B Bender

I'm no electric guitarist but I'm partial to telecasters.

I'll get me a cheap knock off one of these days.

hoover's guitar might b my favorite I've ever played.

I sold my 73 tele 30 years ago, huge regrets on that one

I have a basic "Mexican Standard"  Tele from around 2003-2004,  and like it just fine.  Didn't pay much for it -- won it on a radio auction.  Many will say that the 'same model'  Tele from MX is not as nice as the USA version,  others will say that truckloads of parts often crossed the border (liek, if California was short on necks,  MX would send up a batch,  or vice-versa)...

It's really been just fine for me,  and if you can find an El-Cheapo Mexican Standard which has decent neck & frets,  there are a Zillion different pickups you could swap.  Or change the bridge,  or...

http://www.tdpri.com/forums/b-bender-forum.19/

Typical post there:

".... For years Mexican Telecasters went for about $300, and Americans about $600 on the used market, with the occasional bargain to be had. Prices have risen a bit over the past two years or so. 
The Highway 1 were a bargain priced guitar when they were new, but they were very well regarded, so that keeps the price up... "

http://www.tdpri.com/forums/telecaster-discussion-forum.7/

Links above are for the Tele board,  one is the B-Bender channel thereof.

You can obsess for hours about all things Telecaster there.  They have all sorts of channels for Amps,  Pedals,  Home-Built...

My take is that the Telecaster platform is simple and lends itself to swapping parts;  if you find some model with a neck & body you like,  it's easy to change the electrical bits.

Apparently they're one of the easier guitars to build.

anyone wants to throw one together for me for a couple hundred $, hit me up.

David Nelson

i'm also curious how Neil casal is doing with his...  maybe circles around the sun will inform

Are Sinatra and Hoover going to report also

Damnittol !! 

Just when I thought my addiction was long-cured,  reading those TDPRI  threads sucked me back in. 

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/what-mexican-is-this.803954/

^ I like this one where the guy bought a pawnster w/ Mexican neck,  then discovered it had a Warmoth body with various ?$?$? electronics...

BTW mine has the same body color,  but not the tri-barrel bridge.

Mr. E,

If you want a super-cheap Tele,  check out Fender's own "Classic Vibe" series.  They are Squier branded Chinese models.  I've actually picked up a few of the CV Strats,  and thought that they are OK for the $$.  They really upgraded the factories back when to get consistent results with the "Classic Vibe"  stuff.

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/squier-electric-guitars/telecaster/classic...

I have a couple of Indonesian Squier Strats,  which are pure Junque,  electrically.  Absolutely awful pots / switches / PU's.

The finish is similar to "Plasti - Dip" on the body.  However,  underneath is some interesting tropical wood.  The neck and frets are really OK.

I swapped out the electronics from a Peavey Strat on one.

Anyway,  the "Indo Squier"  makes the "China Squier TV" seem like a real  "MIM".

I absolutely love my b bender.  I’m not a great lead player but I’m a pretty good stunt guitarist and the bender really lends itself to that.  It’s a little awkward at first but a player of your caliber will take to it quicker than I did.  It’s not really that hard to figure out a few combos with the G,B, and high E strings that work all over the neck and make cool pedal steel sounds.

The bonus is even if you don’t use the bender Telecasters sound great.

Some interesting Fender porn here:

"...New Fender Parallel Universe Collection for 2018..."

https://www.themusiczoo.com/blogs/news/namm-2018-new-fender-parallel-uni...

I want one of these:

But this one is Kool also:

The photos look better on their site.  The graphics robot here seems to squish the horizontal dimension.  There are also more Hi-Res shots of these new and bizarre "Parallel Universe" series.  I guess some will be collectible;  who can ever tell.

Bill Frisell is one of my favorite Telecaster masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHeAgRGg7eY

Totally worth it IMO.  You could also pick up one of those G&Ls and have a bender installed for around $300.  I was originally looking to go that route until I found my b-bender on Reverb.com 

They are heavy as fuck FYI

This one looks pretty nice

https://reverb.com/item/7411826-fender-rosewood-telecaster-1969-with-par...

Eddie from Stove has himself a B Bender, and he seconds Hoover's opinion. Seriously heavy instrument. Loves it, though.

Great thread.  Thanks Stu on the skinny on Fender these days.

Cool G/L Highnote.

The skinny on Fender these days is they suck and lack imagination and keep putting out the same products or variations of the ones they have since 1960.

Left to right are my American Deluxe J Bass, Handmade Tele and Jimmy Vaughn Signature Strat w Texas Special Pups.

I try to avoid purchasing instruments from online sources cause there's always some stupid issue that the seller fails to disclose, but I took a risk on this Tele which was built in North Carolina and was being sold ridiculously cheap at $375 via ebay.  The neck is a but chunky but it stays in tune and sounds great.  It looks pretty killer too with a book matched flame maple top veneer..   I am privileged to have an amazing local repairman and luthier in SF: Rich Hoeg.  He's the same guy who built Bobby's Blue Lightning Bolt Modulus and several HoegCasters and Tele's for Bob.  He has done a lot of great set up work on all my guitars and most of my basses and mandolins.  In fact, he assisted me in resurrecting two different Modulus basses that had problems and he did a set up on this Tele that made it sing!

In regards to B-Benders, I've played a few and even met Gene Parsons (the inventor of the bender device - he lives in Caspar, CA (Mendocino).  
Best guy around playing one, for sure, is David Nelson!

Scott Law plays plays a Parsons B-Bender guitar custom made by Gene Parsons!

Thanks Tim, I will stay away from a new Fender.

Nice axes Ted.

Saw Steve Earle not long ago and his Telacaster (with Bigsby Tremlo Bar) was as thick as a bible. Looked heavy.

>>>>>Thanks Tim, I will stay away from a new Fender

They're fine.  Just would be nice to see something new released instead of them taking old stuff making slight modifications and calling them new.

I know what you are saying.  I am not paying by cash, so it will probably be new one; that I realized it plays nice, before the store does and jacks up the price.

Gene Parsons sells B-benders and will also install them on your guitar. 

http://www.stringbender.com/bender/custom.php

Nice guitar fotos above!

My one & only G&L is the low-budget "Student model" SC-1,  which looks just like the one in this link:

http://www.imagineguitars.com/archive/electric/000_gl_sc1/

Some guy has/had one up for sale in Salinas, with a vibrato:

https://reverb.com/item/195768-g-l-sc-1-1982-with-vibrato-tailpiece

They did not make too many of them,  so it's my only "Rare" guitar.

There's one in black with the Whammy bar.  Photo from this guy's site:

http://ggjaguar.com/sc-1.htm

I got mine about 1989,  still plays nice.

Just for fun,  here's a China Tele for cheap OBO.  Seller claims it has pretty good PU's and Grover tuners. You could take that thing and install various B-Benders until you got your favourite,  and never worry about drilling holes in a valuable Guitar. 

https://cnj.craigslist.org/msg/d/2006-agile-telecaster/6467222851.html

Then here's a guy with a B-Bender already installed,  Fralin PU's and "Canadian Maple Neck" all for 1100 bucks...

https://cnj.craigslist.org/msg/d/telecaster-bender-fralin/6486814921.html

I bet that s/he would take some lesser amount,  thinking it's a "Parts-caster".  Who knows,  might play great.

OK getting this discussion back to B BENDERS

Dude you should check this guy out, Matney USA Custom Benders

My buddy in TN who can destroy a Tele had him install this in his guitar, it's incredible, none of that bridge craziness

https://www.facebook.com/MatneyCustomGuitars/

Mr. Franklin Page,

My belief is that my above post is somewhat 'on topic' as the referenced link Tele also has a 'Matney' B-Bender.

It is the post at 2:33 PM right there.

However,  I do not support / detract or have any affiliations with that style of B-Bender.

Whatever you like,  enjoy it.

Stuff I posted is purely PSA  (public service announcement).

Also,  if you like Tele,  Strat,  PRS,  Gibson or G&L,  that's up to you or your advisory counsel.  

My mild opinions are not to be considered of any influence,  unless your "Consulting Fee" check clears my banking institution or Hindu Grocery Store (HGS).

Mr Disco Stu, 

I can't look at every fucking link in this thread especially when most people are just posting pics of their guitars. I have 6 guitars. So what???

I was just contributing to the thread about B BENDERS and giving a specific link to a company that makes something a little different (better?) than the usual Parsons style B bender.

Also I'm not looking for a B bender guitar so I had no need to view your link, and based on past experiences I look past your posts anyway.

Sorry, if this has already been answered in this thread, but what kind of music do you play, Highnote? I’ve noticed these teles work out very well in folk and rock settings.

This is Betty.

She’s kind of magical.

Most Teles I’ve played have been pretty versatile. I’m a stray guy myself but wouldn’t mind having one of these for som finger picking or folky guitar leads

What were they asking?

That Strat-Tele Hybrid is a really nice looking guitar.

G & L has been making the best Fenders for almost 40 years. 

Out of all my guitars my PRS is still the most solid but I still love my '76 Thinline Tele reissue. 

It was nice enough but not special enough to make me jump.<<<<

B Bummer