Strange Bender

About a year ago, give or take, there was a prototype bender from one of the more familiar Bender manufacturer/installers. It was completely isolated in the neck, with the changer on the headstock (not a Higgins type). A rod ran through the neck, under the FB, and the strap lever attached at the neck-plate ala Glaser. Does this ring any bells with anyone?

I had a silver sparkle amer. standard tele with a Shelton B-Bneder that i foolishly traded off a couple years ago. It had the "lever" at the neck plate as you describe, but the "rod" you mentioned ran through the body. I'm not quite getting the "rod through the neck" you are describing.

Sorry, not much help here, I know.

The entire bender was in the neck. It pulled the string at the headstock, and was actuated at the strap. None of the bender mechanism was in the body of the guitar.

there is only one other "headstock" bender unit i can think of, and somwhere out in all my stuff i have one in a plastic baggie. it was called a "Huggo" B- Bender. i found two of them some guy on Ebay was getting rid of, got them both for $10 plus shipping, kept one, sent the other to my buddy and fellow bender player John Short in Australia; this was about 8 years ago. they attached directly to the B string peg and had a "rod" that extended past the edge of the headstock that you would hook the strap to. they could be used literally on ANY guitar, six on a side, three on a side, a four + two tuner headstock, acoustic or electric; made no difference. could one of those possibly be what you are thinking of?

i haven't any idea where in all my stuff it could be or i would try to drag it out and get a pic, my garage is literally crammed with boxes and boxes of guitar parts and car parts, and the "Huggo Bender" was quite small. it could be ANYwhere out there...sorry.

last time i did a "google" search to find any info about them, i found nothing.

again, i'm not much help.

Thanks for the replies. I know the Huggo. The one I was referring to was unlike anything else i've ever seen. It was a one off, and completely internal, save for the changer, which looked sort of like an oversized string guide at the headstock. I'll keep searching. Cheers.

i said "Huggo"; think it was actually "Hutto".

I think what you may be describing is called a Brad Bender where there is a plunger that the string passes through. It's located on the headstock but I don't believe it runs through the neck. I think it connects to a pedal on the floor via bicycle cable or something.
Is this what your talking about?

http://youtu.be/4TQlqRLtaKs

Not a Brad bender, but thanks for replying.

If I'm not mistaken I remember seeing it on ebay. It was made by Gregory I believe. I remember thinking what the !!!!

oops

If I'm not mistaken I remember seeing it on ebay. It was made by Gregory I believe. I remember thinking what the !!!!

I think it may've been the Gregory!!! thanks!

Probably talking about a "Hutto", built by my good friend Ray Hutto from Augusta, Ga. There was an instructional video by Ray and his son, Westley Hutto, (who was later killed in a tragic motorcycle accident). Westley was an accomplished country guitarist, who put his dad's bender invention to GOOD USE in his band, "Borderline".
Incidentally, Ray's father was the master luthier who built all those great Hutto bluegrass mandolins.
Guess it's in the genes.

Don't think I'd want my neck messed with. If you had a slim C neck with a truss rod where would there be room for anything else without seriously compromising strength of the neck.

Don't think I'd want my neck messed with. If you had a slim C neck with a truss rod where would there be room for anything else without seriously compromising strength of the neck.

I have to agree. Putting a bender mechanism into a neck is a deal breaker for me.

I actually like the idea of a Higgins type bender on the headstock. I would like to see that idea taken a few steps further.

Will Ray

I always wanted to try running something like a low E string of a guitar, used as a cable to work a peg bender. That could run in the truss rod cavity with room to spare. That way you could have the best of both worlds, a strap activated bender with a vibrato tailpiece that fully functions with all 6 strings.

IMO,
Raybob

A bender with the mechanics concentrated in the neck might be cool, though. you could make any similar guitar a bender guitar (with no permanent alterations) by just switching the neck... hmmm

"I always wanted to try running something like a low E string of a guitar, used as a cable to work a peg bender. That could run in the truss rod cavity with room to spare. That way you could have the best of both worlds, a strap activated bender with a vibrato tailpiece that fully functions with all 6 strings."

Raybob, Bill Warford is putting a b-bender in my Strat and it will have a fully funtional floating bridge, he does them all the time. B & G Benders.com Will