Product: Fritz Brothers Stringbender
Price Paid: USD 3200
Submitted
09/09/2009
at
10:35am
by
Brent Tantillo
Features
:
10
CLASSIC PARSONS/WHITE long stroke B STRINGBENDER
(manufactured and installed by Gene Parsons)
* Light alder one piece body
* Brown sunburst nitro cellulose finish
* Highly figured curly maple neck with ebony finger board
* Medium size frets, 12 inch radius fret board
* Stainless steel neck plate
* Stainless steel bridge with "Graphtec" saddles
* Stainless steel control plate
* Custom titanium nut
* Custom wound pickups (Fritz Brothers)
* Push/pull tone knob (seven pickup combinations)
* G&G premium hard shell case
Sound
:
10
This is where this beauty shines -- this guitar is the most tonally diverse of all my electrics, which includes a Fender Custom Shop '63 Tele and a VG Strat. With one twist of the tone knob, you enter a whole new territory on the guitar, and the same is true with the three-way connector switch. Add the stringbender into the mix, and the possibilities of the Parsons White Stringbender are endless. The tones are both vintage and modern, and the guitar's quality is obvious especially in its gorgeous curly maple neck and ebony fingerboard, and in the construction of the bender itself.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
No Opinion
With the exception of a few minor flaws discussed below, the guitar came in beautiful condition. The pickups were very well adjusted and easy to tell they're custom wound by their rich sound. As mentioned above, a slight dial of the tone switch changes things dramatically on this baby.
Reliability/Durability
:
5
This is where things got strange; with such a beautiful sounding guitar, I received it defective. The knob on the three-way pick-up selector switch falls off. Also, the tone switch appears to be a bit wobbly.
Customer Support
:
4
Initially, I was very pleased dealing with Roger and Christy Fritz, and Gene Parsons too (he's the best). They were friendly and easy to deal with while taking my order. However, when I expressed concern about the selector knob falling off, and asked them to send me a new one, they suggested I glue it on. Hmmm.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I've played guitar for 22 years, since I was 12. If I'd purchased it again, I probably would have had Gene install the G-bender, as well as the B, as having a custom installed Stringbender from Gene Parsons is very cool, and well worth the money. This is the first in line of these guitars, and Gene gave me the heads up when it came out. I love the fact that this guitar has both a vintage and modern vibe and sounds as good playing the Flying Burrito Brothers as Coldplay. I hate the fact that you pay a lot for an item and its not perfect, however, it gives me another excuse to visit Home Depot. I looked long and hard (too hard really) for a luthier who was working with Gene building new tele-type guitars, and Roger and Fred Stuart really are the two best out there, and for the money there really is no comparison. Roger has Fred beat, even though Fred has the Fender Custom Shop Legacy.
