Bendmaster Bridge Safety/Whammy Bar

I tried doing research on my bridge, I have a Bendmaster Deluxe bridge on my Westone Genesis I, and of the limited posts one user on reddit said that they are notorious for breaking.

I was impressed with how clean the whammy bar worked and how much it could dive/pull upwards and I was wondering if I'm at risk of breaking the bridge or something else on my vintage guitar if I keep using it.

Are bendmasters actually notorious for breaking or is this a troll?

Increase the dreadful phobia!

To my knowledge Bendmaster bridges are no more susceptible to "breaking" (whatever that  means) than any other.

I have a quite few Westones most with with Bendmasters, and some were "rescue" guitars in pretty bad shape when I got them, but I've not experienced any difficulty with any of the tremolo bridges.

Assuming they are set up correctly, and tensioned correctly, and maintained correctly, they should not present problems.

However, no equipment will stand up to abuse. So if you regularly go "medieval" on it then all bets are off. Tremolos are a piece of effects hardware, not a slingshot eh?

Bendmaster bridges are OK, but no more than that - they were designed to get around FR patents so are something of a compromise.

If you're gonna swing off that bar like a mad thing, then yeah; something's gonna give and then that's a world of pain because spares for these are pretty much non-existent, which leaves you buying a lovely new Gotoh 101, which are, it has to be said, fabulous... but pricey!

Your choice...

I intended to go medieval on the old bendmaster deluxe indeed.  

I guess it isn't wise considering Matsumoku production stopped in the 80s.
Thanks for the information, I guess I won't able to abuse my guitar. 

Increase the dreadful phobia!

If you’re going to gig the guitar, spend some money and retrofit a modern Gotoh bridge - there is a drop in replacement - and keep the Bendmaster in the case… simples!!