Would you put a bender in a cheap guitar?

I didnt vote because there was no option for neither dont put a bender on your guitar..

 

If the guitar is cheap enough, you don't need a bender, the neck will be plenty springy.

 

I didn't vote either... I would only put a bender in a guitar that I loved... Doesn't matter how expensive or cheap..

 

Got something I will put 'on' my CHEAP E-E 6 string bass... someday

 

I agree. I've had two Fender B benders, a timara, and A partscaster tele that I built and had Bill Bores put a hybrid B/G bender in. Just take a tele that you already like , maybe safe and put it in your "number two" tele. The bender will just make you like it more.

It has to be a quality guitar first. Playability and feel trump pickups, you can change those later.

 

planning on "bending" my Rondo double bound "blackie" that showed up yesterday, but an internal bender...???....not me. will use one of my HipShot B/G benders i have laying around; this is assuming the guitar sounds decent. i had extensive ear surgery yesterday and all i can do is look at it for now. i'm pretty sick today and have cotton and guaze packed in my left ear and couldn't hear an elephant fart if it was in a closet with me at the moment.

 

I'm with moonshiner and Chet. I'd only put one in a guitar that I love to play....doesn't matter how old or what it's worth.

Hope you feel better soon, bender-freak!

 

thanks, asat....

had this same surgery done on the right ear back in 03 or 04 and full recovery was several weeks and painful. procedure is called a tymplasty, i think, anyway, yesterday they made an incision behind the left ear, scraped "out" the mastoidal bone, took a piece of my own flesh from there, and "made" me a new eardrum for the left ear since there was a hole in the left eardrum, and put in a prostetic in the middle/inner ear for those tiny little bones (anvil, hammer, and stirrup??). will know in a week or so if it is successful or not. all i know right now is i hurt like crazy, and am more than just a little "fuzzy" on stuff. if ya all find "typos or insanity" in my replies today, just ignore it as i am HIGHLY medicated right now.

back to the original topic, i suppose what i tried to say was, yes, i WILL "bend" the Rondo IF it sounds okay and plays okay; if it sounds like crap, then no, i won't. it's a $109 guitar, but "looks" nice and i LOVE double binding. the intonation seems to be really okay straight outta the box from what tiny little bit i can hear, but the 9s on the guitar really suck, big time. it will get 9.5s or maybe even 10s just as soon as i am a little more firmly planted in reality.......

 

perfectly put.

 

In the end, once you bond with a bender, you're gonna want it and miss it. Best to install on a guitar you love and enjoy playing. Hipshots aren't a irreversible modification, but many prefer the streamlined installation of an internal bender.

Once I got hooked on my 2001 American Nashville B-bender, I had Gene Parsons install his acoustic bender in my cherished 1985 Alvarez-Yairi DY90 dreadnought. That was a big decision, but never regretted it.

When I play my PRS in songs that need a vibrato arm, I miss the Tele..... so now I'm thinkin' of putting a Bigsby on the Nashville B-bender, just so I can cover more bases. Get it done on a worthy recipient.....you won't be sorry.

 

If you're speaking parsons/green or parsons/white, if I was doing the install myself and wasn't sure of my abilty, I would definitely do it on a cheapie first, then a nice one later. I did my own P/G but there are a few steps in doing it that, if weren't done exactly correct, could have ruined that guitar. I got lucky on my first but studied instructions well first, took accurate measurements, and used proper tools.

 

If you use Hipshots, they're cheap enough to put on all your guitars. I've put 'em on cheap $75 guitars as well as $5,000 ones.

And the beauty is - you can always take them off and put 'em on another guitar on another day.
WR

 

Unless you have the skills to do it yourself internal benders are just too costly to put on a cheap guitar.

 

I didn't vote, but I would absolutely put a bender in a cheap guitar if I really like it. The price of a guitar does not always equal quality, or feel. I have a couple of less expensive, no name Tele's that I would put against alot of the more pricey guitars (I have done some mods to them, and they play and sound great), that will be getting benders when I get enough money to have them installed. Just my $.02

 

I abstain.

My take on B-benders...of which I have several different types on varied guitars...is that they are too often thought of as an "effects pedal" that's mechanical instead of electronic - a "gadget" to use at certain times to play "look at me" licks or specific song parts. Most of those who diss benders seem to have that type of perception (the ones who claim "I can play any bender lick without a bender" put me in convulsions. And also make me money at head cutting jams.....

They *can* be used like that, becoming $1,000.00 gimmicks for sporadic use: "We're gonna Play "Peaceful Easy Feeling" - please wait while Jimmy-Bob grabs his bender guitar" (only to to have Jimmy-Bob immediately put it down after that tune and pick up his Roadworn Strat).



IMO B...or G...or E or whatever benders are not "effects" - they are part of an integrated system just like a guitar with a trem, or a series switch, drop-D tuner, whatever (although the bender is FAR more "integrated" and a "part of the whole".)

It's part of a musical tool. Adding one to a cheap guitar is fine - if the cheap guitar plays and sounds good and the bender can be integrated into your style to the point where **you barely know it's there...until it's not**.

ANY guitar with a bender is a different musical instrument from a guitar that doesn't have one.​

It's not a guitar - it's a bender guitar, and perceptive players who understand the concept (as if they were a trumpet player picking up a cornet) use the bender as part of their personal approach and blend it seamlessly into *their* style of playing. Note the word "perceptive". It's not the same as "skill". You could have all the guitar chops in the world and be a terrible bender player. OTOH you can be moderately skilled but REALLY grasp the concept - and be a distinctive, stylistic player without needing flashy chops.

I'll use Bob Warford as an example. Bob is the first one to admit he's not a "hot licks" player and is not a walking encyclopaedia of fancy guitar licks.

What he is is one of the two creators (along with the best-known, Clarence White) of popular b bender playing. They created something that didn't exist, but the bender itself did NOT change their playing style that much, just the method of "getting to it". Most players familiar with Bob can pick up his playing in 3-4 NOTES, bender or not. Attack, timing, note choices...there's a litany of stylistic maneuvers that define a "real" player and keep him distinctly apart from "copyists".

If a bender enhances that quality without overshadowing other elements (again, the "seamless" aspect) it's the right thing to use.

I play my bender-equipped instruments differently than my...well, Trussart, or '63 Jag, or '54-ish Strat.

But I STILL (for better or worse) play like me, and I'm very recognizable. When I play bender it's integrated into a style that uses that tool transparently. When I play sans bender I might play EXACTLY the same "notes" - but without bends.

It's a perception that causes me to be repelled by PG-equipped "Nashville Teles", where the concept is (paraphrasing a few Fender marketing folks from a few years ago) "let's make a Tele with a middle pickup for that Albert Lee type sound - and let's toss the cheap bender unit on it, promote it for "faux steel", use "Nashville" in the name and laser-focus it on the country market."

The thought being Tele...or Strat...country players would buy a Nashville for their "bender Jonesing" and get Albert Lee tones to boot.

In other words - increase sales of "spare guitars".

Don't put a bender on a cheapo. Or a primo stock high-end new guitar. Or your favorite '54 Tele. At least not based on the "price level" of the guitar.

Collectability aside, if you've played benders and you hear things in your head that you can't play without one that are NOT copy-licks but your own creations, have a bender installed in the best damned guitar you have, because you already "feel" how it will tun into a "not a Tele".

If vintage value is an issue - and I strongly suggest NOT modding vintage guitars - get the Custom Shop to make you a clone of YOUR guitar and then have the bender installed by whoever you want (Mur did exactly this with his almost carbon-copy of Clarence White's original bender). An alternative choice would be to play a hundred similar Teles to your "baby" and when you find THE one buy it on the spot. Then (again) have whatever bender installed you want. Because you're being called to it.

If you answered the poll you probably don't need one at all. The unfortunate part is - you probably still don't understand why.

 

+1, Silverface...

 

I didn't answer the poll because I would have liked to see a few more choices listed. I agree with much of what Silverface had to say. But I think the Nashville B-Bender is a good option for a lot of players. Fender made a bender that was more affordable to build than their previous Custom Shop benders, and more affordable to buy. For folks who like to mod their own gear, there are other, probably better options. (If you said the new Pawn Shop series is purely about marketing, I'd be inclined to agree!)

 

Another +1, Silverface ... I would say that pretty much placed the whole thing in perspective. BTW~ haven't heard of Bob Warford thanks for the tip I'll be checking him out.