RollingBender

[strat56]

I ran across this bender on another forum and if it'll work it will be a great addition to my TAGs.

http://rollingbender.com/index.php

I contacted them and they said they felt the tremolos on TAGs were close enough to Fenders that they would work fine.

I wanted to check on a couple things here first before I ordered one to try. The TAG saddles are StringSaver and the saddle that comes with this bender isn't, is there going to be a big difference in the sound of the string that is using the RollingBender and the rest of the strings? Are the tremolos on TAGs the same size as the Fenders or at least very close?

This seems like a good non-invasive bender, can be installed on any string and it will work with a decked tremolo, which is how mine are set up.

[strat56]

I had a little free time today, the wife is down at her parents house getting it ready to sell, so I mic'd my Anderson tremolo and the tremolo on my Fender Deluxe Stratocaster.

As accurately as I could measure them they are the same dimensions. A couple hundredths of an inch difference here and there but that could have been user error on my part.

I guess the last thing for me to do is to take one of the String Saver saddles off my drop top and replace it with a Fender saddle and see how much difference it makes in the tone of the string, unless someone can offer an opinion on the difference. :)

[tom]

Original strat gave a 2. 3/16" e to e spacing. We use the narrower 2 1/16" specing. I believe am standard spacing is also the narrower of the two.

[strat56]

Thanks Tom, The saddles measured the same width on both so I'm guessing my Stratocaster is also the same string spacing as my Drop Top.

[tom]

Am tempted to order one myself. Looks like a similar mechanism to the Floyd rose saddle for fine tuning. I wonder if the lever will feel weird, cant quite tell how high it really sticks up.

[strat56]

It doesn't look like it would be in the way of palm muting. It will limit how far from the bridge your pick hand can be when you're using it but that's not a deal killer for me. Here's where I read about it, there is a pic of it installed on a Tele, of course, and it doesn't look like it's too high.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/b-bender-forum/362762-rolling-bender-quick-review.html

[Big Harry]

does the bender affects only the B string , or all of the strings ?

[tom]

it's a B bender. they say you can install multiples if you can figure a way to manipulate multiple levers.

interesting to have it on a trem bridge. might just have to try it.

[strat56]

The B string would be the most popular use for it but it says on the website it can be installed on other strings. Like the G string if you want play some Brad Paisley licks.

Q: Can I put the Rolling Bender on any string?
A: Yes. The through hole where the string passes through the bender lever will accommodate plain strings up to .021” in diameter and wound strings up to .042 in diameter. (Those numbers seem odd but it is due to wound strings being wrapped differently at the ball end) If you have a larger diameter string you would like to use, let us know and we can likely get you set up to use the heavier gauge string.

I'm going to order one.

[Big Harry]

Thanks for come up with this bender Jack , this is the first time I ever heard about such a thing :D
Anyway, very interesting device !

[Danny21]

Tom, Jack if you guys order one of these keep us posted. Suriel turned me onto these seem to be very very cool.

[strat56]

Tom, Jack if you guys order one of these keep us posted. Suriel turned me onto these seem to be very very cool.

I ordered one, not here yet. When it gets here I'll install it and take some pictures, maybe do a sound clip with it.

[Pietro]

NOt interested personally, but VERY interested in how it works out. Sounds really cool...

[strat56]

RollingBender was delivered today. I'm a little disappointed but I have an email out to them to see what can be done.

I took the B Saddle off my drop top and tried to install the RollingBender saddle. The saddle has little wings on the side of it that are supposed to go under the saddles of the adjacent strings, I'm guessing to use the tension of the adjacent strings to hold the saddle down when you press down on the lever. On my drop top and my deluxe strat, the saddles are angled in such a way, front to back, that the wings won't slide under the adjacent saddles without forcing it a little, when I forced it in place the bender lever was hard to put into the saddle and when I got it in there it didn't operate freely.

Also I use D'Addario strings and they have painted ball ends. A D'Addario string wouldn't fit into the spot on the bender arm that it was supposed to. I tried an Elixir and it fit but the painted D'Addario would not. Lately D'Addario has begun powdercoating the ball ends instead of painting them I think but all the strings I have in the gauge I use I'm assuming are painted because I bought them all at the same time. I can't check because they're in these hermetically sealed pouches and I don't want to tear them all open to look. In my email to them I offered to mic the painted ball ends and drill out the bender a little to allow it to fit them but I don't want to modify it until I hear back from him.

I checked the bridges on my Tele's and it will fit them very easily except for the painted ball end string problem.

When I hear from him if he has any ideas I'll update the thread.

[tom]

so the width of the saddle was a good fit, but the wings don't quite fit under the other saddles because they're too low?

[strat56]

so the width of the saddle was a good fit, but the wings don't quite fit under the other saddles because they're too low?

The wings fit under the front of the adjacent saddles but since the rear of the saddles are very close to the bridge plate, I don't think the bender saddle would be able to be pulled back far enough to intonate. I couldn't try it because of the D'Addario strings. I'm going to get a different brand pf strings today, Ernie Ball Cobalt, gives me an excuse to try them, and see if it will intonate with out pulling it back so far and the bender lever will work freely.

Kenny, Rolling I assume, I know Rolling is the designers last name, has offered to shave down the height of the wings and redrill the string ball hole to fit the D'Addarios. He's very intent on having a satisfied customer and is another example of great customer service.

He said by forcing the bender saddle back I was torqueing it and that was making the the lever not work smoothly. Makes sense because the lever works fine otherwise.

I'll let you know how this works out.

[strat56]

I got it installed and intonated and it works very well.

I took off all the stings, installed the saddle, strung up the B, tuned it and intonated it, then installed the rest of the strings. Both the E and G saddles are not sitting flat, because they are up on the wings. I had my action set very low, 2/32 I think, I'm going to raise the action until the G and E saddles are level and see where I'm at, it might work for me.

Anyway, I've played it like this, all the strings intonate and acoustically everything sounds good. I put Ernie Ball Cobalt 10's on it so I need to do a quick set up anyway, I was using D'Addario .0095 on it before.

I've got pics here and it's pretty easy to see the angle on the adjacent saddles. I'm also going to send these pics to Kenny Rolling and see if he thinks he can make it work. I really hope he can, I'm kind of liking having a bender on it.

http://www.jackwdillard.com/images/RollingBender/DSCF0014resized.jpg

http://www.jackwdillard.com/images/RollingBender/DSCF0016resized.jpg

http://www.jackwdillard.com/images/RollingBender/DSCF0018resized.jpg

http://www.jackwdillard.com/images/RollingBender/DSCF0020resized.jpg

http://www.jackwdillard.com/images/RollingBender/DSCF0022resized.jpg

I'll let you guys know where the action ends up after I make the saddles level.

[strat56]

The saddles ended up at roughly 3/32 at the 12th fret when I leveled the saddles, I think it's going to work for me as is, except for the ball end problem. I'll mic the ball end of a D'Addario B string and send the measurement to him and see if he can make it work.

So I guess if you don't need to have your action really low, and you don't use D'Addario strings, this'll work for you as is.

I'm happy :) :)

I mic'd the painted ball ends on the D'Addario strings and they were 0.158. One string in a set isn't painted and I mic'd it at 0.157. I bought the chrome plated bender saddle, so it maybe the chrome plating causing the issue. I sent the numbers to RollingBender so he could decide what to do. I offered to take a small rat tail file and open up the hole a little, but I'll wait to hear from him before I do anything.

[Danny21]

Gas has officially crept in. Thx lol

[tom]

Looks like the height screws changing off the front of the bridge. Is the saddle all the way down? If that's the case no height adjustmant?

[strat56]

Looks like the height screws changing off the front of the bridge. Is the saddle all the way down? If that's the case no height adjustmant?

The height screws are off the front of the bridge but I noticed they look the same way on the pics he has on the website. I'll have to ask him about it, I sent him the same pics.

[strat56]

I got an email response from Kenny this morning. It does present a problem for the adjustment screws to not be resting on the bridge plate besides not having a height adjustment in that the bottom of the lever where the string sits hangs just a tiny bit below the bender base and relies that there is some lift of the base off the bridge plate with the string height adjustment screws. He said he had some ideas that could make it work but they would be workarounds. He thinks he could design and make one that would work but there is a break even point on the R&D and manufacturing that he'd have to hit to be able to make them.

I volunteered to test prototypes if he went the route of designing and manufacturing one that would work.