The Parsons White B-Bender had been in production for a few years and was getting some good publicity and use. In the early 1980's Joe Glaser had a different approach to bender guitar design.

    Joe's bender was different in two ways. The first and probably most obvious is the bender mechanism is hidden from external view on the rear of the guitar's body. The second difference is the bender mechanism or string puller is built into the saddle instead of a hub mounted behind the bridge. This second approach is very similar to how a pedal steel guitar string finger pull mechanism works. A close up view of this mechanism is available here. Many guitar players do not want the wood routed out of the rear of their guitar and prefer the Glaser design for this reason. The bender finger is also the string saddle. As the string is pulled, it winds or wraps around the finger. String pitch is changed as the tension is increased, by pushing the neck down. The top front strap button is no longer used. The strap button attaches to a lever, which is mounted behind the neck plate. A second bender lever is also located on the neck plate. Like the Parsons White, a small strap attaches to the belt loop but is activated by pushing the neck away from the body. Tuning adjustments are accomplished by a small knurled knob on the front of the body just below the neck.

    SteelBender Innovations is now reproducing the string benders based upon that invented by Joe Glaser. We have the tooling and machining required to fabricate the Glaser bender system. Please send us an email or call us a 281-894-8121. We would like to discuss your bender guitar needs.