One day Preston got a call from Lee Rider about a product he thought we might like to have as an add-on in our guitars. When Preston found out that Lee was working with Gene Parsons, the inventor of the b-bender, he was all ears. The history of Clarence White and his relationship with Gene is the stuff that history is made of and Preston was all about history and the details. Here is a bit more about Gene and the Acoustic String bender. https://www.stringbender.com/acoustic.php
At the time Lee called Preston he also told him that both Trey Hensley and Chris Luquette had been playing a D-18 that 
had an Acoustic ‘B’ StringBender installed and they had enjoyed learning how to make it work. So last year at IBMA, Scott Krashan from Fretboard Journal, took time to film both Chris and Trey playing our first Thompson StringBender and they talked about how it works and what fun it can be to figure out how to incorporate into their playing.
We are glad that things have come together for us to offer the Acoustic ‘B’ StringBender if you are interested in adding it into your Thompson guitar. Recently one of our crew members, David Peto, drove to the Fort Bragg area and met up with Gene to learn how to install the Acoustic ‘B’ StringBender into our build process instead of after the guitar is already built.
Fretboard Journal just released a podcast, as well as some video from IBMA, talking to Trey, Chris and Gene. We appreciate Jason and Scott taking the time to share this interesting invention that creates a way to enhance and play around with the sound of an acoustic guitar.
This idea is finally coming full circle and we know it was an idea that Preston wanted to see come to fruition – so thanks to all for making it happen so we can offer a bit of history to the next generation.
We look forward to having some more musicians try out the StringBender. If you are interested give us a call 541-581-6211 or email Christine@pktguitars.com.
