Wade Black, owner and creator, of 3Bender has designed a new string bender that can be mounted to a JM Offset style guitar vibrato without the need for drilling any new mounting holes, called The Steelmaster™.  The idea came from a conversation with Black Bobbin owner Shelby Pollard, a Chicago based industry expert on JM guitars. Pollard wanted a more precise way to bend strings behind the bridge and he imagined using the bender in combination with the JM style vibrato to provide a lap steel or pedal steel type vibrato sound. 3Bender was already bending 3 notes on a unique patented design and Black had been ruminating a similar idea but the suggestion of using a JM completed the vision and The Steelmaster™ was created.  The Steelmaster™ can be used on any string to add a smooth and in tune glissando to the music. The bender levers can also be stacked to move chord voicings by bending notes a half or full tone.
 
 
You can now buy the SteelMaster+Vibe™️ fully assembled or buy a +Vibe™️ Accessory Kit to add to your SteelMaster™️.  The new SteelMaster+Vibe™️ expands the SteelMaster’s capabilities by keeping the guitar’s vibrato fully functional for all strings. Instead of bypassing the vibrato, the strings are routed through to it, allowing you to combine SteelMaster-style behind-the-bridge string bends with traditional vibrato movement.
 
This means you can bend individual strings with the SteelMaster™️ mechanism, use the vibrato on its own, or combine the two for even more expressive pitch movement. The result opens up an entirely new range of textures—from pedal-steel-inspired bends and subtle vibrato shimmer to more experimental sounds created by manipulating both systems together.
 
The SteelMaster+Vibe™️ provides the functionality of the SteelMaster™️ without sacrificing the expressive possibilities of the guitar’s vibrato system.
 
Click Here for FAQs and Installation Instructions for the SteelMaster™️
 
Click Here for FAQs and Installation Instructions for the SteelMaster+Vibe™️