Having a bender feels like...

being a member of an exclusive club...

TRUELY !

not knowing the password to get into the club

...I'm going to destroy my back. Mine is freakin' HEAVY!

Yeah it's cool for a while, but take a look at this graph from a study in the Journal of Auxiliary Tuning Devices:

Yeah it's cool for a while, but take a look at this graph from a study in the Journal of Auxiliary Tuning Devices:

Funny, BUT I would say having a bender feels like - being in beginners music class again. I've had my bender for almost 2 years now and I'm always discovering new ways of playing old lines - and...loving it!

Yeah it's cool for a while, but take a look at this graph from a study in the Journal of Auxiliary Tuning Devices:

Looks just like the graph showing the frequency of tasteless and grossly overused bender licks in the first weeks/months of owning one. :mrgreen:

Ig, ha! Exactly what I thought.

(Full disclosure: I am not a member of the club but admire it greatly)

a pox on what that graph shows..!!!..been bending myself for over 25 years, and am still learning different ways to do stuff; am still being constantly upstaged by other bender players.....i seriously doubt that any bender player is ever going to reach the "peak of the curve" or "the end of the learning cycle"....

Having a bender feels like I've got a little trick up my sleeve..... "tasteless and grossly overused bender licks".....I don't know about "tasteless" but, I'm quite sure I'm guilty of using the "grossly overused" licks! As b-f says, the learning never stops. If you want to listen to something to aspire to, take a listen to telesavant's stuff. Quite amazing player, that one.

Having a bender feels like I've got a little trick up my sleeve..... "tasteless and grossly overused bender licks".....I don't know about "tasteless" but, I'm quite sure I'm guilty of using the "grossly overused" licks! As b-f says, the learning never stops. If you want to listen to something to aspire to, take a listen to telesavant's stuff. Quite amazing player, that one.

telesavant is EXACtly who popped into my mind when i saw/read that graph....i really doubt anyone has/will hit the absolute limit with bending; too many different options available, too many different styles/approaches...the hack that i consider myself to be, i have four different bending systems in addition to my fav, the Hipshot..they all do different things and require a somewhat different technique from each other....

back to the original topic, to me NOT having a bender on a tele, les paul, 335, strat; whatever would be like trying to play with only 4 or 5 strings..."bending" is part of what i do and enjoy....

Having a bender feels like I've got a little trick up my sleeve..... "tasteless and grossly overused bender licks".....I don't know about "tasteless" but, I'm quite sure I'm guilty of using the "grossly overused" licks! As b-f says, the learning never stops. If you want to listen to something to aspire to, take a listen to telesavant's stuff. Quite amazing player, that one.

I looked at that graph and thought....Aww $*#t!... now I have to learn 22 more licks. Thanks asatfan, Bender-freak for an honorable mention.... though, you're much too kind...
www.myspace.com/paulmcewen

Just today I got my homebuilt b bender working as a bender. Nearly the culmination of a 10 week build from scratch project.

If you CS, think you're in an exclusive club on your side of the pond, get an idea of how I feel with a working, passable imitation of a Parsons White long stroke, in a very Tele like guitar, in the UK!. B benders over here are rare and the integrated (not bolt on PG) almost unseen. In this country even amongst guitar players the term "b bender" will get 9 "what's that?" to 1 "Oh yeah, I know".
So 40 years after buying the Untitled LP, seeing Clarence with the Byrds live and thinking "how the hell does he do that?" I've now got the basic guitar, but not a fraction of the ability, in fact I've never even handled a bender guitar till yesterday.
Some would say "how illogical", but with 9 self build or much modded projects behind me and an unhealthy attack of GAS, I had to do it!

Some of you will understand!.

More work needed, setup and wiring, but that's fairly straightforward compared to all the routing and metalwork!.
Finally, sorry beep.click but the guitar weighs 7lb 3oz, light for a b bender?.

Maybe some pics in a week or so, if anyone's interested.

Yeah, JayBee! The more the merrier! We really want to see pics.....especially of a home built bender!