Oh, and Reed Ghazala wrote in his book that he often makes many instruments “to theory” just so that he can bend them later…

“Circuit-bending is an electronic art which implements creative audio short-circuiting. This renegade path of electrons represents a catalytic force capable of exploding new experimental musical forms forward at a velocity previously unknown. Anyone at all can do it; no prior knowledge of electronics is needed. The technique is, without a doubt, the easiest electronic audio design process in existence.”

“The circuit-bent instrument, often a re-wired audio toy or game, is an alien instrument: alien in electronic design, alien in voice, alien in musician interface. Through this procedure, all around our planet, a new musical vocabulary is being discovered. A new instrumentarium is being born.”

http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/main.html

In other words, it’s Reed’s “anti-theory” — discovering contact points / making creative use of the short circuit — that really matters. So I think it’s perfectly legitimate to design a DIY device with the knowledge that you might find those contact points and use it in that way, and I think that’s absolutely bending. Reed, by the way, treats his creations as creatures and gives them eyes, and tends more toward “evolve” than “break.” Interesting philosophically, I think.