Personal setup - tailpiece height

[drzing]

Just a simple question, what is the basic rule for one to set up one's guitar's

tailpiece height (classic gibson tailpiece, with tuneomatic bridge), I know it can affect

greatly the tone, as well as the sustain, can someone give me a little light on

this parameter?

 

 

Thanks for your attention.

[Anilin]

Personally I set it high enough that the strings do not touch the back of the bridge - only the saddles. I've experimented with screwing it all the way down for improved sustain, but I couldn't tell a difference - my Lester has plenty of sustain as is!

[Mustache Guitar Repairs]

It doesn't effect sustain nearly as much as it does break angle and string tension. If set too high your guitar might seem to have some slight buzz when playing up and down the board, or your strings will feel kind of sloppy. I typically set it nice and low (strings almost touching if not touching the back of the bridge slightly) to avoid these problems, especially if the guitar is played in drop tunings. Some guys claim to get better tone when they string it like a wraparound, but this actually will greatly decrease string tension, and has zero effect on tone/sustain.

 

Hope this helps

Travis

[Mustache Guitar Repairs]

How can the wrap or stoptail position affect tension?

 

higher break angle(angle of strings coming down off bridge) = greater downward tension on top = more string tension.

 

Same reason why you don't want the saddle on an acoustic guitar to be too low to the top of the bridge. When the strings are coming down at a steeper angle it puts more pressure on the strings, which puts more pressure on the top, which increases vibration and by default will increase volume.

[Mustache Guitar Repairs]

String tension and downward pressure are not the same thing. And what applies to an acoustic guitar doesn't necessarily apply to an electric.

 

String tension is directly effected by downward pressure, and both electric and acoustic guitars have strings. So while it may not make the top of an electric vibrate more since it's a solid piece and not a soundbox, it will effect the tension and feel of the strings, by way of the break angle, which is applicable to both electric and acoustic guitars.

[Mustache Guitar Repairs]

This is physics that is taught in luthier-specific schools during the course of building guitars across the world, and while average Joes and internet know-it-alls may debate it in forums, it doesn't change the fact that these things do matter and will effect string tension (noticeably measurable in lbs. of pressure).

 

While you may not buy it, as someone who works on guitars daily and has seen and dealt with these things as commonly as I have, I know that what's said on the internet and what is actually true are not always the same.

[Twang Gang]

As low as you can without the strings touching the back of the bridge.