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Is there such thing as a B-Bender Les Paul?

modoc_333

New member
Joined
Oct 29, 2003
Messages
3,141
oh, i don't doubt he uses it. and i know it won't sound like a burst. it probably sounds better than a b-bender tele........... but i'm just saying i wouldn't do it to one of mine.... i think it would lower the sound quality.
 

Frinky

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Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
739
modoc_333 said:
oh, i don't doubt he uses it. and i know it won't sound like a burst. it probably sounds better than a b-bender tele........... but i'm just saying i wouldn't do it to one of mine.... i think it would lower the sound quality.


Well... it'd change the sound, put it that way. That Les Paul still sounds awesome on the Unledded version of Thank You!
 

Shooby

Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
Messages
46
Here's a picture of my b bender Les Paul. I wouldn't want to get anybody too excited or revulsed but...this guitar is actually a '52 that's been somewhat altered...
2793_p37876.jpg
 

Ed Driscoll

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
4,691
Shooby,

Wow! :bug

Could you post a close-up of the chrome star behind the bridge? Does the star simply cover a standard Parsons-White mechanism? Inquiring B-Benders want to know! :wail

Ed
 

KTfromNJ

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Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Messages
196
Hope its not that stupid of a question, but what exactly is a b-bender and what does it do?
 

ScreamingTrees

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Jan 31, 2003
Messages
1,220
Hey Ed-
Cool article my man! :)

Yo Shooby-
So what's the skinny on the '52? Did you have the work done or was it like that when ya bought it? Just curious..........:)
 

Shooby

Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
Messages
46
I got it about 20 years ago and it already had the do-it-yourself conversion process applied i.e. humbucker routs and a ground down tune-0-matic. I traded a cherryburst standard 80 straight across for it. It was painted orange and you could peel the finish off of it like a scab in big scraps. I was playing a tele with a parsons/white at the time and I came to rely heavily on the bender to do things that good players like Red Volkaert can do with their bare hands. Then I decided I needed another bender but for some reason, I couldn't order another one from Parsons at the time so we commissioned a local machinist to make one for me. We've got a remarkably adventuresome stringed instrument repair person (Bob Popek, Dietze Music, Lincoln, Ne) here and he is willing to accept any challenge you can throw at him so I said, "hey...let's carve some of this tone-wood out of this antique turkey (happy thanksgiving) and slap a bender in there!" So he did it and it worked good except for one problem...it fed back like crazy in high gain mode just like a big hollow body. So I put up with that for about 10 years and then I said to Bob one day, "you know all that wood that we took out of the orange Les Paul for the bender...could you put some of it back?" And he did...filled in as much space as he could with mahogany scraps. And just for the hell of it, I had him re-set the neck and paint it red just like "sweeeet cherry". It's been my best guitar ever since...sounds as good or better than any other les paul I've got...and what's really strange is it faded from cherry red back to the exact orange color it was when I got it in less than 5 years.
And the chrome star? You can buy those at any truck stop!
 

GooCart

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Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
46
Hi, I just run in to this thread and saw the name Åhden Twins from Sweden.
I've played with these guys since the late 70's and I know for sure that they have a '55 JR with a B-bender. It's assembled by Gene Parson him self if I my memory serves me right.
I talked to them about it and they gave me permission to show some pics here.

Here's a link to their site, it's a page with some of their signed guitars.
http://www.gitarr.umea.com/signed/signed1.htm#
 

songsj

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
504
You can do what you want with your own guitar but if I had a Lester with a B Bender I would shoot it and put it out of it's misery!!!!
 

zombiwoof

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
3,565
Sounds like a good option for one of those 11 lb. monster LP's...a new form of weight relief!

Al
 

Phoenician

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2020
Messages
88
@Shooby I'm giving some serious though to getting a Parsons-White on one of my Les Pauls.

Do you have a Nashville Tele to compare your LPs to...?
 

Ed Driscoll

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
4,691
Is this what you mean by a Nashville Tele? I've got a humbucker in the bridge position which shoves it on down into overdrive.
Any sound clips? Every once in a while, I think of putting a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in my B-Bender equipped Nashville Tele, or buying a new (used) B-Bender equipped Nashville Tele and installing them in the bridge and neck, LP-style.


i-DckxKfZ-L.jpg
 
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