Better than a "B" bender is a Palm Pedal

[johnny z]

I have a Bigsby Palm Pedal on a SG.

You can do more with it than a "B" Bender and it works sitting or standing.


[IMG][/IMG]

[claudel]

All you need to do is find one...

[Doug 54]

... and how $$ ??

[string pull]

more crack please!

[telex76]

I never had a bender I couldn't use while seated.
I know some people swear by the palm pedals, but they are just too much in the way for me.

[Alex W]

Originally Posted by claudel

All you need to do is find one...

true dat

[Brandon mac]

my bender works just fine sitting down. since your palm pedal bends the B string,and so does my forrest lee jr. bender,exactly how or what makes the pedal better?

[braderrick]

I just don't buy it, I don't wanna do anything with my picking hand but pick. Would also prefer a bender that is hidden a little more myself.

[Alex W]

I would love to have a Palm Pedal on my Gretsch hollowbody to take the place of the bigsby tremolo that I never use.

[Chet Johnson]

Originally Posted by braderrick

I just don't buy it, I don't wanna do anything with my picking hand but pick. Would also prefer a bender that is hidden a little more myself.

+1 100%

[bendecaster]

I also prefer using my picking hand for just that, but some have worked out pretty cool stuff with those palm levers. To each his own thang!

[Freight Twang]

No thanks on the palm bender and a hipshot as well....I'll stick with my PW and my Glaser..

[gumbo]

In the absence of a reply from Jerry, I'll at least have to put in a vote for the BPP..

[J. Hayes]

been on the west coast all month and just got back.... I love Bigsby Palm Pedals too. They're my favorite benders and have been since the early seventies. I currently have 7 guitars equipped with them including:

Gibson Les Paul
Gibson SG
Epiphone Sheraton
Epiphone Casino
Epiphone Riviera P-93
Epiphone Les Paul (two of 'em)....

The Sheraton and Riviera have gold palm pedals on them.... Also, I always cut off the G lever about a half an inch and move them closer to the bridge. Also the B lever(s) are a little higher than the G lever, they seem to work better that way..........

Here's some shots of mine as well as an old photo of me taken in 1976 with my old Gibson Trini Lopez guitar which had my first BPP attached.........JH in Va.

[gumbo]

...well Jerry, I was wondering where you'd got to....

[Ed Miller]

I had a palm pedal on my tele. No thanks. It worked well, but completely killed my ability to palm mute. I tried one with the levers cut down, but I didn't like the feel. I didn't blink twice about selling it and buying a hipshot. And I didn't even blink when I got rid of the hipshot.

I'm getting one from Bill Bores in a few weeks and then installing it.

[Chet Johnson]

Palm pedals seriously get in my way and interfere entirely with my picking hand. It would be an expensive paperweight for me. I will take a hands free bender anyday

[Silverface]

I played a Bigsby Palm Pedal for years on a '68 Tele and have been playing PW and Evans Pullstrings since the 70's. I've also had the EZ Bender put out by Epiphone, one-of benders and a Hipshot.

Of all of them the Bigsby was the most instrusive to normal guitar playing. I pick very lightly and move my hand from very close to the saddles to over the pickups for tonal nuances; I also do a lot of right-hand damping, not just to shorten notes or give them a thudding sort of sound, but to kill sympathetic vibration of other strings when I want a certain set of overtones working (especially when milking feedback on a long note).

None of that is possible with a Palm Pedal, and only a few work with the EZ Bender (where the lever sits back a bit further. My Hipshot had the 3rd string lever - which I swung permanently out of the way. The problem with the Palm Pedal is very simple - it gets in the way and you can't compensate for it unless you want to completely change you style of playing.

I've seen the modified versions with shorter levers - in fact I've PLAYED them. They're still in the way. The other thing you lose is being able to bend a note picked in a particular spot - you are locked into a very short range of picking positions.

Now, if you play with your right hand locked into a picking position in front of the bridge pickup 100% of the time (or don't mind if you have to) then they work, sorta - but still affect the angle of your picking and your dynamics.

All of the strap or hip-actuated units - PW's PG's, Glasers, Higgins, Hipshot, Evans, B&W, Bores, Shelton etc etc - free your right hand completely. You can play the guitar as if there is no bender on it at all if you want.

Not so with palm devices. They limit your technique, and that's an absolute deal-killer IMO.

[varakeef]

I like the G-lever on my Hipshot. It's small and it may be turned to point down. I hardly notice it when I don't bend with it.

[Larry Mal]

I own a Bigsby Palm Pedal, and haven't yet found what I would use it on. I may sell it here some day, but it won't be all that soon.

Because I think I like the palm lever action better, and am outfitting a Tele of mine with two Hipshot levers and no hip activated device. I have another Tele with the hip device and a lever, and I just seem to like the lever more. How I get on with two levers, I can't tell you. But again, I can just swing them out of the way and they'll be a conversation piece or something.

The fact is, I think string bending is a cool concept, but I had a Parsons-Greene bender, and never got any skill with it. I had to sell it. I now have the one Tele with all the Hipshot contraptions on it, but I haven't ever been happy with the bridge and rarely play it. That's all being worked out, but I'm not what you would call good at it.