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Thread: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

  1. #1

    Default Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Hi All, After installing this tailpiece one of the posts came out. Fortunately I found it and tapped it back in but am concerned it won't hold. Was wondering if using CA glue on the back of each post would help or possibly solder or spot welding? Any suggestions?
    Thanks,
    Grandpa G
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  2. #2
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Glue probably isn't going to hold that. If you can solder it maybe but it depends on what it's made out of. Is that on a bowlback mandolin?
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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  3. #3

    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    I am installing the tailpiece on a small acoustic Harmony to create a 4 string instrument. I have done this before on a old stella with success.

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    Registered User fscotte's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Clear epoxy, or jb weld clear comes to mind.

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    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    i'd opt to spot weld, but JB weld just might work if it's not under any stress. Clean prep the surfaces first.

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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    I would use a punch on the back side and widen the post, that is how it was put in there in the first place.
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    Registered User Roger Adams's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    I would use a punch on the back side and widen the post, that is how it was put in there in the first place.
    +1
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    If it's plated steel, TIG welding is the way to go. Extremely light touch with the torch.

    The other approach is to peen the inside surface of the post over on an anvil. Very carefully, I might add.

  11. #9
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Grandpa - Use a file or something sharp,to graze the edge of the t/piece to see if it's Brass. A steel one wouldn't need to be plated.
    If it's brass,then the plating is most likely Nickel. If you remove enough Nickel plating from around the hole,you can solder around the pin,which,looking at you photo, looks like brass as well. OR - you could use a ball pein hammer to simply spread the back side of the pin,which might hold it,but there doesn't look like much to work on !,
    Ivan
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    Registered User G7MOF's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Could you not drill it out and ad a new stud?
    I never fail at anything, I just succeed at doing things that never work....


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  13. #11
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    This is not a tractor or piece of industrial equipment, so no welding or jb weld or epoxy....

    Take it to a jeweler and have it silver soldered. That is a very strong, very delicate type of fine brazing used for applications just like this. It should cost you $10 while you wait and last for another century.

  14. #12

    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    I did take it to my jeweler but he offered no help. Took it to a welder with the same reply. I tried to expand the nub and finished with JB weld to no avail. Time for plan B. Will probably make one of wood.
    Thanks to all

  15. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Too bad you don't need one with 8 strings.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/BQLZR-8-Stri...8AAOSwol5Yz35m
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  16. #14
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    I vote for solder on the underside. You could try soft solder (~350-450 deg.F). Scratch away the plating around the posts, and flow it over and around the ends. But the heat you'll need even for soft solder will discolor the visible surface. Heat for silver solder will cook the whole thing, but for such an iffy joint it's the best by far.

    Jewelers these days advertise some sort of laser welding, which I take to be very local to a small area. I wonder about that ...

  17. #15
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Good luck finding a laser welder to do it, and be prepared to pay for the job. A sheet metal guy most likely won't have the "touch" for this kind of finer work. Good luck.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  18. #16
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    John Morton's idea is as per my own - soft solder,but you'll need a large soldering iron to give you the heat required. As the metal workpiece heats up,it drags the heat away from the area where it's needed,so you need a large iron to keep the heat concentrated in one place. As john also says,the heat will discolour the surface,but that can be re-polished - i've done it on old banjo tailpieces of a similar nature,
    Ivan
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  19. #17
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Find another jeweler; this is not a complicate task....

  20. #18

    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    You need to find someone who does jewelry repair, not a jewelry salesman. Ask pawn shops or jewelry shops who they send wedding rings to that need prongs replaced to keep the stone from falling out. The JB weld smeared in there will complicate matters.

  21. #19
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    You need a"Bench Jeweler", go ask some little old lady with Blue hair where she has her jewelry cleaned. That will generally be an old establishment, they may or may not have a goldsmith on site but, this, you can trust this to them like it was platinum. It's a courtesy thing for the store.
    And all you out there who are dismissing jewelry salesmen, you can poke your fingers with string ends.
    I was in the business for 25 years!
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    Café habitué Paul Hostetter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece needs repair - suggestions appreciated

    Use a file or something sharp,to graze the edge of the t/piece to see if it's Brass. A steel one wouldn't need to be plated. If it's brass,then the plating is most likely Nickel
    Using a simple little magnet would be just as effective and less invasive.

    Most steel ones would be nickel plated anyway.

    Solder is foolish and pointless. Lead solder will just ruin the adjacent metal, and will be too weak to do the job—it's barely better than glue. Silver solder (true brazing) might be alright, but the required heat will destroy any plating.

    Peining it back, as it was originally made, makes the most sense. But it'll require a special die to keep from mashing the ball part to bits. And some experience.

    Good luck finding anyone who can weld cuprous alloys, TIG or any other way, especially in a piece that small.

    It's not much of a tailpiece to begin with. I'd look for a vintage salvaged replacement.
    .
    ph

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