I have a small collection of guitars (Ibanez, Gretsch, Jackson) going, but I thought it would be a cool idea to just go around and find some scrap parts and just build my own "Frankenstrat". I found a super-cheap Ibanez body, a no-name neck, and picked up the cheapest set of tuners that I could find. I dropped a humbucker from an Ibanez SZ320 in there, and to be a guitar that I built for $50 it sounds decent!
There's a big problem though. The strings WILL NOT bend. I've been playing for 10 years, so it really isn't a matter of strength. I lowered the action, switched the strings over from 10s to 9s, and even took out a spring to see if that would affect anything. I still have to strain my hardest to achieve a whole step bend on any string, and vibrato while bending is impossible.
What the heck's going on here? Are some really cheaply made guitars just screwy like that?
