The Steel Guitar Forum

Good morning, I just got the above lap steel. I've been told that one can change the bridge & nut to rolling to put palm levers on that particular guitar. Wondering if anyone has done this with the SX Lap Steel? I must say I was extremely pleasantly surprised with the quality of the instrument for the price. I'm pretty confident that it's solid wood too(as it is heavy), and not particle board like a lot of the inexpensive instrument manufacturers.

When you put benders on guitars you are looking at the quality of the remaining pieces... if your bender depends on the old bridge, the cheap bridge will not work well... needs to be at least rounded (like a Stringmaster etc)... I had a Morrell that was just a piece of aluminum angle with sharp edges, yuck.

Also, the nut and tuners will come into play. I have no experience with this guitar so someone else should chime in... putting a bender on a guitar that won't hold a tune is a recipe for frustration. The best benders come with roller nuts... a pedal steel is the ultimate evolution of this.

There are many youtubes showing the Certano bender showing also specifically with the SX. You can buy the both the roller bridge and palm benders as a package for a combined discount..

I bought his bridges for a steel restoration/upgrade.

The new parts will probably be equal to your guitar purchase price.

The Certano stuff is well made and probably one of the more popular choices.
I put a double bender on a guitar but now thinking I'd prefer it on a lap steel, as it occupies the right hand more than I like at this point when playing guitar. A true B bender ...like the Glasier Bender is probably a better choice for guitar but much more costly. But it's a B and G bender both...versus just a single bender normally seen on guitars. You can easily add as many benders desired on a lap steel. A couple other brands too...but I can vouch for the Certano quality.
The palm benders should be a good lap steel choice.
Again..check YouTube. There are probably 50 videos ...some nice performances.

I really don't know if the SX is a good candiate for a bender not having gone there, but I have one of these 6 bangers and it's substantial chunk of ash wood. FWIW, I think they are a great value on any level....play and sound really good. IMO.

If you can fit the bender on it, should work just fine.

Cool. Thanks guys. I actually ordered the Certano bender kit that comes with rolling nut and bridge. Looks like it's going to fit.

well, I did it. I'm pleased with it. David Certano makes top notch stuff!

Cool Beans Nathan! I'm thinking of putting one of these on my SX 6. Is there a specific model that fits these guitars? How was the installation?

Thanks, JO.

Jerry Overstreet wrote:Cool Beans Nathan! I'm thinking of putting one of these on my SX 6. Is there a specific model that fits these guitars? How was the installation?

Thanks, JO.

So, I ordered the "COMBO TRIO" which consists of rolling bridge RRB2 and rolling nut RRN2 and 2 benders. Turns out the RRN2 will not work on the SX guitar(not the 8-string anyways as the Certano nut is easily 1 to 1-1/2" wider than the nut/nut slot). In hindsight I wish I had just ordered the bridge and benders. I considered returning to David but the shipping is more than I would get back for returning it. May try to sell the rolling nut but haven't decided yet. For your 6-string I would start out ordering just the bridge(RRB1) and benders. I would do what I did not do and measure the nut width on your guitar before you order the nut.

Concerning the install, had a difficult time with the screws but that was due to lack of proper tools. Then installing the bender, the placement of it per David's template put it right over the leg plate on the bridge end of the guitar. Once we figured that out, we got it fixed. Might need to be revisited at some point but is solid and holding at the moment.

Thanks for the feedback Nathan. Very helpful.