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Thread: Tailpiece help

  1. #1

    Default Tailpiece help

    I recently picked up a tenor guitar that has a violin style tailpiece and the cable is compressing the binding on the edge. I'm also having trouble keeping it in tune and concerned about it causing further damage. I thought about installing a piece of bone. Would it need to be glued in to the tail block for more support? Any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Layer of Complexity Kevin Knippa's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece help

    Violins have a saddle, usually made of ebony, inlaid into the top or the rib to keep the tail gut from compressing the edge of the rib and to distribute the string load to the tail button..

    If you search for "violin saddle" using your favorite search engine you should find a good number of example images.

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  4. #3
    Lurkist dhergert's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tailpiece help

    Also, depending on the age and make of the tenor guitar, you may be able to find a more appropriate tailpiece for this model, one that attaches properly to the instrument. In other words, it's possible that the violin tailpiece was a work-around that was installed to render the instrument at least semi-functional -- where the tuning problems may be an indicator that the violin tailpiece is not working properly for this instrument.

    Again, if this is not a brand new instrument, I'd suggest finding an original instrument of the same make in pictures online, and then looking for either an original tailpiece as found in that picture, or finding a very similar new reproduction tailpiece from suppliers like Stewart MacDonald, etc.
    -- Don

    "Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
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    2002 Gibson F-9
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    [About how I tune my mandolins]
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  5. #4

    Default Re: Tailpiece help

    Thanks all. I'll look at putting a piece of ebony on like a violin. I didn't realize that is what that piece was called.

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