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The Nashville B-Bender Telecaster is an American Standard series electric guitar made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. This guitar is a Fender Telecaster with the addition of a factory-installed B-string bender device. The device is activated by a one-inch downward pull on the guitar neck, allowing the player to emulate pedal steel sounds and play complex country bends. The Nashville B-Bender Telecaster was introduced in 1996, redesigned in 1998 and again in 2000.
Origin
The B-Bender device was invented in 1967 by drummer and machinist Gene Parsons and guitarist Clarence White to fit White's Fender Telecaster. The original Parsons/White Stringbender was licensed to Leo Fender in 1968, but it never went into production. Parsons continued to build and install the device himself, and sold several hundred to the Japanese instrument company Tokai Gakki for installation in their guitars. In the late 1980s, Parsons and business partner Meridian Green approached Fender again and connected with luthier Fred Stuart in the new California Fender Custom Shop. Stuart and the Custom Shop eventually produced about 200 Clarence White model Telecasters equipped with the Parsons/White Stringbender, plus Scruggs tuners on both E strings. Based on this success, Fender decided to mass-produce a similar model. Parsons and Green redesigned the B-bender device for simpler installation and licensed it to Fender as the Parsons/Green B-Bender. The first Fender Nashville B-Bender Telecaster was manufactured in 1996. [1]
1996 American Standard model
The first production model was called the American Standard B-Bender Telecaster. This guitar included two American Standard pickups and a 3-way selector switch. The guitar body was solid alder with a 1952-style sharp radius, a 1-piece maple neck and fretboard with rolled edges, 25.5 inch (648 mm) scale with 22 medium-jumbo frets, die-cast tuners and a 3-ply pickguard. The bridge was an American Telecaster series through-the-body model with 6 individually adjustable stainless steel saddles. The Parsons/Green B-Bender device was factory-installed in the routed-out back of the guitar and covered by a chrome plate. This model was available finished in Candy Apple Red, Black, Vintage White or Brown Sunburst, and was made in the United States.[2]
1998 Hot Rodded American model
In the fall of 1998, the two-pickup system was replaced by a three-pickup configuration similar to the Stratocaster layout. The neck and bridge pickups were American Tele hot-wound single-coil models, and the new middle pickup was the "Texas Special" overwound single-coil pickup used in the Stevie Ray Vaughn model Stratocaster. The third pickup required a new selector switch, so a 5-way "Strat-o-Tele" selector with an S-1 switching system was added. All other features remained the same as the 1996 model.[3]
2000 American Nashville model
Introduced in June 2000, the redesigned American Series model added Schaller staggered tuning machines and a 4-ply white pearloid pickguard. The body was changed from alder to poplar, and the finishes were limited to Black and 3-color Sunburst. Other features remained the same as the 1998 Hot Rodded model.[4]
See also
References
- ^
Driscoll, Edward (April 2004). "The Parsons-White String Bender". Vintage Guitar Magazine. 18 (6). Retrieved 2009/1/17.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "American Standard B-Bender Telecaster". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. 1996-11-01. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
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"Nashville B-Bender Tele". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. 1998-12-03. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
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"American Nashville B-Bender Telecaster". Fender. Retrieved 2009-1-12.
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