Guitar neck-bending

[uncivil war]

Ok, so I'm playing "Sweet Child" at a gig tomorrow, and I want to finish off the song like Slash does with bending the neck to lower the note (as opposed to raising the note with a string bend).

But I've just spent money getting my guitar set up, and don't want to fuck it up. And can it do any permanent damage? It sounds awesome and looks cool, and I do it on my not so good guitars without any apparent ill effect.

I have Googled it, with the usual mixed opinions not shedding any light on the matter.

Anyone here got any opinions?

[TeeJay410]

Depends on the guitar, but it's certainly not good for it. You can snap the neck off like Slash did once playing with Chic. It's one of those things you can get away with doing 100 times with no real consequences but the one time it does fuck up, game over.

[Klay]

Bending the neck is the best way to break it overtime.

It has happened to Slash sometimes and he even cut himself. His famous main Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst that he used live for most of the 90s and 2000s (and that even Gibson replicated with a VOS model) was broken and glued on; what a shame. But he can get away with it because he doesn't has to worry about guitars, they're free.

When I don't have a whammy bar I just detune the low string on it's tuning machine head and then retune it while it's still ringing - you get the same effect, sounds good and you don't ruin your guitar.

[OmarBradley]

Yup, Klay and TJ pretty much said everything relevant here. I can't recall doing it with my guitar, I may have once or twice, but it's not something I'd recommend or really want to do.

Another addition to what they said, even "1 piece" guitars like Les Pauls and other high end guitars, are often not truly 1 piece. They're still two pieces (neck and body) but aren't bolted on like a Fender or some Epi's, instead they have some other process I don't know much about, but I'm sure it's Google'able and Gibson has a few factory tour videos out there.

[uncivil war]

Thanks guys. I think I'd better not do it. Not until I start getting my guitars given to me.?

[AxlisOld]

Yea its a neat little trick, but you don't want to risk snapping a glued in neck. With a bolt on if it happens it's like, FUCK....well I'll buy another neck.

[James Bond]

On my old shitty Epiphone I had no qualms about doing it. On my Les Paul Classic Plus? Not a chance.

[Snake-Pit]

I have a 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Red Sparkle Top Dark Back Les Paul Standard... Love that guitar, and I'd do that bend with pleasure on it.

But I just hold the neck for sustain...

[Len Cnut]

I have a 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Red Sparkle Top Dark Back Les Paul Standard... Love that guitar, and I'd do that bend with pleasure on it.

We all know the sort of neck bend you do for pleasure, sunbeam

[DieselDaisy]

It has to put some wear on it when you think about it.

[Johnny Drama]

Always used to do it with my Epiphone SG but stopped when it didn't work well enough anymore.

[moreblack]

Depends how hard you do it.

Also consider whether you can afford the repair/replace cost before doing it.

[Snake-Pit]

Last Thursday I went into this music shop, asked to play a £325 Ibanez

(kind of like this)

Now I didn't have a pick on me and cba to ask for one and it wasn't even plugged in, but I rocked it nonetheless.

and here's a thing, something nice... Since this WASN'T my guitar, just a new guitar in a shop... I was neck bending the Hell out of it with out a care in the world.

Made me think 'how cool is it, playing on a guitar that isn't yours, so you can give it Hell.'

The build quality of this guitar was nice, I don't know what it's like plugged in.

I once played on a Gibson Custom Shop E355 that, I felt wasn't as well built as this thing.

Now of course, parts and materials used on that Gibson Custom Shop made it a much nicer guitar than the £325 Ibanez I was playing, but on the Ibanez, with the bridge, the low E string didn't once come out of the bridge like it did all the time on that Gibson Custom Shop E355 I played.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Snake-Pit

[AxlisOld]

Last Thursday I went into this music shop, asked to play a £325 Ibanez

(kind of like this)

Now I didn't have a pick on me and cba to ask for one and it wasn't even plugged in, but I rocked it nonetheless.

and here's a thing, something nice... Since this WASN'T my guitar, just a new guitar in a shop... I was neck bending the Hell out of it with out a care in the world.

Made me think 'how cool is it, playing on a guitar that isn't yours, so you can give it Hell.'

The build quality of this guitar was nice, I don't know what it's like plugged in.

I once played on a Gibson Custom Shop E355 that, I felt wasn't as well built as this thing.

Now of course, parts and materials used on that Gibson Custom Shop made it a much nicer guitar than the £325 Ibanez I was playing, but on the Ibanez, with the bridge, the low E string didn't once come out of the bridge like it did all the time on that Gibson Custom Shop E355 I played.

Welcome to the world of realizing that Gibson is overpriced crap. Ibanez actually puts some great shit out of China, Fender's QA for the Squier Classic Vibes is awesome. Gibson, however, overcharges for inferior materials and shitty setup. I haven't played their "budget" line, but the fact that MSRP on a Custom is like 5 grand, and they use Richlite now, rather than ebony? Well they can fuck the hell off.

I have a couple Gibsons, and they are blown out of the water by some of the nicer Korean guitars I have.

On topic, neck bending is fine...until it isn't and breaks. You wanna risk it, whatever, but it's more a showboat thing than a substance thing. You could achieve the same effect with a bigsby, or the Jake E Lee route and drop a tuner down and back up.

[Snake-Pit]

Last Thursday I went into this music shop, asked to play a £325 Ibanez

(kind of like this)

Now I didn't have a pick on me and cba to ask for one and it wasn't even plugged in, but I rocked it nonetheless.

and here's a thing, something nice... Since this WASN'T my guitar, just a new guitar in a shop... I was neck bending the Hell out of it with out a care in the world.

Made me think 'how cool is it, playing on a guitar that isn't yours, so you can give it Hell.'

The build quality of this guitar was nice, I don't know what it's like plugged in.

I once played on a Gibson Custom Shop E355 that, I felt wasn't as well built as this thing.

Now of course, parts and materials used on that Gibson Custom Shop made it a much nicer guitar than the £325 Ibanez I was playing, but on the Ibanez, with the bridge, the low E string didn't once come out of the bridge like it did all the time on that Gibson Custom Shop E355 I played.

Welcome to the world of realizing that Gibson is overpriced crap. Ibanez actually puts some great shit out of China, Fender's QA for the Squier Classic Vibes is awesome. Gibson, however, overcharges for inferior materials and shitty setup. I haven't played their "budget" line, but the fact that MSRP on a Custom is like 5 grand, and they use Richlite now, rather than ebony? Well they can fuck the hell off.

I have a couple Gibsons, and they are blown out of the water by some of the nicer Korean guitars I have.

On topic, neck bending is fine...until it isn't and breaks. You wanna risk it, whatever, but it's more a showboat thing than a substance thing. You could achieve the same effect with a bigsby, or the Jake E Lee route and drop a tuner down and back up.

That said about the E355 I played... My 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Standard, feels like sex to play. (Playing this guitar was love at first play).

The guitar I own, a high end Dean Dimebag guitar (that really did feel like sex), and a £6, 000 Gibson VOS Les Paul Standard... All feel like sex and/or just really good to play.

I swear to God, the sustain I got from the VOS Les Paul Standard made me drool! - It was that good.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Snake-Pit

[DieselDaisy]

Last Thursday I went into this music shop, asked to play a £325 Ibanez

(kind of like this)

Now I didn't have a pick on me and cba to ask for one and it wasn't even plugged in, but I rocked it nonetheless.

and here's a thing, something nice... Since this WASN'T my guitar, just a new guitar in a shop... I was neck bending the Hell out of it with out a care in the world.

Made me think 'how cool is it, playing on a guitar that isn't yours, so you can give it Hell.'

The build quality of this guitar was nice, I don't know what it's like plugged in.

I once played on a Gibson Custom Shop E355 that, I felt wasn't as well built as this thing.

Now of course, parts and materials used on that Gibson Custom Shop made it a much nicer guitar than the £325 Ibanez I was playing, but on the Ibanez, with the bridge, the low E string didn't once come out of the bridge like it did all the time on that Gibson Custom Shop E355 I played.

Welcome to the world of realizing that Gibson is overpriced crap. Ibanez actually puts some great shit out of China, Fender's QA for the Squier Classic Vibes is awesome. Gibson, however, overcharges for inferior materials and shitty setup. I haven't played their "budget" line, but the fact that MSRP on a Custom is like 5 grand, and they use Richlite now, rather than ebony? Well they can fuck the hell off.

I have a couple Gibsons, and they are blown out of the water by some of the nicer Korean guitars I have.

On topic, neck bending is fine...until it isn't and breaks. You wanna risk it, whatever, but it's more a showboat thing than a substance thing. You could achieve the same effect with a bigsby, or the Jake E Lee route and drop a tuner down and back up.

That said about the E355 I played... My 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Standard, feels like sex to play. (Playing this guitar was love at first play).

The guitar I own, a high end Dean Dimebag guitar (that really did feel like sex), and a £6, 000 Gibson VOS Les Paul Standard... All feel like sex and/or just really good to play.

I swear to God, the sustain I got from the VOS Les Paul Standard made me drool! - It was that good.

How did you get all that on jobseekers?

[TeeJay410]

Even as a huge gibson fan I acknowledge they're overpriced. The biggest crime is that the set up is god fucking awful when you buy them new. Seriously. For $2,000 or whatever, the guitar can come set up.

[moreblack]

And Jesus if you think Gibson electrics are expensive, don't even look at their acoustics...

[OmarBradley]

Even as a huge gibson fan I acknowledge they're overpriced. The biggest crime is that the set up is god fucking awful when you buy them new. Seriously. For $2,000 or whatever, the guitar can come set up.

The 2015 Standards are $3750!!!! And they feel terrible, and mostly sound okay/decent. It's mindboggling.

[moreblack]

I will say the classified sites like kijiji are becoming fertile hunting ground for such guitars if you don't feel like paying full price.