Weird tailpiece or weird guitar?

[icantbuyafender]

I use an abr1 bridge on 3 of my tuneomatic setups so I can deck the TP and clear the bridge. On my #1 with a Nashville and TUSQ saddles, I have to top wrap. If I raise the tailpiece and use it normally, strings straight through, I get microphonics and howling... Fret buzz too. It's the weirdest thing. It's moody. So to avoid that, I deck the TP and topwrap my Nashville bridge guitar. Solves the issues.

anyone have an idea about this?

I consider it a quirk.

Poor things had a headstock repair and a nut wear out.

Been played outdoors and indoors.

I just consider it moody.

 

[Freudster]

Feng-shui is off? Maybe she's just cranky. You shouldn't let her stay up too late watching old movies on TV....

 

[ctkarslake]

I didn't think that strings touching the back of a Nashville would cause these problems. I'm pretty sure my strings hit the back of the bridge and cause no issues at all on my three that have Nashville's. My TPs are all the way down and are strung-through, not top wrapped. Definitely a quirky guitar, but at least you've figured it out.

 

[rlg5150]

Raising your tailpiece cannot cause "microphonics and howling", nor could it give you more fret buzz. There are other problems with your guitar.

 

[rlg5150]

I didn't think that strings touching the back of a Nashville would cause these problems. I'm pretty sure my strings hit the back of the bridge and cause no issues at all on my three that have Nashville's. My TPs are all the way down and are strung-through, not top wrapped. Definitely a quirky guitar, but at least you've figured it out.

The only potential problems with strings touching the back of the bridge is a chance they could break. The strings touching the back of the bridge will not and cannot affect your tone, sustain, etc.

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

so...having another point of contact between the string and metal does not alter vibrations at all?

what leads to the increased chance of breakage?

 

[rlg5150]

so...having another point of contact between the string and metal does not alter vibrations at all?

what leads to the increased chance of breakage?

Behind the bridge? No.. You can test this out yourself, by the way. I'm sure the majority of us also lay our palm there when playing. There's no difference if something touches the string behind the bridge or between the nut and tuners (unless you apply sufficient force to raise the pitch.)

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

Wonder what is the cause for increased breakage if it touches then?

 

[rlg5150]

Wonder what is the cause for increased breakage if it touches then?

This isn't a hard concept... It could possibly increase your chances of breaking a string because it's metal on metal. That doesn't mean it will cause "microphonics and howling" or have any impact on your tone or sustain...

If you're going to attempt to say it alters the tone or sustain, don't even take my word for it. You can test this out yourself very easily. Unless you are altering the contact points between the actual playing area of the string, it doesn't matter what touches the string behind the bridge.

If you have an actual claim or point you're trying to make, just say it.

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

???? I just did dude, I asked a question....?

I never said anything about microphonics or howling.....


is your major malfunction anyway?

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

no wait, don't answer that......

 

[Lucidsounds]

Me personally - I don't like the idea of the strings touching the back of the bridge. It just doesn't feel right. That's why the tailpiece height is adjustable.

Reasons:

1. It increases the tension on the bridge and can (eventually) cause the bridge to sag.

2. I like to think there's some (small) harmonic content from the string area between the saddles and the tailpiece.

3. It just isn't designed that way.

As for the OP and the microphonics, I guess it's just a combination of factors.

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

when you say that it sags....I here people talk about the middle having a collapse, but have never actually seen it.....(i.e. the de-tuning when in storage-vs-not etc. etc)...

the sag eventually results in a fail?? same idea I guess??

 

[Lucidsounds]

when you say that it sags....I here people talk about the middle having a collapse, but have never actually seen it.....(i.e. the de-tuning when in storage-vs-not etc. etc)...

the sag eventually results in a fail?? same idea I guess??

Yes indeed. If you put a straightedge along the top of the bridge (not the saddles, the actual frame of the bridge) you can see it's no longer straight. The result is the height of the strings changes so they no longer match the fretboard radius, usually dropping the D and G more than the rest so those strings have a lower action.

 

[HardCore Troubadour]

see, I needed that....I have read about it and been somewhat concerned when buying 30+ year old guitars but (for whatever reason) I thought it would be obvious, because of the word collapse.

Of course, I have read of it happening to "new" guitars also ( 5 -7 years old).

I never knew that there was sag.....makes me want to go home and pull out some guitars to measure.

thanks Bro.

 

[JMB1984]

Raising your tailpiece cannot cause "microphonics and howling", nor could it give you more fret buzz. There are other problems with your guitar.

Not entirely true. If switching from top wrapping to the regular string method changes the tension, than a corresponding neck adjustment may also be needed to eliminate any fret buzz that is caused as a result of the change.

 

[rlg5150]

Not entirely true. If switching from top wrapping to the regular string method changes the tension, than a corresponding neck adjustment may also be needed to eliminate any fret buzz that is caused as a result of the change.

Unless you also detune, top wrapping does not change the tension of the string. String tension is calculated by pitch the string is tuned to, it's vibrating length, and its mass.

Regardless, we're talking about raising the tail piece, and not top wrapping.

 

[RRfireblade]

I wonder if there is a grounding issue with the studs thus when you raise the TP, you lose the ground. Either a wire connection or something to do with continuity between the studs and the inserts.

2 seconds with a MM should tell you.

 

[Lucidsounds]

I wonder if there is a grounding issue with the studs thus when you raise the TP, you lose the ground. Either a wire connection or something to do with continuity between the studs and the inserts.

2 seconds with a MM should tell you.

Yea, this one occurred to me too.

 

[JMB1984]

Unless you also detune, top wrapping does not change the tension of the string. String tension is calculated by pitch the string is tuned to, it's vibrating length, and its mass.

Regardless, we're talking about raising the tail piece, and not top wrapping.

No the OP is talking about fret buzz that occurs when switching between top-wrapping and raising the tail piece to string it the regular way.

(And yet you keep attacking others elsewhere on the forum about their reading comprehension. )