because the tone is so much better. I rarely use the benders, because I slant more now.
If I had to do it again, I would just have learned to slant instead, even for bottleneck, and I would have gotten into 8 string lap guitars much sooner.
Best non slide PSG sound I heard was Jerry Garcia. Just fingers. On Halloween '70, He played E9 with the New Riders as the warm up band, then guitar with the Dead. Sounded pretty much the same. I got an Emmons a few weeks later.
Loved Clarence with the Byrds, in '71, too.
Blah, Blah,
BJ