For a pedal steel player, I can see why the lap-steel-with-benders might not be optimum. I’ve played guitar for 60-plus years-I’d love to play pedal steel but I can’t. I’m a polio survivor and my feet, especially the right one-don’t work very well. Something like this bender setup on a lap steel might let me play some pedal-steel stuff without having to use floor pedals. I do use a volume pedal on guitar, I have for years, but I do it with my left foot-same with effects switching. Anyway, this looks like a pretty cool thing! I’m a frustrated steel player anyway-I play a lot of pedal-steel licks on guitar, but it’s not the same-I just can’t do them on steel.
I don't know about the benders that you use, but I use Duesenberg Multibenders, and if you don't want to use them you can turn them out of the way. You don't have to spend a lot of money on a lap steel. I've been building them since 1963, A lap steel is basically a plank with strings and a pickup ! The rest is just artwork.
You bring out a good point. I would mostly agree with what your saying. I have a pedal steel also but the time it would take to set up a psg for a gig is more time then I want to spend. That’s why I went to Lap Steel with benders but even that hasn’t yielded the results I’m looking for……yet. I have a Recording King Lap Steel that can be had for low 2 hundreds currently. It has a great sound.Its a reasonably good quality guitar. You can palm mute with your picking hand or pick block to get the staccato notes your talking about.
That is a big gripe of mine about PSG. An absolute bear to get set up. Plus if you’re outside on gravel or on a trailer in a cornfield (a real gig that I’ve played) it’s almost impossible.
Not all lap players have use of their legs to use a pedal steel. I am thinking that this could be a great addition to his lap steel and give him additional pleasure playing.
Not being able to effectively palm block while using the levers is so annoying that it more or less ruins any benefits for me. I prefer either straight lap steel or PSG. I don’t judge anyone playing slide with levers, but I don’t enjoy it.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic I play a b-bender Tele, and when folks talk about these I think of how much less tight my playing would sound with them (not that it's particularly tight to begin with)
Interesting hearing what he says he's thinking of when playing shows ("I'm thinking more like a keyboard player..."). When I play shows (on electric guitar) I'm just thinking of what I memorized on the song. There's been times I was thinking how I ended up in A when the song was in E!
Brilliant video an playing!! Ive got peters shorties on order and plan to install on my peavy power slide Q. What is the bridge/tail piece…ineed one cause there is limited room for bender mounting on my peavey
I have a Peavey Powerslide myself. Unless someone makes an extender/adaptor plate for the Pitch Witch benders, I don't feel that there is enough room on the Powerslide to install them.
I think the sound of that kind of guitars is that that is how it sounds because the older guitar players died, so they turned into ghosts. So it kind of sounds like a ghost or a loud fish. Or if you play rythe, like a train or hitting a fat chick from behind.
oh.....I thought I was going to have to get the Certano benders from France. So now it;s good to know I can get some other type of benders from Indiana, USA.
I built my own benders and I’m confident that they perform as well as anything else on the market. I have a beautiful double neck pedal steel with every bell and whistle you could hope for BUT the setup takes forever. It’s a horribly clunky instrument and it takes at least 15 minutes to setup and 15 minutes to tear down everywhere I go. Lap steel is just as portable as an electric guitar and I can plug into my existing electric guitar rig. I primarily play electric guitar, but now I can easily whip out the lap steel for a couple of songs. Most people won’t notice that you don’t have the versatility of a full pedal steel.
For sure! I’ve actually switched to playing E13th like Don helms and ditched the benders as of this summer. I got sick of lugging the dumb steel to every Legion and VFW in the tristate area. Haha
@@AgressiveElevatorMusicEven for super basic 2 pedal/1 knee lever I've been seeing prices like $1500! And I've heard you really should have at least a 3x4 if you want to play professionally.
You look young and strong, just remove the 2 front legs and toss it over your shoulder and your good to go. Really not much more trouble than a lap steel with screw on legs. Nobody said it had to be packed up into a heavy case every time you move it. The case can weigh as much as the guitar!
I did play pedal steel --- but I can no longer bend/twist my left ankle (I'm 88 and age has taken a toll) - so a bender would really let me play like I once did. No longer can do "A and B" pedal, but can do benders.
some people use floyd rose bridges as B benders. would make palm muting easier probably. you could probably use EVH d-tuna bolts to lengthen the bridge bolts of the strings you want to bend, since they are a bit short. you can block the floyd rose from floating as well.
Pedal steels are basically impossible to find in my country. Due to our strict import laws, you can't import second-hand items that cost more than 150 euros and most places that sell brand new ones don't bother shipping here as pedal steels are too big. Places that do would set you back probably at least 5000 dollars
@@AgressiveElevatorMusicI haven't been able to find one on reverb for less than like 1200. I have no problem spending 1-2k or more on an instrument. Done it plenty of times. I don't really wanna spend 1-2k on an instrument I don't know how to play yet. That's my issue.
Awesome, I didn't realize the shorty fit so well on the Gretsch. I just made an order... For me, for different reasons related to portability and travel, the benders are a lot of fun and fit the bill for getting the sound I'm after.
For people like me with lap steel AND pedal steel, yes I always prefer psg, it's just soo much more versatile. AND, I have a way to avoid all the set-up time, just remove the 2 front legs, now it can lay flat or upside down. Even fits in my little 43 year old jeep that way. Really no more trouble than a keyboard and it's stand. Toss a couple little pieces of rubber in your gig bag to level it, (there's always ONE leg wobbling!), and you don't have to re-adjust legs to sit flat.
You’re right, but take in mind lap steel benders are really an European invention in order to do the “pedal steel trick” because it’s quite impossible to get a pedal steel guitar in here. In addition they’re practical and portable. I guess it’s like comparing a double bass with an acoustic fretless bass. Not the same, but close enough.
That’s a fair point. I live in an area where there are a lot of pedal steel players. A volume pedal and a lap steel with benders can take you most the way there but there’s just nothing like a pedal steel for that sound.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic I know I will get one eventually, but those benders are right now like having a little bit of Nashville wherever you go. Thanks for your response 👍🏼
@@billgausman5887 that is such a good point. But I don’t mean the concept, but the product, the real thing. There’s only Certano and Duesenberg around. I’m gonna say something I though I’d never say, but… we need some Chinese benders the sooner the better.
Awesome video. Do you think that gretsch is at fair value buying it new? Especially for a complete beginner with some guitar experience. I hear the rogue and sx have some cheap parts and go out of tune
I absolutely recommend these Gretch lap steels. Especially used. I see them used on Reverb for around $300. I gig with my red gretch and can’t be happier it. I think it’s the best looking lap steel on the market under $2k.
Thx for your video. I have a lap steel or two plus the Gretsch you have there with Certano benders. I also have an old Sho-Bud pedal steel in the closet. You are too right that palm muting with the benders is not really possible, and I feel like my dick's hanging out in a windstorm when trying to get some oomph out of the Gretsch. However, and this is strictly personal, I find using a pedal steel to be SOOO constricting. The lap steel even with benders is running free in the fields like a new boy in comparison. Pedal for me is like some poor woperson giving birth all strapped in, feet in the stirrups all effed up. I just squirm using a pedal steel. Just know, fellas, you use benders on a lapper you're only gonna play ballads. Which is fine. And finally, lugging a hecking pedal steel around is no joke.
I love the sound of your playing! I have a Gretsch g5700 but mine sounds too Hawaiian, it doesn't have that country sound. Is there anything special you're using to get that sound besides the benders?
Play in open D or E. This gets you closer to a bluesy / swampy sound. Learn guitar licks on slide and play a lot of blues licks or slow bends. Hope that helps!
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic Thank you very much! Did you install the benders yourself? I was thinking about getting the witch benders. But I don't know how to install them. I hope it's very easy to do.
Thanks for the comment! This is a viable solution on paper but in practice has its own host of problems. Not the least being fiddling with a small black Allen wrench on a dark stage in a small amount of time between songs.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic Sounds like that would be a great upgrade. Imagine friction based system which you could swing away without tools. But when you bring them back they'd somehow lock into a position. Something like a spring and detent system.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic... You could/can.... replace the Allen head bolt, with a "wing head" bolt... no tools necessary, and you can easily tighten it enough with your fingers for the levers to stay in place. Most Hardware stores have "wing head" bolts (& wingnuts) in stock in various sizes and lengths, just take one of your Allen head bolts with you to measure from the "shoulder" (bottom of the Allen head) down to the bottom of the bolt. If you can't fine one with the exact length, just get a longer one, and cut off the excess. Make SURE, that the threads are the same... you can do that by just laying one on top of the other (heads at opposite ends) and the threads "Should" mesh, perfectly with each other. Before you do that though.... run a nut up the threads, so that after you cut the bolt with a Hacksaw or whatever... you can run the nut back off the bolt and clean the bottom thread, but don't take the nut completely off... only about half-way into the nut, and do that a few times, then take it off. Great video by the way.... I have three Lap Steels and one Console Steel (4 legs), which is a 1956 National D-8 string and which I'm nearly finished doing a complete restore and up-grade on.... the "up-grade" being the removal of the original "Screw-on" output jack, and replacing it with a 1/4" output jack (pure tone - w/double contacts).
There is an allen key that can be loosened and the bender arms can be turned around. Technically capable of solving my gripe but practically difficult in low light between songs on stage.
I enjoy the review of actually using them, drawbacks as well as benefits.
For a pedal steel player, I can see why the lap-steel-with-benders might not be optimum. I’ve played guitar for 60-plus years-I’d love to play pedal steel but I can’t. I’m a polio survivor and my feet, especially the right one-don’t work very well. Something like this bender setup on a lap steel might let me play some pedal-steel stuff without having to use floor pedals. I do use a volume pedal on guitar, I have for years, but I do it with my left foot-same with effects switching. Anyway, this looks like a pretty cool thing! I’m a frustrated steel player anyway-I play a lot of pedal-steel licks on guitar, but it’s not the same-I just can’t do them on steel.
Awesome you’ve played for so long. I can only imagine the thousands of little tricks you’ve picked up
I don't know about the benders that you use, but I use Duesenberg Multibenders, and if you don't want to use them you can turn them out of the way.
You don't have to spend a lot of money on a lap steel. I've been building them since 1963, A lap steel is basically a plank with strings and a pickup ! The rest is just artwork.
You bring out a good point. I would mostly agree with what your saying. I have a pedal steel also but the time it would take to set up a psg for a gig is more time then I want to spend. That’s why I went to Lap Steel with benders but even that hasn’t yielded the results I’m looking for……yet. I have a Recording King Lap Steel that can be had for low 2 hundreds currently. It has a great sound.Its a reasonably good quality guitar. You can palm mute with your picking hand or pick block to get the staccato notes your talking about.
That is a big gripe of mine about PSG. An absolute bear to get set up. Plus if you’re outside on gravel or on a trailer in a cornfield (a real gig that I’ve played) it’s almost impossible.
Not all lap players have use of their legs to use a pedal steel. I am thinking that this could be a great addition to his lap steel and give him additional pleasure playing.
People keep asking me to try these, and honestly, I think I'd feel the same way you do about them.
Not being able to effectively palm block while using the levers is so annoying that it more or less ruins any benefits for me. I prefer either straight lap steel or PSG. I don’t judge anyone playing slide with levers, but I don’t enjoy it.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic I play a b-bender Tele, and when folks talk about these I think of how much less tight my playing would sound with them (not that it's particularly tight to begin with)
The Certanos you can swing out of the way.
Interesting hearing what he says he's thinking of when playing shows ("I'm thinking more like a keyboard player..."). When I play shows (on electric guitar) I'm just thinking of what I memorized on the song. There's been times I was thinking how I ended up in A when the song was in E!
Video helped me a bunch thanks
Glad to hear it!
Glad to hear it!
Very informative video. Thanks.
Brilliant video an playing!!
Ive got peters shorties on order and plan to install on my peavy power slide
Q. What is the bridge/tail piece…ineed one cause there is limited room for bender mounting on my peavey
Thanks! It’s the stock bridge on the Gretch 5700s
I have a Peavey Powerslide myself. Unless someone makes an extender/adaptor plate for the Pitch Witch benders, I don't feel that there is enough room on the Powerslide to install them.
I think the sound of that kind of guitars is that that is how it sounds because the older guitar players died, so they turned into ghosts. So it kind of sounds like a ghost or a loud fish. Or if you play rythe, like a train or hitting a fat chick from behind.
Go Cards!
Hey Man Thanks for posting the review! Is there anywhere I could contact you via PM?
I’ll send you a message over on Reverb
So why not just learn string pulls instead of adding benders?
oh.....I thought I was going to have to get the Certano benders from France. So now it;s good to know I can get some other type of benders from Indiana, USA.
I built my own benders and I’m confident that they perform as well as anything else on the market. I have a beautiful double neck pedal steel with every bell and whistle you could hope for BUT the setup takes forever. It’s a horribly clunky instrument and it takes at least 15 minutes to setup and 15 minutes to tear down everywhere I go.
Lap steel is just as portable as an electric guitar and I can plug into my existing electric guitar rig. I primarily play electric guitar, but now I can easily whip out the lap steel for a couple of songs. Most people won’t notice that you don’t have the versatility of a full pedal steel.
For sure! I’ve actually switched to playing E13th like Don helms and ditched the benders as of this summer. I got sick of lugging the dumb steel to every Legion and VFW in the tristate area. Haha
You found a pedal steel guitar this year for $650??? That's crazy cheap!!
It happens! Less frequently than it used to though.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusicEven for super basic 2 pedal/1 knee lever I've been seeing prices like $1500! And I've heard you really should have at least a 3x4 if you want to play professionally.
You look young and strong, just remove the 2 front legs and toss it over your shoulder and your good to go. Really not much more trouble than a lap steel with screw on legs. Nobody said it had to be packed up into a heavy case every time you move it. The case can weigh as much as the guitar!
I have a set of certano on my telecaster . Look almost identical
I did play pedal steel --- but I can no longer bend/twist my left ankle (I'm 88 and age has taken a toll) - so a bender would really let me play like I once did. No longer can do "A and B" pedal, but can do benders.
I like Certano better
some people use floyd rose bridges as B benders. would make palm muting easier probably. you could probably use EVH d-tuna bolts to lengthen the bridge bolts of the strings you want to bend, since they are a bit short. you can block the floyd rose from floating as well.
Pedal steels are basically impossible to find in my country. Due to our strict import laws, you can't import second-hand items that cost more than 150 euros and most places that sell brand new ones don't bother shipping here as pedal steels are too big. Places that do would set you back probably at least 5000 dollars
I live a couple hours from Nashville. PSGs are basically falling out of the trees!
@@AgressiveElevatorMusicI haven't been able to find one on reverb for less than like 1200.
I have no problem spending 1-2k or more on an instrument. Done it plenty of times.
I don't really wanna spend 1-2k on an instrument I don't know how to play yet. That's my issue.
Awesome, I didn't realize the shorty fit so well on the Gretsch. I just made an order... For me, for different reasons related to portability and travel, the benders are a lot of fun and fit the bill for getting the sound I'm after.
For people like me with lap steel AND pedal steel, yes I always prefer psg, it's just soo much more versatile. AND, I have a way to avoid all the set-up time, just remove the 2 front legs, now it can lay flat or upside down. Even fits in my little 43 year old jeep that way. Really no more trouble than a keyboard and it's stand. Toss a couple little pieces of rubber in your gig bag to level it, (there's always ONE leg wobbling!), and you don't have to re-adjust legs to sit flat.
You’re right, but take in mind lap steel benders are really an European invention in order to do the “pedal steel trick” because it’s quite impossible to get a pedal steel guitar in here. In addition they’re practical and portable. I guess it’s like comparing a double bass with an acoustic fretless bass. Not the same, but close enough.
That’s a fair point. I live in an area where there are a lot of pedal steel players. A volume pedal and a lap steel with benders can take you most the way there but there’s just nothing like a pedal steel for that sound.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic I know I will get one eventually, but those benders are right now like having a little bit of Nashville wherever you go. Thanks for your response 👍🏼
Well, the "B Bender" might be the thing that started it, invented by Gene Parsons and Clarence White of The Byrds in 1968.
@@billgausman5887 that is such a good point. But I don’t mean the concept, but the product, the real thing. There’s only Certano and Duesenberg around. I’m gonna say something I though I’d never say, but… we need some Chinese benders the sooner the better.
@@Fernandoorejudo Nice to have these Peters benders made here in the USA.
Excellent discussion...thank you!
Totally agree. I play both and agree with your thoughts.
Awesome video. Do you think that gretsch is at fair value buying it new? Especially for a complete beginner with some guitar experience. I hear the rogue and sx have some cheap parts and go out of tune
I absolutely recommend these Gretch lap steels. Especially used. I see them used on Reverb for around $300. I gig with my red gretch and can’t be happier it. I think it’s the best looking lap steel on the market under $2k.
Thx for your video. I have a lap steel or two plus the Gretsch you have there with Certano benders. I also have an old Sho-Bud pedal steel in the closet. You are too right that palm muting with the benders is not really possible, and I feel like my dick's hanging out in a windstorm when trying to get some oomph out of the Gretsch. However, and this is strictly personal, I find using a pedal steel to be SOOO constricting. The lap steel even with benders is running free in the fields like a new boy in comparison. Pedal for me is like some poor woperson giving birth all strapped in, feet in the stirrups all effed up. I just squirm using a pedal steel. Just know, fellas, you use benders on a lapper you're only gonna play ballads. Which is fine. And finally, lugging a hecking pedal steel around is no joke.
Can the handles be quickly/conveniently moved out of the way for tunes you don't need them for?
Thanks! I may have to go to pedal steel to scratch this itch!
I love the sound of your playing! I have a Gretsch g5700 but mine sounds too Hawaiian, it doesn't have that country sound. Is there anything special you're using to get that sound besides the benders?
Play in open D or E. This gets you closer to a bluesy / swampy sound. Learn guitar licks on slide and play a lot of blues licks or slow bends. Hope that helps!
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic Thank you very much! Did you install the benders yourself? I was thinking about getting the witch benders. But I don't know how to install them. I hope it's very easy to do.
can the benders be moved out of the way so that you have the option to not use them?.......and reclaim that space?.......
Thanks for the comment! This is a viable solution on paper but in practice has its own host of problems. Not the least being fiddling with a small black Allen wrench on a dark stage in a small amount of time between songs.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic Sounds like that would be a great upgrade. Imagine friction based system which you could swing away without tools. But when you bring them back they'd somehow lock into a position. Something like a spring and detent system.
That would alleviate some of my gripes. The problem is the best version of a bender system is pedal steel. Everything else has trade offs.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic... You could/can.... replace the Allen head bolt, with a "wing head" bolt... no tools necessary, and you can easily tighten it enough with your fingers for the levers to stay in place. Most Hardware stores have "wing head" bolts (& wingnuts) in stock in various sizes and lengths, just take one of your Allen head bolts with you to measure from the "shoulder" (bottom of the Allen head) down to the bottom of the bolt. If you can't fine one with the exact length, just get a longer one, and cut off the excess. Make SURE, that the threads are the same... you can do that by just laying one on top of the other (heads at opposite ends) and the threads "Should" mesh, perfectly with each other.
Before you do that though.... run a nut up the threads, so that after you cut the bolt with a Hacksaw or whatever... you can run the nut back off the bolt and clean the bottom thread, but don't take the nut completely off... only about half-way into the nut, and do that a few times, then take it off.
Great video by the way.... I have three Lap Steels and one Console Steel (4 legs), which is a 1956 National D-8 string and which I'm nearly finished doing a complete restore and up-grade on.... the "up-grade" being the removal of the original "Screw-on" output jack, and replacing it with a 1/4" output jack (pure tone - w/double contacts).
Are you able to turn the benders around like the certano?
There is an allen key that can be loosened and the bender arms can be turned around. Technically capable of solving my gripe but practically difficult in low light between songs on stage.