My Albert Lee with b/g benders

[passarellee]

Hello guys,

I would like to introduce myself. I'm Michell and i live in the Netherlands. I registered before but that was years ago, i remember there were only a few threads on this forum when i joined. What a great place it became !

For some reason i was not able to use my old username art027, so i registered again because i want to tell you guys my Albert Lee story .

Lately there's so much Al fans here, great! I see lots of cool pictures.

I bought my Albert Lee off of ebay and had it shipped directly to Bill Bores of the bender guitarshop in Houston, Texas. My winning bid was only $610. I couldn't believe it
Being a big Albert Lee and countryguitar fan i got the idea to have b and g benders installed.

So, i received the guitar a few weeks ago and i love it, the benders work great and the guitar kills every Strat i ever layed my hands on.
I especially love the sound of the bridge pu, to my ears a combination of a Strat and a Tele bridge pu.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Nice conversion! How is it routed? Under the scratch plate?

 

[passarellee]

well, Bill menaged to install the benders without having to do much routing. There's a little cavity underneeth the bridge and also under the neckplate and under the coverplate in the upperarm. He drilled a hole for the internal mechanics.

I have to give him a big compliment for the design because most b-bender are installed in Telecasters and they have a thicker body without bellycut like this guitar has.

The guitar itself is a great player aswell and i changed the original tortoise pickguard for the pearlwhite one.

 

[uvacom]

That's really nice! and props for having the (ahem) balls to take on such a project!

 

[candid_x]

Welcome!

The Terminator AL!

Looks like a clean install, nice job.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hey Pasarelle - welcome back.
I remember we had a few PM's on this very guitar when you were known as Art22
I had just joined the forum and you were great in giving me much info on the AL.

Didn't you also convert a 3 pickup MM90 to a 2 pickup MM90?

Didn't you also get another "bender" guitar whilst you were waiting ?

Spud

 

[banjoplayer]

that´s that I call heavy modification. Respect for doing this with a EBMM. i think it´s great fun to play with this!

 

[JMB27]

Welcome back to the forum!
And, nice work with the modifications. Got any sound clips of the benders in action?

cheers

Joel

 

[robelinda2]

hey GREAT Albert!!!!!!

 

[roburado]

Wow...very cool. Very nice installation job. How do you operate the benders? That's a very sweet AL too.

 

[rmh925]

I was thinking the same thing if i bought an Albert Lee...Nice guitar! bet it sounds awesome...Is a modification like that expensive? or does this guy have a website or something?

 

[passarellee]

Hey Pasarelle - welcome back.
I remember we had a few PM's on this very guitar when you were known as Art22
I had just joined the forum and you were great in giving me much info on the AL.

Didn't you also convert a 3 pickup MM90 to a 2 pickup MM90?

Didn't you also get another "bender" guitar whilst you were waiting ?

Spud

Hi spud, yeah sure remember our chats. I understand you are now the proud owner of a beautifull black cheryrburst Al, right? how do you like the guitar?

And you are right about those mods. I had a black Al with MM90's and a vintage sunburst with the SD pu's. Since both had a Strat configuration i figured it would be cool to remove the middle MM90 and wire it with a 3-way switsch. I don't have photo's of the guitar when it had 2 pu's unfortunately.
I once owned a 1994 pinkburst too but you know how it goes, when i want something new i have to let go of something so when the bender idea started i sold those guitars. I regret it a little but now i have my ultimate Al




rmh925,
The installation of the benders was done by Bill bores of the benderguitarshop in Houston, Texas. There's a website, just google benderguitarshop. Check it out.

Roburado,
Well, the b-bender is activated by pushing down the neck, the b-string will rise one full step. It is attached to the strap. The g-bender is activated by pushing out the neck. This is the one in the neckplate. There's a leather belt lanyard connected to my belt. i bet is looks stupid but hey everything for the music right

jmb27,
I actually recorded a short video fragment for the b-bender forum, i might as well post the link here if anyone would be interested.
I'm into country and R&R, i'm a big Al fan too.
I will open a new thread with the Youtube link.

Thanks for the welcome guys, great forum with nice people

 

[roburado]

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[passarellee]

No problem Roburado

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hi spud, yeah sure remember our chats. I understand you are now the proud owner of a beautifull black cheryrburst Al, right? how do you like the guitar?

And you are right about those mods. I had a black Al with MM90's and a vintage sunburst with the SD pu's. Since both had a Strat configuration i figured it would be cool to remove the middle MM90 and wire it with a 3-way switsch. I don't have photo's of the guitar when it had 2 pu's unfortunately.

I had some great advice from forumites and some were kind enough to forward me actual photo's of their AL's.

Yes I love the AL and wish that this guitar had been around 30 years ago.
I loved that country lick you played - you seem to have the "country chops" alright.

Please hang about here and help swell the knowledge we all have when pooled together.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Very nicely done installation - now you just need to switch to EB strings

 

[francric]

So this bender thingy works on only two strings????????

 

[passarellee]

Very nicely done installation - now you just need to switch to EB strings

Oops what was i thinking??..........

 

[passarellee]

So this bender thingy works on only two strings????????

Yes, + ofcourse all the notes on those two strings. For me two strings is more then (hard)enough
Also, i can't think of another direction to push the neck into

There are more options i think but most bender players prefer the b or the g.

 

[passarellee]

I had some great advice from forumites and some were kind enough to forward me actual photo's of their AL's.

Yes I love the AL and wish that this guitar had been around 30 years ago.
I loved that country lick you played - you seem to have the "country chops" alright.

Please hang about here and help swell the knowledge we all have when pooled together.

Thanks Spud,

This is a cool place, it is great to meet people from all over the world with the same passion
Glad you like your Al, seems like black cherryburst is a great color too!