Installing a Certano Palm Bender (Guitar)

Palm Bender?

I have always liked the sound of pedal steel (discovered the first time with Dire Straits I guess?), but there is no way I can take the time to learn this instrument…! But you can get similar sounds on a regular guitar with the proper equipment!

The most common trick is to do like some country guitar players and use a B-bender. But it is a complex mechanism that requires a specific guitar (it bends the B string on the guitar when pulling the strap – which is odd – with a level inside the body of the guitar).

One day I stumbled upon another type of bender that uses levers directly on the bridge, and that you can control with the palm of your hand (hence the term “palm benders”). Some models will let you install as many levers as you want on multiple strings, but the most common is one or two levers, for the B and/or G strings.

I opted for the Certano B&G bender, mainly because it is pretty easy to install (you just need to drill two holes to screw it on the guitar) and can be adapted on many types of guitars.

Installing the Certano Palm Bender

I chose to install the bender on a cheap Cort Sunset TC, which is close to a Telecaster and was already relic’ed, so it was not a problem to drill the body!

It is not a big deal to install, it only takes a couple of minutes, as shown in the pictures below:

You can then adjust the maximum bend for each string (one tone for both works pretty well), and here you go!

Taming The Certano Bender

It will take a bit of practice to tame the palm bender, but it’s definitely worth it! I find it very inspiring, and it is a good way to help you re-think the way you play the guitar and visualize intervals.

Here is a short improvisation (jamming online with a friend), a few days after installing the bender: