The dude who makes those drop tuners also makes benders and all kinds of gadgets. I've seen him demonstrate them live, and it is pretty amazing what he can do with all of his gadgets.
@@samuraiguitaristwhy do these companies only make B and G benders?! Why not make benders available for the other strings?! I guess they are stringist lol. 😂 But all jokes about “string racism” aside, it’s either either a gadget that bends all 6 strings or just the B and/or G. Is there a reason they don’t make such a gadget for the other strings? Really cool you found a bender of any kind for an acoustic guitar and bonus points that it uses the peg holes. I hope it won’t cause a guitar’s soundboard, bridge, and/or saddle to get damaged in the long run with the added string tension - even the neck. Would be curious to check back down the road to see if you’ve left it on a guitar consistently and whether there’s any visible signs of cracks, bowing, etc. Love all the other gadgets you found too!
@@samuraiguitarist I have a course/video content idea! recently got a D’addario partial capo for DADGAD in standard and some other tuning when it’s flipped. A whole $8 bucks was so inspiring just trying to use familiar chord shapes and noddle around - but I don’t quite know what to do to make some really good music with it beyond that. Can you do a YT episode about various partial capos and why a player might want to use one instead of changing the guitar’s tuning with the pegs. Can you take that a step further and perhaps even make lessons that show people how to get the most out of various types of partial capos and how to use them to make some sweet tunes in different styles of music? I think you did a video with a spider capo a very long time ago, but let’s do a deep dive on the types of partial capos out there, which brands make the best ones that hold tune well and are easy to adjust, which ones might be gimmicky vs musically sound, etc. You could even do a module about how to use full and partial capos on acoustic vs. electric. P.S. I call dibs on free access to this course if you use my idea! 😬😉👍🏻🙏🏻😇🎸
My very first fuzzbox, close to 60 years ago, involved taping a Canadian nickel to the surface of my acoustic, below the bridge, roughly where volume and tone knobs would go, if it was electric. The nickel had just the right mass, and was hanging loosely, such that it vibrated in sympathy with whatever I was playing.. I suppose it would sound disappointing these days if I tried it again, but it let me play "Satisfaction" for myself, and some of the tunes from "Rubber Soul". I also found I could get a droning sitar sound if I removed the saddle from the bridge. I was first introduced to Palm Pedals by none other than Ted McCarty, the man who people credit with Gibson's golden era and introducing their flagship models. I had stopped for the night in Kalamazoo, during a cross-country drive. I paid a visit to Parson's Street facility where Gibson was shutting down operations. Inquiring about getting a replacement spring for my Bigsby, I was told that Bigsby was just on the other side of the highway, and they'd have one. Hustling over, I was greeted at the door by the esteemed Mr. McCarty, who had left Gibson years earlier to head up BIgsby Industries. He enthusiastically began pulling boxes off the shelf to show me. Among them was a gleaming gold-plated 3-level palm pedal. I had never known such things existed. Left an impression on me, that's for sure. He gave me his business card, which I have framed.
If anyone has a top loading telecaster, you can make a DIY bender by drilling and bending the handle of a tea spoon. If you’re handy with a drill and a grinder, you can make it swivel so it doesn’t get in the way of regular playing. Jank but it works.
The fingerstyle guitarist Adrian Legg uses those drop tuners on multiple (if not every) string. He will drop and raise tunings several times during a song, and the effect is beautiful
@@dennishuffman3195 I think you're right! I remembering hearing that he used banjo tuners. I relistened to Guitar For Mortals, and was remembering seeing him live, he's really great
The spring thing is hilarious to me given that anyone with a floyd rose bridge typically wants to get rid of the noise from the springs. It's genuinely hilarious that someone would want to add it to a guitar that doesn't have that problem lol
One of my favorite guitar players (Robbie McIntosh) mounted a dual bender on his Dusenberg and he played it on a demo video for the Jackson Ampworks Britain 2.0…..my word it sounded so good! Jimmy Olander (another fave) uses two benders on his electrics. His style of playing is out of this world. Go, look them up and listen for yourselves!
You can get the aquaspacer effect by playing guitar on a sofa (if it has springs). Resting the guitar body against the frame will transfer the vibrations through the sofa until they hit the springs.
I, too, have been playing for close to 45 years. I am much more of a bass player than a guitar player, and I pretty much only do the two things as a hobby more than professionally. But like you, while I don't do outright "percussiony" things via slapping the body of the guitar, I will make my pick do kind of "percussiony" things in my playing, plus some string-slapping with either the heel of my right hand or sometimes the fingertips. When I play upright bass (my principal instrument), and when I'm doing certain styles of playing, I find myself slapping the strings on beats 2 and 4, if for no other reason than to shorten the pizzicato. Also like you, I really admire those who can "beatbox" on their guitars!
I like the idea of the spring reverb for touring - rather than bringing along a reverb pedal and cables and battery, any of which could die at an inopportune moment, just install the spring in your guitar before you leave home.
I like the idea of the spring reverb. Not all of us are ever gonna record something or play to audiences, and most certainly wouldn't do that all the time. I pike the analogue options when I sit at home
The first time I saw Tommy Emmanuel on PBS, I couldn't comprehend how he could have such destructive pick damage on the guitar top BEHIND the bridge. When I saw his percussive playing technique, I finally caught on. I wonder how often he has tops replaced.
I've been using the Sam Jam snare for a couple of years along with a foot tambourine that I removed the strap and attach every gig to the cutaway horn with the very same funtak that the Sam Jam uses. I don't play like those finger-tap folks-- I use the snare the same way I was pounding the pick guard during my strumming. What I really need at this point is enough foot discipline to trigger a kick on the right beat.
As a bass player, learning to fake a snare hit on 2 and 4 takes a bit of dedication. Normal melodies you'd syncopate become new challenges to figure out with your right hand (or left for lefties). IDK how much time you put into your final groove, but the fake snares were pretty good, IMO.
That was a pretty little diddy towards the end! I agree, benders are nice for that faux steel pedal sound without going too much into Conway Twitty town.
When I was in college, Brad Davis, who was in Marty Stuart's band at the time, came and did a workshop. He had this crazy b-bender contraption hooked up to his acoustic guitar that was operated by a foot pedal and some sort of hydraulic tube connected to an apparatus on the tuner. (see it here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4TQlqRLtaKs.html ). While he was telling us about it, he mentioned that it had gone through several iterations, one of which was a strap operated thing that pulled the tuner post (the part that the string winds through) back through the headstock from the back of the neck. He said that wasn't the best design, as one night while he was shredding on some fast bluegrass tune the string busted and that tuner post flew out and smacked some poor old lady in the head. She had to go to the hospital and get stitches. These seem safe by comparison.
I think the snare actually sounds great! Maybe the maker (or you) can switch to strong magnets so it can be quickly removed and added as needed so it's not always there rattling.
Agreed Thinking one could position it better so your palm/wrist or fingers rest on it while you strum the strings, but of course that's not going to be conducive for *every* player
Those B benders could allow a player to have a David Gilmour-style bend sound on an acoustic. His bends on electric are...legendary.... Might be nice to see what three of them sound like on a B-G-e-string lead break.
The b-bender seems interesting, but $250? That's just a silly price. I mean, so high that there's no real justification for it at all. I could afford that, but don't enjoy willingly letting someone rip me off. lol
I am a pedal steet guitar player, and appreciate that the benders replicate pedals 1 & 2 on the steel. Something that dropped the E strings a half step would give the majority of the changes we steel players actually use (from an open 'E', you have access to Esus, C#m, and Amaj now. Adding the D# bender gives you G#m, D# half diminished, and B7 chords. That's six is seven chord degrees without moving your left hand.). However, the bumping noise on these Bowdens is so loud that you likely have to treat it as a percussive effect as well, which surely limits its value. Consider putting some soft silicone, or velvet covers on the levers, which might help some
Decades ago (likely 30 years), I had a contraption that connection onto the outer body with springs inside (braced on the back end and bridge). It worked as well and sounded as good.
Great review. And isn't it cool how truly innovative additions can reignite your enthusiasm in playing? Love you man. Leave the percussion to the percussionists - you play too well!
There is a different drop tuning gadget called the "pitch key", which is easier to install and works on most guitar because it just holds on to the strings. It works by twisting a knob and its adjustable from 1/2 step to 1 1/2 steps.
i dont know man they work really good on floyd rose and 2 point tremolo systems on fender guitars if you remove the back cover and you play a chord you usually hear the springs ringing out in the back cavity, the acospacer is genius not only does it give you reverb but it also gives you slightly more volume
The bender device reminds me of a B bender Telecaster. Not sure what the snare thing does besides make a less pleasing sound than hitting the guitar body directly. It looks like a drink coaster. Spring reverb thing seems hard to install (makes me think of losing a pick in the sound hole) and I'm not sure if the amount of reverb is adjustable. Props to designers for trying to do something different, though.
I don't remember the company, but they did make a spring based reverb system for acoustic guitars back in the early nineties. The difference was it was a black rectangle that was secured by a sort of comb under the bridge rather than magnets and to the face of the guitar behind the bridge (magnets and having inside the guitar is much better.) Sonically, I remember it being identical. I believe they disappeared for the same reason: If you record or amplify, you can add reverb anyway. Pretty much the only use is practicing in a small, acoustically dead space.
Yeah, I had one of those. I pretty much never used it. Even the lightest touch anywhere on the body or neck of the guitar would set it off. Very noisy device.
What Clarence White and Gene Parsons did with the Telecaster was amazing but it seems a less invasive gadget would keep you from ruining a good guitar.
Well that was pretty fun! I totally get not really vibing with the reverb and snare- when I'm playing acoustic I try to eliminate any rattling noises 😁 Both of the benders were pretty cool though, I REALLY like pedal steel sounds, but don't have the money or the space for one.
If springs are directly connected to the strings, not just to the guitar from the inside the reverb effect is more powerful and controlled. That is what I've done in my guitar 5 years ago.
The Sam Jam percussive snare drum thing, I would suggest may function better with some type of sensitivity adjustable dial, or slider switching mechanism perhaps which would free up the guitar player from any unwanted rattling by a kind of notched noise filter, sortta in order it only resonates above a certain volume. What that mechanism would be, tho', I am not too certain.
2:58 😅 Love it These gadgets's best application might be for sonic brainstorming. Imagine them installed on a guitar that is an acoustic and electric hybrid (not the best at either, but good enough) and being able to just create something no matter where you are. That Acospacer could be used to get people accustomed to playing in locations with a lot of echoes.
The soundboard radiates the sound, the sound hole is predominantly a pressure relief duct. If it were not there the air inside the body would act as a shock absorber and dampen the sound.
I don't like the thumping that the benders make. It really distracts from an otherwise nice sound, and ranks right up there with jangly whammy bar springs on cheap guitars, or nuts that go PING. I don't know if it is even possible to fix that, but it makes it a no-go for me until they do.
I had a clip on reverb tank for my acoustic about 30 years ago - surprisingly effective and added a bit of vibe for busking. But the fact that I can't remember what happened to it suggests it didn't really add to things. ;¬)
Really interesting gadgets (since I'm into percussive & on the fly tuning stuff)! Would love to see more. 1. I'll definitely check out the Bowden B Benders. I'm currently using Keith Banjo D-tuners. Those require changing the tuners (though its pretty easy). You can hear them used in my cover of Jon Gomm's Passionflower: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RpnRjiMW5Iw.html 2. I agree that Schlagwerk Sanjam is too sensitive. Also, I think it sounds more "high hat" than "snare". I was thinking of instead trying Schlagwerk's Multiclap. You might want to try that out in a future video. 3. For the reverb, it's interesting but doesn't sound nice to me based on the samples. I've only tried another device called ASPRI reverb. But it was not practical for every song (especially for percussive fingerstyle), and not practical when using a pickup system or for recording purposes.
I would LOVE to have the Acospacer on my autistic because I do jam around the camp fire with friends that can sing and play. But it's $180.... That price point blew me away for some springs and magnets.
I have an idea how the saddle should be modified for the B-benders. I wish I could lay my hands on this so I can experiment, but I guess I'll have to wait until one of my customers brings me those to install.
In this generation of smart technology musical instruments are coming with amazing tecs but back in our time which was 20/25 years ago we looked for feel in music rather than fill up our music with technologies.
If you want CONTROLLABLE built in soundboard vibrating reverb that actually sounds like reverb then buy a Yamaha TransAcoustic guitar. They're great! I have a red one.
Those benders would allow me to play guitar again after getting diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis three years ago... It makes me wonder what other new things I haven't seen these last few years
Hipshot sells a multitune bridge for guitars "DoubleShot Multiple Tuning System". I think it is designed for electric guitars, but I think i have seen them installed on acoustic guitars too. Super expensive though.
I’ve been curious about rigging a Bowden bender or two on my lap steel. PSG guys tend to scoff at them, but they’re so much cheaper than a beginner’s PSG.
Aerospacer thing could be good for small guitars that lack resonance due to their size? I'm a small guy and never really upped the size and idk if its cause mine is a cheapo or because of its size but playing larger guitars is a clear difference in the volume and sustain in the notes so it may prove useful
They don’t change play style, they’re for enhancing performance. They’re tricks and gadgets to get a few additional notes and sounds beyond what you would normally get. If you want to put in the time to learn how to use them, great, if you don’t, also great.