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John Osborne is one of modern country music’s most notable champions of the B-Bender. But had he taken some friendly advice early on in his career, he might not have made it such a key part of his sound.
Earlier this year, Fender launched Osborne’s signature Telecaster, which came loaded with its first in-house B-Bender system.
The gadget, which leverages a spring mechanism attached to the strap button, is used to – you guessed it – bend the B string a whole step to emulate the sound of a pedal steel. It’s a core part of the country music sound, and one that Osborne developed an affection for early on.
“I heard a solo on the radio on an Alan Jackson song, and I thought, ‘Who is bending that note so perfectly?’” Osborne remembers in the new issue of Guitar World.
“The song is called Who’s Cheatin’ Who? It has these bends that are so snappy, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I learned how to do it with my fingers, but could never quite get the sound right.”
It was only later, after watching a video of Brad Paisley and doing extensive research, that Osborne realized he was missing a trick. The B-Bender. The only problem was, he couldn’t afford one.
It didn’t matter, though. Osborne got so good at emulating a B-Bender with his hands that he managed to fool everyone – even Paisley's guitar tech at a later gig.
“I remember opening up for Brad Paisley in his early career, and his tech was joking with me, ‘Don’t do the B-Bender thing. That’s Brad’s thing,’” Osborne recalls. “Then he looked at my guitar and was like, ‘Wait, you don’t have one!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I had to learn how to do it like this.’”
Eventually, Osborne did get his hands on a B-Bender, and he’s never looked back since.
“When we recorded [the Brothers Osborne]'s second record, Port Saint Joe, a phenomenal Tele player/artist/songwriter/producer named Keith Gattis – a dear friend of mine who passed away [in 2023] – let me borrow his B-Bender,” he continues. “And when I played that on the record, I realized, ‘This is so much fun.’”
“I finally could get all of the sounds I heard, and it came very naturally because I learned how to do a lot of those things with my hands. After that, I became obsessed with B-Benders.”
Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features a comprehensive celebration of the Telecaster’s 75th anniversary – complete with new interviews with John 5, John Osborne, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and more.
