Green Felt Under Tailpiece Cover?

[George Roberts]

Back in the 1960s when I first became interested in mandolins, I happened to live in Kalamazoo. I had the opportunity to see many early mandolins. It was not uncommon for them to have a piece of green felt woven between the strings and hidden under the tailpiece. At the time, I assumed it was to mute any sound from the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece. Does anybody know if that is a valid assumption? Does anybody still do this?
Just curious, thanks. George

[CWRoyds]

Your assumption is correct.
It keeps the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece from ringing out sympathetically, causing weird overtones.
Some tail pieces include a felt pad.
Some people weave a bit of leather between the strings, some use rubber grommets, and some buy nice devices that clip across the strings, all for the same effect.
Some people also do it at the other end above the nut, as those can ring too.
It is very common, as it really does make a difference, especially on a very resonant instrument.

[Timbofood]

I trimmed up a piece and used doublestick tape on the underside of the TP cover, no “wolf tones” nor loss of material some forty +years later! Some things just work.

[Roger Moss]

Both of mine came with that already installed.

[Trich]

My f model has a james tailpiece with rubber o rings that snap into the inside of the tail piece. I use a piece of leather string on my A model. The idea of putting grommets above the nut has me a bit intrigued though... I may have to try it but the look of them on the headstock bothers me a bit.

[ProfChris]

The tenor guitar I made has a mandolin tailpiece, and I put felt under the cover precisely to prevent vibration between bridge and tailpiece.

But I used red felt - is that a problem? I do have both green and purple too, so could swap it out. And purple should, of course, give me a "darker" sound ...

[pops1]

The tenor guitar I made has a mandolin tailpiece, and I put felt under the cover precisely to prevent vibration between bridge and tailpiece.

But I used red felt - is that a problem? I do have both green and purple too, so could swap it out. And purple should, of course, give me a "darker" sound ...

I doubt darker, but richer maybe.

[mreidsma]

Looking forward to seeing a “tailpiece felt color shootout” video soon on YooToob!

[pops1]

Looking forward to seeing a “tailpiece felt color shootout” video soon on YooToob!

I use deer skin, can I play too?

[Timbofood]

I use deer skin, can I play too?

No. It’s about felt!
I felt deerskin once.....
Have a good evening!

[Timbofood]

No. It’s about felt!
I felt deerskin once.....
Have a good evening!

On second thought, what color is it?

[pops1]

On second thought, what color is it?

It's a nice brown, not dark, not light.