Where/how does your Hipshot sit?

[SixStringSlinger]

I have a Squier Tele I put a Hipshot on. It sounds great but I'm not enjoying using it very much, and I think at least part of the problem may be how I have it set up re. where it sits on me and how I engage it.

So how do you have yours? I'm talking everything: How high your guitar sits, how you insert the bar (does it bend toward you, away, at some angle...), what motion you use to engage it/what part of your body touches/pushes it.

 

[SixStringSlinger]

Pardon a bump.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

A Hipshot what? Tuning machine, D-tyner, tailpiece, trem? They make a few different items.

 

[SixStringSlinger]

Sorry, a B-bender.

 

[danfalck]

I have the bar clamped inward and I push it with my hip. I think I end up moving my hip more than I pull the guitar toward my hip.
One thing I did to make the setup rock solid (and stay in tune better) was drill holes through the top plate and screw it down to the front of my telecaster in addition to driving two screws through the holes in the butt end. I even removed the felt that was under the unit. I also put a small drop of blue locktite on the fine tuning thumbscrews.
Johnny Falstaff has a few videos on how he uses his Hipshot, in case you're interested:

 

[Silverface]

So how do you have yours?

All my straps are set so the guitar is at the same height whether I'm standing or seated, and I taught all my students to do things that way. Keeps the feel consistent.

I have one Hipshot, on a Custom Shop Will Ray model I got from Will - but I have had several others, and set them all up the same way - the bar is set with the extended portion at the guitar's centerline (on Teles, ASATs, Strats etc) - BUT...

...I slip 1.5" diameter pipe insulation over the bar cut just short of where it would contact the guitar body, and install a drilled tennis ball on the end of the bar. The padding and ball make it far more comfortable and controllable to use, especially for slow, drifting, off-beat bends played in the Clarence White/Bob Warford/Al Perkins style.