Bender Reviews

I did some searching around here but was unable to find what I'm looking for...

I'd like to see reviews of the various benders that are available and the pro's and con's of each version... The good and bad of each model, learning curve to get confortable with its use, how the bender effects other aspects of your playing technique, etc...

What would be really great is to hear is feedback from someone who has spent time on many different versions of benders and really has a feel for which one would be best for each application/style/skill level/etc...

Cobbler,

I can tell you right now, everybody was an opinion on benders, and whatever version they don't have , they don't like. I have a Glaser style and a PW style and love them both, but use them differently, had a hipshot too at one time. Just need to play one and decide for yourself...

... had a hipshot too at one time....

That's sort of what I'm after... Why don't you have the Hipshot anymore? For your style, is it inferior to the PW or the Glaser? Or, is it the quality of the mechanics themselves?

I've never played one of the strap activated benders but they must be pretty good for people to be willing to cut up their guitars to put them on. I have a palm activated bender that seems pretty intuitive to me but I suppose there must be a benefit for the strap or hip activated bender for them to be so popular comparitively.

I'm strictly seeking knowledge here... I want some input from those who have "been there and done that".

Not all strap benders have to be gouged... B&W does it under the pickguard and bridge.. Minimally invasive...

I cannot compare my P/W to my B&W. They are totally different...

Search this forum and you'll find comments, reviews and analyses of just about every bender ever made and comments from real experts like Will Ray, Silverface, Brian F (I name them because I'm fortunate to have played with them) and a number of others. All I know about are lefty single and double Glasers, Parsons-Whites, and Hipshots.

I've had a bunch of bender guitars, and tried many others besides my own.

I started in 1996 with a brand new Fender AMSTD B bender tele. Parsons Greene bender. It was a great entry to benders, and over time I tightened the spring tension to avoid accidental bends, and added Graph techsaddles. Thestock steel saddle squeaks unless frequently lubed. I played this guitar with pickup swap and a few other changes for 13 years as my main gigging guitar. In 2007 I bougnt a second one and modded it similarly. Bills during a layoff eventually made me decide to sell the 2007.

Along the way I tried every bender I came across Hipshot , while inexpensive was an awkward motion to me. Parsons White was really nice but expensive from Gene Parsons. McVay was extremely well machined and Charlie is the nicest guy around.

I bought a Timara bendolero guitar from Tim Wallis as a backup bender guitar. I really like the Timara for its $199 price point for B AND G bender. Against a similar priced Hipshot, I also liked the hands free Timara versus a palm pedal which hinders my picking hand to actuate. Its also non invasive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G22os5SQ4I

I later built up a tele that I had Bill Bores install a hybrid B/G Parsons B, saddle G bender in. The Parsons style bender was flawlessly machined but I found that I didn't care for its slightly longer throw than the Parsons Greene to actuate the bend. Also, the G bender stuck many times and worked only on string tension, until I had Charlie Mcvay modify it with a tension adjustable return spring. It worked much better after this, but I found that I didnt use the G bender as much as I hoped, and don't care for the more restricted feeling of the lanyard connected to the belt loop.

I sold all of these through the learning process. I have a tele that I recently built that will be going to Charlie Mcvay for a short throw B bender. I also have a timara bender bridge coming that will go on another build , as a backup bender and working up more G bender licks.

Hope this answers something for you.

As Freight said, if you spend a little time on this forum, you'll find everything there is to know about benders, who makes them, who likes them, who doesn't, and why. It's a fountain of information, and I'll bet, the ultimate sight for guitar string bending....(not including steels).

The main problem is finding a guitar with a certain bender to actually look over, and play. You're not going to find most of these things in a store (maybe a Fender with a PG). There are some real nice people on this forum that would probably let you check out their bender guitars if you're close by! Heck, Will Ray will come to your house and move in! Probably worth it.

I have a B&G setup make by Forrest Lee Jr. Its based off the P&W style benders. I use the B all the time but never got used to the G which operates off of a strap that attaches to your belt loop. Its a good bender at a good price and Forrest usually has a fast turnaround. The man does not sleep. Forrest is also a really nice guy. When my guitar was sent out and got lost by the fine folks at the post office Forrest contacted me several times a week to keep me updated on the search for it.

My current project guitar is off having a McVay bender installed into a cool Tony Delacugo body I picked up. I am having a G bender put in that one. It should be back soon, its been out for about three months now. Sadly Mr Mcvay's brother died and then Charlie got an eye injury while in the shop so he running a bit behind. He's had a pretty rough summer. I'm going for the Brad P setup on this guitar, Charlie is even hooking me up with the same bridge and saddle set he does for Brad. Charlie is also a super nice guy and will take the time to answer all your questions on the phone.

I like both styles and would be hard pressed to pick one over the other. I decided to go Mcvay of the flaming body due to the fact that it is pretty non-invasive. I didn't want a string pull button in my flames.

While I am new to this forum, I am not new to B-Benders. In my opinion, the best deal for the money is the Parsons/Green -- it works relatively flawlessly, is easily available at most guitar shops, i.e. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc., in the Fender American Standard Nashville B-Bender. The biggest problem with it, frankly, is the guitar you get with it -- which is a rather sub-par Fender with pickups that don't shine and a neck shape and feel that really stands behind those being made by Fender's Baja shop. Eventually if you have the time and money you might want to sub-out the pups and install a better neck.

I have owned a Parsons/White b-bender installed from Gene himself and found it to be creaky and difficult to throw at times. Oil didn't fix these problems, so I sold it for a big loss. Will Ray's G&L uses a hipshot bender and it's also a clumsy mechanism that really bends the strings in only one direction and won't give you those great Clarence White licks you are hoping to hear on those classic Byrd's records. Will Ray's guitar also has funky pickups -- the z-coils just don't give you the classic tele tone you are looking for; it's a different beast altogether.

I think your asking a great question here and frankly speaking, I think nobody's stepping up to the plate because they are afraid of starting controversy with the other guy's B Bender setup.

I'm going to be as diplomatic as I can because these B Benders are a lot of money and I think there should be some opinions out there so the player doesn't invest a lot of money and time into a B Bender that he or she will be unhappy with.

(I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate mail about this one)

Okay here's my opinion for what it's worth:

I've tryed HIPSHOT with palm levers (still have it but took it off guitar)
Didn't like it because

1.) It affected the action of the guitar (made string floppy and the attack was lost)
2.) Always went out of tune.
3.) Restricted your ability to play because your compromising your picking hand by using the palm levers instead of focusing 100% on your picking hand.

The Bigsby Palm Bender
I only played a friends who brought it out to where I was performing - From what I remembered it was better for me than HipShot because:

It stayed in tune better and didn't alter the action of your guitar, but then again your right hand is working a lever that you have to hold and operate while your playing which to me was a drawback.

Strap Activated B Benders
Regaurdless if its a Parson Green, Parsons White, Evans. Or installers like Forrest Lee Jr.'s, Bill Warword's, or Charlie McVay's, Bill Bores or Larry Miletechs are all good.

Timara
I've heard a lot of guys talk this one down as if it was, an optional way to go if you didn't have the money for a conventional B bender - Think again -
The Timara B & G bender is the best bender out there in my opinion because
1.) It's hands free
2.) It stays in tune
Another myth about the Timara bender is that you have to sit down and play - Thats also not true. I stand up and play with guitar hung down to about where my belly button is and I use a Timara with no problems.

The Timara is also so good that I had my double B and G bender uninstalled and I had them replaced with a Timara bridge, then I had Bill Warford install his benders to not the B and G strings but to the High E and D strings.

Of course it's all about what you like and some guys love what they have and thats great. To each his own.

I hope I didn't offend anybody by my opinion.

No offense taken! That's what this forum is all about. I don't agree with btantillo on several of his opinions (if you've ever seen and heard Will Ray play his Z coils and Hipshot.....there ain't nothin' clumsy about it...and "classic tele tone"....what is that??), and I'm not sure I'd like the Timara, but they all do the job.....one way or another.

I have all types of bender guitars including......

6 equipped with Bigsby Palm Pedals (my favorite)

Telecaster with a P/W bender (my favorite guitar, not bender)

Schecter Strat w/ HipShot B & G bender. I like this bender better than the P/W. It used to be on my Tele before I had the P/W installed and I wish I'd left it on and got a P/W on another Telecaster of mine......

Ibanez "Lawsuit Series" Les Paul Jr. with a McEwan "Slingshot" bender. This is a very nice bender and is ativated by the strap like the P/W.

Epiphone EZ Bender. This one is installed on an old Memphis LP copy. It's made for a stud tailpiece guitar and is basically a clamp on palm pedal, easy to install and use.......

All that said, I use all of my instruments as I gig a lot here in Va. and I like to rotate my guitars so they won't get "jealous" of each other. My favorite guitar is my '83 Tele top loader with a P/W bender and it probably gets more time on the bandstand than any of the rest but my favorite bender is the Bigsby Palm Pedal. The BPP's biggest drawback to me is using it in fast tunes. My Monday night gig is a combination old country/bluegrass gig and we do a lot of up tempo 2/4 tunes. The BPP is fine to a point but then I can't get the licks out fast enough but with the P/W Tele I can because it's a fairly short throw.

I've taken the HipShot Strat to the same gig and haven't had any problem keeping up with the tunes with a bender at all.

The McEwan has a tendency to "roll" on my stomach when it's activated so I can't get the fast stuff as well with it either but I'm in the process of "fleshing out" the back of the LP Jr. to make it flatter so the guitar won't "roll" as much. (Or I could lose the gut! :lol:)

I don't own a Glaser but I have a friend who does and while I like the shorter throw I don't like the way the guitar "hangs" on you. I don't know who makes it but I've seen a bender on this forum which has the saddle pivot point like a Glaser but has the strap button like a P/W, that'd probably be a great bender.

Of all the strap benders I've seen, I think I'd really like to have an Evans at some point in the future but I've got to find the right guitar to put it in. I've just aquired a hardtail strat which I'd like to get a bender in but not sure of which one yet.

As for the Timara, while it's "hands free", I'm sorry but I think it looks "funny" with those levers on both sides of your arms, you're kind of "locked in place" as to how you can move your body and arms when you're playing. They operate great but it's just not for me.........

Lastly, if you play slide guitar, I like the BPP the best for that but the HipShot works well also. It's virtually impossible to play good slide with the P/W or any other push down bender as you have to keep the pressure down on the top of the neck and that hinders your slide movement up and down the neck if you want to play a series of moves with the bender engaged....

All the benders are good and all have their good and bad points, but they're all usable and will and a lot of good stuff to you sound no matter what type of music you play. I've even got some bender licks in a bossa nova tune called "Girl From Ipanema" which sound halfway decent, they're not just for country.............JH in Va.

Does anyone have an idea how to put a bpp on a goldtone lap steel? Or another type of bender? :smile:

Most lapsteels don't have enough "body" behind the bridge. I have seen some with D-berg benders though.

FWIW, I made an 'end bracket' not unlike the wrap-around endplate of a Hipshot, and used that so that I could locate my BPP right on the edge of the body of my Tele...

....made it out of 1mm thick steel plate..wraps around the edge of the body and picks up the strap button screw and is then further secured with two smaller wood screws into the edge of the body... direct pinch from the Hipshot :lol:

It was the only way I could get enough room behind the bridge...

The two butt-end fixing screws through my BPP mainframe are bolts that are threaded into a brass plate that is routed into the edge of the body, underneath the steel end bracket....

HTH

anyway you could put a picture of that on this thread. I'd love to have a BPP on a Telecaster. That'd be the guitar of my dreams for sure. Al Bruno in Las Vegas had a Telecaster with a BPP with the folding levers but he didn't like it as they were always loosening up and when you don't want 'em you had to fold them out of the way. I like to just grab a lever when I want it and not worry about folding it in or out. That's why I cut off the G lever on my HipShot (see picture) so I could just tighten it down and leave it in the same spot all the time..........JH in Va.

OK Jerry...here's a quick grab from the 'archives'...during the construction process when the bits were on my bench ...

pics show the 1mm steel main 'baseplate' that I made to go between the BPP and the face of the Tele body (it has the brass threaded block underneath the butt-end edge)..

The chopped out rough (since cleaned up!) cutout in the edge of the Tele body to accommodate the brass block.

The end-plate that wraps around the butt-end of the BPP mainframe and continues down over the edge of the Tele body to pick up the strap button (and subsequently two extra woodscrews..one either side of the button ala Hipshot.

The unit assembled on the guitar, and another shot to show the 'matching' jackplug plate that holds the 1/4" jack and the Roland 13-pin synth socket..hence the engraved lines on it and the BPP endplate to carry the 'theme' around the edge of the guitar..

HTH...

Happy to send more detailed info if you want to build one, but you will definitely need a lot more bandwidth than available here :lol: ...I took a swag of photos during the build..this is only the tip of the iceberg...:shock:


...and is it a fun guitar?? YES!!!!!

...but I'm still only just learning how to play it with all the other things happening around me at the moment....


Cheers from almost Springtime Oz..

..the remaining pics....

Timara
Another myth about the Timara bender is that you have to sit down and play - Thats also not true. I stand up and play with guitar hung down to about where my belly button is and I use a Timara with no problems.



Thanks Coolbreeze. I think the myth about having to set down to use them is because in most of my videos I'm seen sitting down while playing. The truth is, I'm just too lazy to stand up anymore lol.

I've tried most if not all the major bender designs. I like all of them. There's something positive to say about each one. The idea behind my design was simple. I just wanted to build something that I didn't have to modify my guitar and I noticed that when you push down on the neck of the traditional benders to stretch the B String your right arm stayed in place, so I used the leverage on the other side to do the same. And to raise the neck to get the G bend using the leverage of your right arm.

I would never say my benders are any better than anyone elses. They just happen to work for me. In fact, I've recommended other benders to customers because I felt that my design wasn't best for what they were looking for. I've said it before and I'll say it again... I'm a musician first and inventor second.

So my advice for someone looking to try a bender to look 'em all over and decide what's best for you. I think you'll find that most the guys here on the forum do try to help others and also try to give informative advice.

So what does everybody think about Evans' benders? There seems to be a lot of routing in the back of the guitar, but the design is innovative.

So what does everybody think about Evans' benders? There seems to be a lot of routing in the back of the guitar, but the design is innovative.


I’ll be happy to offer my opinion of the Evans’. I have two. The first one Dave installed for me in late 07, and the second, this spring. I did quite a bit of studying (while I was saving my pennies) and was intrigued by the design and the history of Evans’ Pull Strings (which were actually the first “production” benders). I was also impressed with the roster of players from the past and present that use them…..Albert Lee, Bernie Leadon, Al Perkins, Freddy Weller, some of our own TDPRI hot pickers, etc. I fugured these guys know their stuff!

I liked the idea of adjustable tension and throw (or “stroke”) length. You can adjust either in minutes. I like a rather strong tension, and a medium stroke length, which I was able to dial in exactly as I wanted. The “pull” is smooth and the pitch change is linear from beginning to end. Pitch adjustment is precise and rock solid.

As far as the routing is concerned, it’s neat and clean. There has been no change in tone / sound in either of my two guitars. The workmanship is impeccable, from the routing, machining and plating of the “bits”, to the threaded brass inserts holding the recessed back cover in place. These things will outlast me….my two sons will have them when I’m done.

I’ve owned (and played) other benders, including a Glaser that Joe installed for me back in the early 90’s. I liked them all but none of them match the Evans, in my humble opinion.

I might get some feedback from “Freight Twang”, who is convinced that I’m trying to get a job as sales manager for Pull String (just kidding Sammy….)!!! Dave and I have never met….I found out about him right here on the good ol’ B-Bender forum and we’ve become friends through the process of two installs. I just love these things and feel like sharing my experience with other bender players!

I have a vintage b-bender and it's been my #1 for a long, long time.

However, years ago I tracked down Balde and bought a palm bender direct from him. I found a closeout Gibson Melody Maker (one of the yellow single P-90 jobs) for $99 at GC. I put the palm bender on that and loved it. Just a ball. Transmission went out on the car and I sold it on FleaBay to a guy in England. Still miss it.

Anyone know where I could track down another palm bender? I'd love to put one on an SG!

"won't give you those great Clarence White licks you are hoping to hear on those classic Byrd's records."

Well,,, Not all of us are interested in emulating Clarence's licks. I love his playing, but have no desire to copy him. Got my Hipshot when Guitar Player reviewed it, early to mid Eighties. The only reason I bought it was to see how many steel guitar moves I could do with it. Just sort of a personal game. On stage, I only used my three toggles to pop into G tuning for bottleneck. If I wanted to play real bender guitar, I sat down behind my Kline U-12 pedal steel. But, as I said, we all have different approaches. The first time I played a guitar with the B and G tether system, I thought, "WTF?" I felt it too be the most uncomfortable, awkward approach,,, But,,,, I ain't normal! I guess it's what you try first, and what you are used to.

Knobby:

Jerry Hayes is the World Expert on unearthing BPPs..:lol:

...perhaps he will chime in here..unfortunately (as you may know) Dan Balde has now passed away and there doesn't seem to be any continuing supply chain of new items in existence anymore..

Those examples that do appear (outside of Forum members here and at the SGF) mainly are NOS occasionally on eBay and the like.. ...worth keeping an eye (or a 'saved search') on, if you are keen.

Good luck in the hunt, and keep us all informed as to whether you succeed.

Cheers from Down Here!

After seeing Will Ray back at the Palomino Barn Dance shows, I started with a lefty Hipshot installed by Dave Borisoff in Van Nuys in early 1990. The first install was a Glaser b in an ASAT Special in 1991, a Glaser b/g in an ASAT Classic in 1993, a Music One Parsons White in a Zion Tele in 2002 and a lefty Bill Bores Parsons White in another ASAT Classic in 2007.

Bill and Brian Friend have done excellent modification/repair work on several, including Bill's replacement of the Glaser-installed Gotoh bridge on the double. Brian modded the Zion from a short to a long throw.

The lesson is to try as many different ones as you can find. As a lefty I had to buy first. The general wisdom is that the Glaser saddle bender short quick motion works better for the Nashville style and the long throw Parsons (or Dave Evans) for the California style, i.e Clarence White and Bernie Leadon.

I play one ASAT Classic or the other (or both) every Sunday and more.



Cobbler,

I can tell you right now, everybody was an opinion on benders, and whatever version they don't have , they don't like. I have a Glaser style and a PW style and love them both, but use them differently, had a hipshot too at one time. Just need to play one and decide for yourself...