Gene Parsons Dobro StringBender

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 22 Sep 2014 7:19 pm

Gene called me today to do an over the phone demo of the first prototype BroBender, a StringBender for the dobro. He put it on the second string, lowering it a full step or you can stop at the half step for a minor chord. It sounds way cool. I'll go by tomorrow and pick it up, woodshed with it some. Very excited to give it a try. Will hopefully get it patented and into production soon! Stay Tuned!

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 22 Sep 2014 7:24 pm

www.stringbender.com

https://www.facebook.com/stringbendermu ... =bookmarks

https://www.facebook.com/GeneParsonsStringBenders

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 23 Sep 2014 7:59 am

Lee, what is activating the change? Is is a pedal or a palm lever or something else? I would like to see a photo or three. This sounds very interesting. Thanks.

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 23 Sep 2014 8:22 am

Michael: We are in the process of patenting it and are not ready to post photos. It will be a lanyard to actuate it so you can stand and utilize a strap as is standard in dobro playing.

Once we get the patent applied for stuff done we will be putting out more info.

I'll probably put out some audio once I figure the thing out. Going to pick it up today.

Thanks

Lee Rider
Stringbender Musical Instruments

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 23 Sep 2014 2:49 pm

Thanks for the quick reply.

Lee Rider wrote:... It will be a lanyard to actuate it ...

So it is like the Higgins Peg Bender? It seems to me that the Higgins is adaptable to a pedal.

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 23 Sep 2014 10:12 pm

Not really like the Higgins, Michael. We will have pedal capabilities...

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 24 Sep 2014 10:55 am

Could you fit more than one of them and get full pedal steel changes?

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 24 Sep 2014 11:04 am

Alan: We are working on that aspect.

Thanks

Lee

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 24 Sep 2014 3:28 pm

Lee, once again thanks for your quick replies. I'll be waiting for the photos and latest news once the patent stuff is under control. Sounds like it could be a good deal.

Marty Broussard · Post by **Marty Broussard** » 24 Sep 2014 8:16 pm

Cool stuff. Like to see pics when they're available.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 29 Sep 2014 6:51 am

Glad to see Gene still has his creative juices flowing. Looking forward to seeing and hearing it when it's ready.

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 9 Jul 2015 7:31 pm

Lee, how is this project coming along? Do you have an acoustic prototype type yet? How about the pedals?

I am really interested in a dobro or other acoustic lap guitar with a one or two pedals for raises and/or lowers. Jimmy Hudson is building some nice looking reso consoles and Jackson is offering the Slide King line. Before pursuing either of those possibilities further, I would like to see what you and Gene are cooking up, especially if could be an add-on. similar to the B-Bender, for an existing instrument.

I have got a reso with a Bigsby Palm Pedal on it and I just can't seem to get used to using it. I'm sure that I need more practice with that thing, but I also think that pedals are what I will want in the long run.

I hope this post didn't run on too long, but I wanted you to know where I'm coming from. I'm looking forward to your reply.

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 9 Jul 2015 8:15 pm

Still working on the dobro bender. We do have a prototype, but still working out some of the geometry and spring tensions. Gene has been pretty busy with guitar installs so it is going a bit slower than we anticipated, but we want to do it right. Not sure when we will have it to production. Stay tuned!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 11 Jul 2015 9:09 am

Lee, no doubt you've seen my post about the Resonator Guitar I've just finished building, into which I've built a modified Duesenberg Multibender.
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=

One of the things you have to be really aware of when making a palm lever unit that can be fitted to an existing resonator guitar is that any change in the angle of the bridge or the location of the string anchorage alters the vibration characteristics of the guitar. A resonator guitar is not built to take the downward pressure of the palm levers, and it usually causes cabinet drop, making the instrument difficult if not impossible to keep in tune. Also, on any instrument where you change the tension of the strings while you're playing you need a roller nut, or tension will build up at the nut which will equalise while you're playing and, again, throw it out of tune. For this reason I designed my resonator guitar from the ground up to accept the palm levers, and I built an aluminium bowl to support the spider to prevent these problems. You'll notice that I didn't use a tailpiece. The weight of the strings is on the spider, to which the Multibender is bolted securely, which is why the spider needed extra support.

I'm not trying to dampen your project, which I'm very interested in; just trying to make you aware of some problems you might encounter, depending a lot on which model of guitar you fit the unit to.

By the way, I tuned the guitar to the regular Dobro open G tuning, which means that any Dobro player could immediately play it. By depressing all four palm levers you get a C chord. But you don't have to depress them all at the same time, of course.

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 11 Jul 2015 4:59 pm

Yes Alan, ALL string bender(s) on an acoustic instruments that I have seen cause tuning problems for the unbent strings.
I've never tried it, but I think graphite neck reinforcement of some kind might be helpfu with this issue unless some kind off opposing force can bring the non-bent strings back into tune.

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 11 Jul 2015 5:09 pm

Thanks Alan; we are pulling from the headstock so no problems associated with the cone. Also actuated by the strap like the original StringBender.

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 11 Jul 2015 5:20 pm

Here is a quick video of the prototype on my Beard Road-O-Phonic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0FSjkGT19A

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 11 Jul 2015 5:23 pm

Chris Templeton wrote:Yes Alan, ALL string bender(s) on an acoustic instruments that I have seen cause tuning problems for the unbent strings...

Me too, but I haven't encountered any problems of that nature yet. I think that the fact that I expected the problem before I started and so designed the guitar to accomodate the extra downward pressure has worked.

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 11 Jul 2015 5:29 pm

Do you mean upward pressure?

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Jul 2015 10:52 am

No, when you press the levers down you produce downward pressure on the body of the guitar, which, if you don't make allowances for in the design of the guitar, can cause the table (the top) of the guitar to sink a little, creating what's known as "cabinet drop".

The way I've designed my guitar, the downward pressure is taken by the bowl on which the spider is resting around its perimeter, and transferred to the bracing glued to the back of the guitar. But if you just put a palm lever unit on top of the spider of a resonator guitar which was not designed for it, you do run the risk of the top of the guitar sinking, which is what most people who've tried it have found in the past. Since a guitarist could come up with any one of hundreds of different designs of existing resonator guitars, designing an add-on unit that will work with all of them and be capable of being taken off if you want to restore the guitar to its original configuration, is an enormously difficult task.

Lee says that he will be pulling from the headstock, which should overcome the problems. I shall be interested to see how he does it, because the headstock is at the opposite end of the guitar to where the palm levers would normally be, and he'll be activating it via a pull on the strap, which means that he cannot have several different levers working individually.

Gene Parson's unit works completely different to the Multibender. The unit is usually buried inside a solid electric guitar. A Dobro has a lot more room inside, so putting one into a Dobro would seem to be possible, but getting it to pull complete chords doesn't seem possible.

Chris Templeton · Post by **Chris Templeton** » 12 Jul 2015 11:53 am

I think we are talking about the same thing. I just am referring to the "upward pressure" on the neck created by by increased tension on one or more strings, causing the rest of the strings to "drop".

Lee Rider · Post by **Lee Rider** » 12 Jul 2015 6:26 pm

We are only bending one string from the headstock utilizing the strap. If more than one string is bent then we will utilize pedals.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 14 Jul 2015 10:01 am

Chris Templeton wrote:I think we are talking about the same thing. I just am referring to the "upward pressure" on the neck created by by increased tension on one or more strings, causing the rest of the strings to "drop".

The neck on my instrument has a rectangular cross-section, and is more than twice as thick as a rounded neck. It's not going to bend under the tension of just six strings. I've built lap steels with as many as 16 strings with no problem of body warping. The main thing that influences the exactness of notes, other than where you place the tone bar, is the weight of the tone bar on the strings. The mere act of placing a tone bar on the strings pushes them down, and you have to add some pressure to that or your notes will rattle. No-one seems to ever mention this. $:\$

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 14 Jul 2015 10:06 am

As good as all these innovations are, the only real way to get all the facilities of a pedal steel guitar in an acoustic instrument is to build an acoustic pedal steel guitar, with or without a resonator. Then the main problem becomes silencing the mechanism, the pedals and the rods and bellcranks, which are not normally heard when you use a magnetic pickup.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 14 Jul 2015 11:04 am

The weak link here is the cone... it will sink down when the pull on the strings increases, no way around that. Make the cone stronger, mess up the tone. The ones at the Dallas show dropped around 8cents on the highest string.