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Thread: Bernie and his bender

  1. #11
    Border Desperado
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    it has been awhile since I read that book. John is a good researcher and a great guy... that is an interesting story....

    Gene and Dave are/were friends.. Dave has only recently begun making benders again after all these years...

    your thread about the Byrds and Eagles is perfect for this site.... I think anyone who didn't understand how much the Byrds influenced the Eagles would not have to look much farther than the names, right?

    I've read Glenn's account of how the name was arrived at... but, I think the Byrds part was pretty dang important!

    Some of my bender friends (hard core and I mean HARD CORE Clarence fans) are also humongous Byrds fans.... their general take is that the Byrds were the American Beatles and looking back, I'd probably agree.

    There were tons of guys trying to capture that lightning in a jar... and I'm sure Glenn and Don saw how self destructive the Byrds were and the Burritos were and probably thought... hey, if we can avoid the dark holes, we can be huge....

    I think they sensed the country fusion thing wasn't really gonna happen and the horror at the initial sales of desperado probably scared them away....

    The weirdest mix is Bernie mostly being annoyed with Gram, but then writing a song for him and Glenn and Don and Jackson practically taking his persona and then being rejected by him....

    musicians are a strange lot...
    I hope your daughter never has to find out how funny rape is. -Sodascouts

  2. #12
    Stuck on the Border MikeA's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    I was not familiar with the "Bender". Started reading up on it.

    OOPS! Should have read the Byrds and Eagles thread before posting this. I see that the "bender" is just for the "B" string and not the entire 6 strings.


    How does it differ from a Whammy Bar or Floyd Rose Tremlo in final effect? From what I read, the purpose is to raise the pitch by some mechanical means. In the Case of the Bender, it is by pushing down on the neck to force the strap button to change positions effecting the "bend"...right? At least, looking at the pictures of the device, that is what it appears to be doing. Sounds "handy" as it would free up the hand that would otherwise either have to manipulate the whammy bar or use the heel of the hand to press down on the back of a Floyd Rose Tremlo.
    Last edited by MikeA; 04-26-2010 at 02:58 PM.

    MikeA

  3. #13
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    The point of the bender is to mechanically raise pitch so that it emulates the sound of a pedal steel.

    You cannot get the same effect with a vibrato or tremelo.

    There is a cool device that Jock Bartley used to use called a bigsby palm pedal (Jock was in Firefall.. you can hear it on several of their songs) that used the bigsby bridge but with individual string activators.

    they always required after market engineering to get them to work right, but they are cool! (I had one for awhile but sold it for stupid money)

    The whole whammy/talent bar thing is for two basic purposes: 1) to provide an 'all string' vibrato sound (like old duane eddy stuff or the stuff Jimmy Wilsey does on "Wicked Game" or 2) the dive bomby Van Halen thing.

    the b bender works with a cam and gear. as you pull the strap 'up' toward your face (using your shoulder) it actuates and you get the bend... here is a picture of mine...

    the back

    I hope your daughter never has to find out how funny rape is. -Sodascouts

  4. #14
    Border Rebel Scarlet Sun's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIilq3JdCT4[/ame]

    specific technical explanation begins around 2:38

  5. #15
    Border Desperado GettheLeadonOut!!'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    Quote Originally Posted by bernie's bender View Post
    The weirdest mix is Bernie mostly being annoyed with Gram, but then writing a song for him and Glenn and Don and Jackson practically taking his persona and then being rejected by him....

    musicians are a strange lot...
    bb, have you read Einarson's Hot Burritos! book about the Flying Burrito Brothers? Bernie is interviewed at length and gives some great insight into just about everything. As far as Gram's "rejection" of the Eagles, I'd chock it up to good old fashioned jealousy. Watching his old bandmate Bernie shoot straight to the top right out of the gate must have driven him nuts especially since he never saw any chart success in his career (or even in death). Bernie even said he was surprised to read years later that Gram badmouthed the Eagles as he had come to one of their performances and been really complimentary to the band backstage after the show.

    And when Gram died, he was genuinely moved (he was in London recording On the Border). That's when he wrote My Man.

    Anyway, thanks for the insight on the legendary b-bender...
    High up on his own, the Eagle flies alone and he is free...

  6. #16
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    Quote Originally Posted by GettheLeadonOut!! View Post
    bb, have you read Einarson's Hot Burritos! book about the Flying Burrito Brothers? Bernie is interviewed at length and gives some great insight into just about everything. As far as Gram's "rejection" of the Eagles, I'd chock it up to good old fashioned jealousy. Watching his old bandmate Bernie shoot straight to the top right out of the gate must have driven him nuts especially since he never saw any chart success in his career (or even in death). Bernie even said he was surprised to read years later that Gram badmouthed the Eagles as he had come to one of their performances and been really complimentary to the band backstage after the show.

    And when Gram died, he was genuinely moved (he was in London recording On the Border). That's when he wrote My Man.

    Anyway, thanks for the insight on the legendary b-bender...
    oh man! you have made my day with both the byrds thread and this one! I love hearing and discussing this stuff! I have read all of Einarson's books (he and I are both HUGE John Stewart fans)... yes, the burritos book and the video about gram Fallen Angel, Bernie really kicks down the reality about the Gram thing....

    I don't know if you are a burrito fan but Greg Harris has some interesting stuff to say about that era, his son has told me some interesting stuff about some of the 'inner workings'...

    it is so weird to think of Sneaky making Gumby during the day and then dealing with Gram and a totally unrehearsed band at night...

    The books always kind of make things look organized, but the guys who are a few years older than me and who played in that scene with tons of different artists who went on to other stuff say it was just totally chaos and random.... that the bands were so fluid nobody had any idea they were making history... they were just playing and trying to make enough money to get by....

    What I think is cool is John Einarson who has chronicled all this stuff is a school teacher in western Canada! I think his manner is so honest and so direct with people they are willing to talk...

    his book on Gene Clark is especially good as is his book on Randy Bachman.

    okay.. I have to listen to these people who are staring right at me!
    I hope your daughter never has to find out how funny rape is. -Sodascouts

  7. #17
    Stuck on the Border MikeA's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    I am shocked that something this significant (B Bender) with which I was not the least bit familiar with! It's not talked about much....at least not within the circle of Rock music, yet it seems to be a very intriguing device! I see that there are models of it that have been adapted to several guitars other than the Tele....even one for acoustic.

    Apparently, it is not unknown to the guitarists though. With Page and Keith Richards mentioned who have used them.

    Learn something new every day! Thanks again

    MikeA

  8. #18
    Out on the Border
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    Anyone know what year that Telecaster was that he used on "Take It Easy"?

  9. #19
    Stuck on the Border Delilah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    Hi Tonetwister, I haven't any idea about the year. Hopefully someone can answer your question.

    Right or wrong, what’s done is done
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  10. #20
    Border Rebel Scarlet Sun's Avatar
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    Default Re: Bernie and his bender

    Quote Originally Posted by Tonetwister View Post
    Anyone know what year that Telecaster was that he used on "Take It Easy"?
    http://evanspullstring.com/gallery-p...iginal/#leadon

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