Tailpiece Height and Top Wrapping

My LC95 was nicely set up for me with as low an action as could be and the recommended practice applied of strings nearly touching the back of the bridge frame on their way to the tailpiece.

The bridge is around 3/16" height off the body and the tailpiece is around 2/16" height. I believe some people say there is a tone advantage to be had with the tailpiece screwed down to the surface of the guitar body.

Obviously if I did this and nothing else the strings would touch the back of the bridge frame with horrible reesults to the tone and an increased danger of the bridge collapsing at some point.

If the right string angle could be maintained when lowering the tailpiece by top wrapping the strings, does anyone think it would be worth trying this when I next change the strings?

I guess if the result of the tailpeice being lowered and and the top wrapping was a shallower angle of strings from the bridge it could be bad for tone / sustain and may not be worth trying - I suspect it will be shallower but I will need to take time to sketch it out accuratley with proper measurements.

I am not bothered about the easier bending of strings if the angle is shallower - the bends are easy enough already with the steeper string angle.

I'm a bit wary of changing what is working so well, but I do know a lot of people are very keen on the top wrapping technique.

I would be interested in the views of the forum as you have way more experience than me on what can be done to the tone of quality guitars.

vikingblues said:

If the right string angle could be maintained when lowering the tailpiece by top wrapping the strings, does anyone think it would be worth trying this when I next change the strings?

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Everyone has tried this at some point. Some love it, some hate it. Worth a try, but it will leave some small marks on your tailpiece.

The biggest difference is in the feel of the bridge under your hand, but you will also notice the strings feel a lot looser as the break angle is greatly reduced.

Tone & sustain... some say one thing, some say another. In theory you get better coupling between the body and tailpiece this way.

+1, although the Faber kit would give you the best of both worlds (tailpiece locked to body and the ability to maintain current break angle). I have one on my EGF1200 and I really like it.

Something to consider.

You could try raising the tailpiece now which will give you some idea as to whether top wrapping would move the tone in the right direction for you.

Just loosen the strings before you raise the tailpiece.

I can say that the difference between the tone I got when the break angle was reduced on my Gibson R8 was out of this world. I got a set up done one time by a guy and he had put the tailpiece down as far as possible without fouling the strings on the back of the ABR - it felt and sounded lousy. The tone was harsh and not as sweet as it had been. After raising the tailpiece it sounded great, and the tail piece was about 5 or 6 mm up off the body.

I would have tried top wrapping as well but I sold it and bought some Japanese guitars!

There's no rules, you should try top wrapping if you have the inclination. Even if it doesn't work out for your guitar you should still be able to re-use the strings that were top wrapped (so it wont cost jack to try it), although they could be in danger of snapping at the point where they were bent round the tailpiece, so not for a gig!

My advice would be to not touch the guitar, leave the tailpiece as is.

Don't mess with a good thing...just play the guitar.

RyanC said:

+1, although the Faber kit would give you the best of both worlds (tailpiece locked to body and the ability to maintain current break angle). I have one on my EGF1200 and I really like it.

Something to consider.

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Indeed, I use the Faber kit and I love it, gives you the enhanced tone without losing the feel of the guitar as it is now.

I still think the wrap is worth a try at least once, just to see how you like how it feels.

Just to add a bit more weight to the reduced break angle idea - I raised the tailpiece on my Bacchus SG up to about 3 mm and it improved slightly. Also, my Bacchus Duke GT was set up from the factory with the tailpiece raised off the body by about 4mm, and it sounds pretty **** good.

I guess I should try lowering it to see if it goes bad like the R8 did.

I top-wrapped and screwed the tail-piece all the way down on my last string change and I really like the effect on tone and sustain. I can now feel the string vibrating through the wood in the body as I play, which I had never really noticed before.

Thank you everyone for your advice and comments.

If I do try this I think it will be at the next string change. If I do try it I think I will accurately measure where the tailpiece is now so I can go back to as it is now. I'm not 100% sure because the guitar already sounds so good, but it should be a test that's easily reversed.

Oh, that elusive search for "that" tone - which I could probably only get if I had the musical ability of a Peter Green!

I am rather surprised I didn't had to change the strings when the guitar was delivered - it's the first time I've had good sounding / good condition set of strings on a delivered new guitar. I suppose with Tokai and the small stocks held of the LC95 (LC85) that the strings are still pretty new as they don't sit on the shelf for months. Maybe Richtone store them in really good conditions too - they certainly package the guitars really well for transport.

I will update this post if / when I try the top-wrapping.

An other solution, if one or several strings touch the bridge (only one or two most of the time, E6, A5 or D4), and you want the tail piece fully screwed in, is to lightliy file the back of the bridge until the string(s) doesn't touch it anymore.

After a few more monthe I thought it really was time to change the strings.

So I've tried the top wrapping.

No noticeable (to me) change in tone or sustain (good, because they are great already) and only a slightly different feel to the strings - certainly not the floppy feel I've seen some complain about.

The string angle over the bridge to the tailpiece, having been able to put the tailpiece down onto the body is very similar to that shown as good in the photo in Dan Erlewines book, where he warns of possible bridge collapse and / or bending support studs if the string angle is too steep.

So, on balance, not really any improvement to speak of, but a potential increase in the lifespan of the hardware.