And Now I Stop Docking The Tailpiece

[MechEngVic]

Found this online. Jimmy's got his tailpiece slammed and it looks like his bridge is super bent!

Jimmy

• MechEngVic
• Apr 28, 2018

 

[Thrill]

Here is how I did with my Gibson LP Traditional 2008

Whats the action like? It looks like the bridge and tailpiece are REALLY high up, and the action would be insane lol.

When I first got my Gibson, I tried to keep the tailpiece (and bridge) as low as possible (same for my other tuneomatic style guitars), mostly just because I thought it just looked goofy having them high up, and, in my mind, having to have them jacked way up equaled bad neck angle, so I would keep the tailpiece just high enough that the strings just barely cleared the back of the bridge (which meant fairly low when I swapped to an ABR).

Not though, I stopped caring as much. And my play style has changed and I like a looser feel so Ive been keeping the tailpiece up a bit. Right now the guitar is set up absolutely perfect for me, so when I do string changes I tape the bridge and tail down so they dont get knocked out of position. I dont know if my bridge is bent, never really looked, but if you prefer the tight feel and the slammed down look, then a new bridge once every couple years might not be that huge of a price.

 

[egicar]

Whats the action like? It looks like the bridge and tailpiece are REALLY high up, and the action would be insane lol.

When I first got my Gibson, I tried to keep the tailpiece (and bridge) as low as possible (same for my other tuneomatic style guitars), mostly just because I thought it just looked goofy having them high up, and, in my mind, having to have them jacked way up equaled bad neck angle, so I would keep the tailpiece just high enough that the strings just barely cleared the back of the bridge (which meant fairly low when I swapped to an ABR).

Not though, I stopped caring as much. And my play style has changed and I like a looser feel so Ive been keeping the tailpiece up a bit. Right now the guitar is set up absolutely perfect for me, so when I do string changes I tape the bridge and tail down so they dont get knocked out of position. I dont know if my bridge is bent, never really looked, but if you prefer the tight feel and the slammed down look, then a new bridge once every couple years might not be that huge of a price.

Here is my action. Maybe the other picture’s perspective was misleading.

 

[crosstownblues]

This is why I like wraptails! I defy strings to collapse one of those suckers!

 

[MechEngVic]

Man I never let a luthier tell me how to have my guitar setup, what my action should be, or how I should play. I’m paying them to do to the guitar what I want done to it. Now if they can’t ill respect that andI’ll look for another . If I can’t find one that can then I’ll look for a different guitar. I’ve been playing way to long and messing with guitars way to long to pay someone to do something other then I want done. As far as the tail stop goes, mine are usually almost decked to get my optimum down force. The concept is the same as an acoustic saddle. I personally like to be subtle in my pick attack. This requires my guitars to be lively and responsive. Over the years I’ve found The more downforce the more responsive and lively. Most players I see that top wrap or leave their tailpiece high are more heavy handed. They need a different setup then I do. That’s why it’s important that the luthier is adjusting the guitar for the player not the other way around. If the bridge collapses over time, consider it like tires on a car. Do I want to not enjoy the car and drive it so the tires last forever? Usually it’s a compromise for me, but if I want to have fun with the car I’m going to without consideration for the tires in that moment

I keep coming back to this comment. I think Les and Gibson understood this very thing and this is why the LP ended up with the adjustable parts it has.
First of all, I can't abide by the idea of another human touching my guitar so I had to learn to do everything to them myself. And I've always been a heavy handed, sloppy, plodding player so I've ended up preferring a more shallow angle between my bridge and TP, never really understanding why until I read this comment. For a player with a light accurate touch a steep angle makes more sense.

 

[Thrill]

I keep coming back to this comment. I think Les and Gibson understood this very thing and this is why the LP ended up with the adjustable parts it has.
First of all, I can't abide by the idea of another human touching my guitar so I had to learn to do everything to them myself. And I've always been a heavy handed, sloppy, plodding player so I've ended up preferring a more shallow angle between my bridge and TP, never really understanding why until I read this comment. For a player with a light accurate touch a steep angle makes more sense.

Same. The tailpiece being used to kind of micro adjust the string tension never registered for me until this thread. I always just tried to keep mine low because I liked the look of it, and I just always tried to keep it high enough so the strings didnt touch the back of the bridge.