With electric guitars, it's a common technique to bend the neck of the guitar with your hands to produce a subtle pitch change. It is often used with guitars without a whammy bar. Are there any noticeable side effects that come with doing this too much over time? Would this technique weaken the neck and cause it to snap eventually?
Tell me more
×
Musical Practice & Performance Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for
musicians, students, and enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
|
|
I have seen a nylon strung acoustic guitar neck snap doing this but an steel strung guitar has a truss rod strengthening the neck. However you may damage the neck anyway, or break the fixing to the body. I do it on my warlock, occasionally but I keep it very minor. I would suggest not bending too far. |
|||
|
|
|
Actually, in that video it was the body that broke, not the neck. Also, this guitar didn't seem to be really great quality. I remember Tommy Emmanuel commenting on his neck-bending in a piece (on a Martin western guitar): "don't try that on a chinese instrument!". You certainly won't be able to break the body of an electric guitar, but the neck or headstock... it's certainly possible. |
|||||||||
|
|
Years ago I was friends with Adrian Belew, and I remember hearing him say that he once ruined the neck on a Stratocaster after repeated bending. But he kept on using this technique on other Strats. |
||||
|
|
