The famous Clarence White B-bender Telecaster

[Jack Hanson]

The Fabulous Superlatives opened for Hank Junior at the Minnesota State Fair last night. (By all rights, it should have been the other way around, in my opinion.) Stuart was playing what appears to be the original Clarence B-bender Tele. Do the Superlatives tour with the actual (priceless) instrument, or did someone make Marty a close facsimile?

[Dave Mudgett]

I am quite sure that is the original Clarence B-Bender. He's been traveling with that guitar for many years. I saw Marty on a taping of the American Music Shop show (with Pops Staples) at Vanderbilt in something like '92 or so. Definitely the Clarence B-Bender then, I got a very good close-up look.

I saw them in late April here at the State Theatre (State College, PA) and they took everyone to school. A treat for me was a good dose of surf-style music from the new album, as well as their usual country fare.

[Jack Hanson]

Thanks for your rapid reply, Dave!
Most likely Stuart has a gorilla or two working security who guard the priceless instrument with their lives (ala Phil Pritchard, the big blonde guy who doesn't let the Stanley Cup out of his sight as he escorts it from one end of the northern hemisphere to the other and back).

[scott murray]

Marty and his tech are actually very generous with the guitar which he also calls Clarence.
they know it's a famous instrument among Tele players and are known to let fans handle it. a friend of mine did just that at a show here in Asheville a couple years ago and yes I'm still envious!

494301896_10237933430543680_1136356991993660567_n.jpg

[Jack Hanson]

Great photo, Scott. Thanks for sharing!

ps -- Gotta love your friend's shirt & jacket. Were they made from Carolina textiles?

[Charlie Thompson]

I opened for Marty at a House of Blues gig in the 90s and his tech let me play it... It's seriously heavy. I asked the tech what he did with it, and he said he put it in his guitar trunk.

[Lee Rider]

The Fabulous Superlatives opened for Hank Junior at the Minnesota State Fair last night. (By all rights, it should have been the other way around, in my opinion.) Stuart was playing what appears to be the original Clarence B-bender Tele. Do the Superlatives tour with the actual (priceless) instrument, or did someone make Marty a close facsimile?

Yep, Marty tours with "Clarence". I play in a band with Gene Parsons and Marty keeps in touch with him. He called Gene a while back and told Gene he had the guitar appraised for insurance purposes at $1 million!
Marty did a nice tribute to Clarence on Space Junk: California Pt. 1 (Bobbie Gentry, Please Call Home).

Now I only have an acoustic bender in a Gallagher OM that Gene built and installed but have had numerous Parsons/White B and G benders in Tele's. They have all been great.

The Parsons Green bender is something that Gene invented as a drop in unit for Fender when they started producing the Nashville B Bender guitar. For some crazy reason Fender built the bender out of steel and chromed it then put that weighty thing in some of their heaviest guitars. I saw one that tipped the scale at 11 lbs, 8 oz. He licensed it to Hipshot and they build them out of aluminum and can be installed by a proficient do-it-yourselfer. They are a good intro level B bender for an inexperienced player.

[Joachim Kettner]

Lee would be so kind to ask Gene this question: Did Clarence get the Franfurt Stadtwappen sticker when they were playing there?
There was a music festival at the Radstadion in 1970, which I attended.
A friend of mine bummed a B&H cigarette for me from Parsons.

[Lee Rider]

Lee would be so kind to ask Gene this question: Did Clarence get the Franfurt Stadtwappen sticker when they were playing there?
There was a music festival at the Radstadion in 1970, which I attended.
A friend of mine bummed a B&H cigarette for me from Parsons.

Gene's response:

Hi Lee,

I don’t remember where Clarence got the Stadtwappen sticker. I don’t keep track of such things. And no one ever got a cigarette from me as I have never smoked.

Goodness gracious!

GP

[Joachim Kettner]

Maybe my friend got that Zigarette from another member of the Byrds. I still remember the whole occasion vividly. And Whereelse could have got Clarence that emblem from? It was only locally sold in Frankfurt.