first, I am not associated in any way, shape or form with this seller, so if you buy, buy at your own risk. I did.

I thought some of you may be interested in this. I bought one (hasn't arrived yet) and can't wait to try it. I had been bending frets by hand (yes, neanderthal way!) and my fingers are now taking a beating as production increases. This is almost half of the 'big name' bender and seems well built.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pro-Fret-Bender-Fret-Wire-Radius-Luthier-Tools-New_W0QQitemZ140124363413QQihZ004QQcategoryZ47067Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If this violates any of the forum rules, please feel free to delete.

Let us know how it works out. You build mostly flat boards anyway so it should last a long time.:p

Alan "Hambone" Hamilton made his own fret bender...it's very similar to that...

some wide bar stock, 3 small pulley wheels, a crank handle, some screws and some nylon washers, and most of you guys can make a fret bender in less than 1 hour.

Alan "Hambone" Hamilton made his own fret bender...it's very similar to that...

some wide bar stock, 3 small pulley wheels, a crank handle, some screws and some nylon washers, and most of you guys can make a fret bender in less than 1 hour.

yes, or, as was my case, you could do that, then spend countless hours (which you can't afford to waste) tweeking something you were never happy with. This is relatively cheap and that's why I decided to purchase instead of build. It's a call most of us part-timers have to make every once in a while.

If this violates any of the forum rules, please feel free to delete.



The voice of mod says....


No worries.


:)

The voice of mod says....


No worries.


:)

:D I can imagine that with a big echo/delay and a pitch shifter going 5 steps lower. The 'BIG VOICE' ;)

Thanks.

You can teach a man to wind pickups and he's magnetized for life. You cannot however, expect a man to wait in line at Home Depot and part with less than $6 and keep his sanity when the checker asks what a fender washer is and makes you wait even longer for a SKU.
Budman has a great little gadget as well. Costs nada.

I agree...

some people enjoy tinkering with gadgets, so a DIY bender would make a cool rewarding project...

some people want to concentrate on bass building only....for these folks, a $50 e-bay bender is the perfect solution.

I understand completely why some people make tools and others use them...

I for one I would much rather build simple stuff like that. I can see why others would rather not mess with doing just that though. I just have an old school way of thinking I guess. I would rather buy a tool for cheap and make it work for what I want instead of buying one from Lmi or Stewmac at a marked up price because its a special "luthiers tool". (basically a normal tool modded for the job) Makes me laugh, because I know what the luthier’s of old did whenever they needed something like that. :)

I make my own tools also when it makes sense to me (I know very well the knowledge and skills gained by doing this), but will buy one if I don't have time to make it.

I've made a fret bender (2 days duration not effort) based on the one in the Koch book and another someone made on another forum, only because it was cheaper and way faster to make (would've had to wait a couple of weeks at least and be ripped off for a bought one).

In saying this, my expenditure was a trip to the hardware to buy one part (the rest of the parts were bits and pieces I already had) and the overall time it took (design, build, travel). I can tell you, that the petrol and time I wasted there and travelling there and back, in addition to the time I spent designing and making it were definitely worth more than US$50.

So my point is that sometimes, even though I may have some skills to make a tool, it doesn't always pay to do it (ie. better to buy sometimes to save something).

I make my own tools also when it makes sense to me (I know very well the knowledge and skills gained by doing this), but will buy one if I don't have time to make it.

I've made a fret bender (2 days duration not effort) based on the one in the Koch book and another someone made on another forum, only because it was cheaper and way faster to make (would've had to wait a couple of weeks at least and be ripped off for a bought one).

In saying this, my expenditure was a trip to the hardware to buy one part (the rest of the parts were bits and pieces I already had) and the overall time it took (design, build, travel). I can tell you, that the petrol and time I wasted there and travelling there and back, in addition to the time I spent designing and making it were definitely worth more than US$50.

So my point is that sometimes, even though I may have some skills to make a tool, it doesn't always pay to do it (ie. better to buy sometimes to save something).

I agree...

$50 is awefully inexpensive for a tool that takes even 2 hours to assemble...(not counting BUYING anything).

some get satisfaction from making the tool, too, however...

this is why do some people spend $2000 in parts and tools and invest 100+ hours to build a bass...when surely they can buy one twice as nice from someone else?

luthiers are the creative personalities...some like creating the "object" that is the bass....others (like Hambone, for instance) enjoy making anything and everything...

just used the tool. worked perfect right out of the box. Was shipped on Sat and got here today. Couldn't be happier.

Dan Erlewine uses a virtually identical fret bender, so you should be safe ;)

My latest fretbender that you can see on my website, didn't cost anything (made from shop scrap) and took 30 minutes to throw together. Totally different concept than the Erlewine version but works for my needs pretty well. Of course, if you're bending frets to 3 different radii, the expensive one would do well.