Greetings from the 3Bender shop!
It’s been a busy summer for building and creating several new 3Bender products in the shop. One of the most exciting developments for us is that earlier this year, we were granted our full patent. It was years in the making! Also, we have just returned from our second year of participating in The FretBoard Summit at Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and WOW what an event.
It was hard to imagine having a better event than last year but somehow, they succeeded in doing so. Jason Verlinde of the FretBoard Journal, as well as, Jim, Dawn, John and all the staff at Old Town did an amazing job again this year. We were also thrilled to have Nashville musician and 3Bender artist, Jules Belmont, help us demonstrate our guitars in our booth this year. Last year, I was spread a bit thin being the only guitar player in our booth. So, this year we brought back-up and what an amazing musician and human Jules is!
We were honored for our booth to be in the room with many great guitar builders and pedal creators and we came away with new friendships and working partnerships with lots of unbelievable musicians. It is great to be in a place where you can see such craftmanship and creativity and get access to it all. Just as we introduced our prototype for the KneeBender last year, we were excited to debut our 3Bender Fission guitar. It splits the benders apart.
We were able to introduce our Fission guitar at this year’s new addition to the FretBoard Summit, the Science Fair. We, along with a few other luthiers, were able to take the stage and provide a demonstration of what makes our guitars unique and how they work. The response was fantastic and lots of folks agree that we have not only created a new sound for the guitar, but a new instrument.
Another great experience at the Fretboard Summit was getting to participate in a guitar orchestra lead by Bill Frisell. Bill provided chord charts for a song he wrote years ago called Poem for Eva. It was something to participate in and hard to explain but it was a memorable experience. Just imagine a guitar orchestra with Bill Frisell weaving his magical improvisational skills throughout; it was truly inspirational.
We had a great 3 days at the Summit and were honored to get to participate again this year. The community of players and builders at this event is the greatest and to come away new friends who share the same love for music and the guitar is just priceless. We hope that some of these new friends help us spread the word about the 3Bender. It is so fun to watch folks when they hear the 3Bender for the first time and we want to make that happen more often in more places!!
We are busy building more guitars so more people can experience the intrigue that is the 3Bender.
Keep watching for more fun stuff!! We will continue to create mind bending string bending and hope you continue on the journey with us.
Below is a 15 minute video by Matt Chulka and Eddie's Guitar that showcases the highlights.