Acoustic B-Benders now available............

[Jerry Hayes]

There's a guy in Texas named Richard Bowden (remember Pinkard & Bowden from Nashville Now? That's him)... Anyway, Richard makes B-Benders for all types of electric and acoustic guitars. He made the Epiphone EZ Bender and others. I just purchased a bender unit for my old Ovation acoustic. This was the easiest install of any I've ever seen. It just took a new set of strings. As you know, the Ovation strings go through holes in the back of the bridge instead of the bridge pins. With this bender unit you just hold it behind the bridge as it has holes that align to the bridge string holes and thread in both E strings to hold it in place. I then put the B string in and then the rest and tightened every thing down and tuned 'er up... I've got a couple of hours playing time on it so far and it's still in tune and the bender lever works flawlessly. Richard also makes an acoustic model for a guitar with bridge pins. You just remove the B or G bridge pin and the bender has a threaded shaft which you put down the pin hole and attach a wing nut and washer and then string it up and go. There's a demonstration of this one on Richard's website... Here's some shots of my Ovation with it's bender. He also makes a version which clips on the stud tailpiece of a Les paul or SG type guitar. I have one of those also. You might visit his website which I believe is www.bowdenbbenders.com .........JH in Va.

[Michael Maddex]

Looks pretty cool! There must be something in the air (or water) this year. I saw this (or something similar) advertised in a recent issue of GP Mag. I can't double check because I gave away the magazine. Anyway, in the same vein:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... tic-guitar

Enjoy!

[Jerry Hayes]

Hey Michael, on Richard's website there's a video of the installation of his benders on an old Martin and also one installed on that Washburn you cited with the B-bender. On the Washburn it was used as a G bender and he demonstrated using both type benders together..........JH in Va.

[D Schubert]

Jerry, that looks like it belongs on my D-28 but...

Does it work well with a 0.017 med-gage 2nd string, or do you have to drop down to a lighter string to get a good fluent tele-style bend?

[Jerry Hayes]

Hey DS.... Go to the website and you'll see the installation of the peg bridge model on a Martin, either a D-28 or D-18, and yes you'd have to downsize the 2nd string due to the extra length...JH in Va.