Difficult tailpieces

[Eddie Sheehy]

I don't know if this has been discussed before but I thought I'd share my preferences for tailpieces as in "ease of string-changing". This does not reflect on the builders or the quality of their instruments. I'll start with the easy ones:
All ball-end ones,
James, Lyon & Healy - both can clamp the strings and frees up both hands for winding and tying etc.
The stamped Gibsonesque tailpieces, cloud tailpieces - the tines tend to hold the loops, specialy if one places the side of one's foot against the tailpiece...
Allen, Ashton Bailey et al. - the loops tend to slip when the string has the "winding slack" still in it
Eastman tailpieces - difficult not to scratch the top under the tailpiece and sometimes the end of the instrument.
Weber are similar to Eastman and vice versa...
My absolute most problematic is a cast, but shaped as if it is a stamped tailpiece cover with hooks under the leading edge in pairs... A nightmare to even get the loops on the hooks, which then fall off if the string is slack. I had to use a capo to clamp the strings and fit them from the center out so I could see the hooks....
Actually using a capo to clamp the strings is handy with any restringing...

[jclover]

I had a similar issue once. Wound up sending that instrument off to the Home for Wayward Mandolins.

[MikeEdgerton]

Slide the paper envelope the strings come in under the tailpiece to protect the top from being scratched during string changes. I also have some small rare earth magnets that I use on tailpieces that are made of ferrous metals to hold the strings in place when restringing.

[foldedpath]

I have one of the semi-difficult tailpieces on my Lebeda, a heavy casting where the strings have to be fed through holes in the front. I think it might be a custom casting Jiri had made; I haven't seen another like it except on other Lebedas, but maybe they're more common. Looks a bit like an Allen AR-2.

I say "semi-difficult" because it does need an extra snip with the wirecutters to remove strings, but I can still string up my mandolin fairly quickly, and I change strings about once a month. I don't use a capo when restringing, because I can do it just as fast holding some finger pressure on the string at the nut, while looping around the post. I also use Mike E's method of placing one of the paper envelopes behind the bridge to prevent scratching. This tailpiece hasn't bothered me enough to swap it out for something different, and it looks nice on the mandolin.

Now if you want a nightmare of a string changing job, try restringing an old guitar with a slot headstock and ultra-narrow slots, like one of my old 1930's Dobros. That thing is a nightmare.

[Mandoplumb]

I have played mandolin for fifty years, owned many mandolins and thought there had to be a better way to string them. About three years ago I started fooling with a fiddle,now a mandolin is a breeze to string.

[Steve Sorensen]

Thank you Bill James.
Steve

[G7MOF]

I just put a small kink in the loop end so it points and holds down to the tail piece base, I then just use the lock/twist at the tuner end so as not to get loads of string wraps.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Just stick a small piece of Blue-Tak onto the string pin,that's what i do on my Lebeda & Weber. It's never come off, & both hands are free to do 'whatever'. I even have to use Blue-Tak on the A & E strings of my Ellis, as the James tailpiece doesn't clamp them as it does the G & D strings - it's no problem & it always works. Using the string packet to protect the top is a very good idea as well.
The Lebeda tailpiece is very much modeled on the Monteleone t/piece,it even had the Monte.screw hole spacings,
Ivan

[Skip Kelley]

Thank you Bill James.
Steve

Amen!!!

[JEStanek]

I use the paper packet under the tailpiece trick like Mike for my Eastman/Weber style tailpiece. I cheap with banjo capo to hold the strings while I get the post squared away to the loop doesn't come off. Don't judge. I don't change strings that often.

Jamie

[fatt-dad]

I use all 12 tines on the stamped tailpiece and find that this makes life easier.

f-d

[Ray(T)]

The tailpiece on my National RM-1 is particularly annoying. I was always tought that designers design for designers and this one has been designed to look the part with little thought about how easy it is to change strings.

[dan in va]

A tip from John Hamlett on his tailpieces that can be used on many others: Wedge a tooth pick in behind the string loop. One can modify this idea by plugging in the holes where the strings go thru on Allen and Monte tailpieces when slack has been taken up....and also crimp the loop some, which helps, too.

Once i started using the tooth pick, i found the Hamlett tailpiece to be the most elegant "string organizer" out there. It's also lighter than the other cast tailpieces.

[George R. Lane]

It seems strange to me that you have to place a piece of paper under the tailpiece (which I used to do with my Weber tailpiece) and then have to fumble with the string to hold in place while getting it into the tuner post. Or using a toothpick, blu-tac, a capo or some other weird tool. I fixed all that with my James tailpiece, a thing of wonder.

[J.Albert]

OP wrote above:
[[ Eastman tailpieces - difficult not to scratch the top under the tailpiece and sometimes the end of the instrument.
Weber are similar to Eastman and vice versa... ]]

This problem is quickly and easily solved by slipping an envelope or piece of cereal box cardboard under the strings between the bridge and tailpiece.

Once done, I found the Weber tailpiece to hold the string securely while I worked it up at the peghead end.

Having that piece of cardboard might not work in an on-stage situation...

[bratsche]

I think there's no such thing as a "difficult tailpiece". However, there are some mighty difficult methods of putting strings on that people will resort to.

bratsche

[darylcrisp]

NF tailpiece above.

just recently i've come in contact with the best solid TP i've had hands on-its on a NorthField. Not sure who makes it, but i have an email generated to Peter Bagale at NF asking. This tailpiece allows easy running of the strings thru and to the tuner post, the little TP posts are angled and very smooth and have a small area behind the post removed so the loop end goes down smooth and locks in-i still use blue tape across as i change each string-but i don't need the capo with this one. it looks very nice as well.

webers: i pull the string thru, while holding at the first fret i put a capo around the third fret-that gives me loose enough string to work at the tuner and keeps the loop end on the weber tailpiece post.

collings cast tp: same as above.




d

[Jim Garber]

I love the look of my National RM-! esp the antique brass look but I do recall it is a royal pain to string it -- you need a few extra hands and also have to thread it under the bridge cover -- unless I take the cover off and risk losing the super-allen screws.

[Caleb]

I've done one string change on my new Collilngs so far and had to wonder why they couldn't put some teeth for the string loops to grab onto? Changing on the Eastman is a breeze. My son's Paris Swing is a flat out nightmare. But I always use a capo no matter what. I always figured everyone did. Mike's suggestion on the sleeve to keep from scratching the top is genius. Talk about a Doh! moment for me. Why didn't I think of that?

[Perry Babasin]

"My absolute most problematic is a cast, but shaped as if it is a stamped tailpiece cover with hooks under the leading edge in pairs..."

One of my mandolins has what was described to me as a Dr. Gary Price prototype tailpiece. It is shaped like the old style traditional piece but built out of heavy welded steel stock, and feels like a cast tailpiece. It has the hooks under the leading edge in pairs, and yes it is difficult to change strings. The only way I have found to do it is with a very tight capo holding it in place. If there is any slack at all the loop drops off the hook easily, very frustrating. It had one of his tiny finger-rests with the little hook on the bottom end too.